Rosi Cornwell26t to 1st May 2023
From Medellin, the bus dropped us in Penol. A small town where we would be camping for 5 nights. We got a cab to the camp site, which was down some country roads, full of lush greenery and so so beautiful!
We arrived at the camp site which was run by a husband and wife, Howard from the US and Marta from Colombia. As it was their house it naturally felt so homely and they welcomed us in so warmly, that we naturally felt part of the family.
Their house backed onto the lake and it was so breathtakingly stunning, we were so lucky to be here!
This was the first time I was using my new small tent that Amie had bought over for me. Thruple life hasn’t extended that far for us to all share a tent… Which is great as I was so happy to have my own little space. It is a tiny tent but fits me perfectly and I felt so cosy! It was so quick and easy to put up as well! I’m thinking I could be converted to small tent and roll mat life for festivals. It’s just so easy to carry it all in my bag!
Once the tents were up we had a refreshing swim in the lake, made soup and potatoes for dinner and ate over looking the lake as the sun went down. We drunk some wine, and the fairy lights came on…. I was loving it and thought that I could happily spend much longer here!
Just as we had got into our tents, the rain started to pelt down hard and fast, and there was loud… the loudest rumbles of thunder I’ve ever heard coming from the skies above! Then bright lightning strikes!
I’ve never camped in a storm before, but I was now camping by a large body of water and under a tree!!! I hoped for the best and woke up in one piece the next day to beautiful sunshine!
We had a chilled easy morning, made pancakes and realised it was too late to set off into Guatape now, so rented the paddle board and had a day on the lake.
I sat and did some work on my laptop and then swam out to meet Amie and Hollie who were on the paddle board, with a speaker in the dry bag, and vodka and juice in a bottle. We sat and played the rizla game with with out the rizla. Guess who if you will. Then Hollie said that she was going to get in the water for a swim.
In doing this, the paddle board with Amie and me on flipped over… We flipped it back and the music that was playing suddenly dropped out, and was replaced with the sound of the phone disconnecting from the speaker.
Amie had her phone in a waterproof case but this case was not attached to anything…. Therefore the phone was at the mercy of the lake and now sitting on the muddy lake floor.
The lake wasn’t dirty, but it was deep and unclear. I optimistically paddled the board back to shore to fetch our goggles, whilst Hollie and Amie attempted to stay in the spot where the phone had dropped.
By the time I’d paddled back they had definitely moved, and Hollie had attempted to dive to touch the bottom, but it was too deep.
Ami swum to shore to look on her spare phone at ‘find my iPhone’… It showed her phone was there… But we already knew this… And unless the lake dried out or someone had a long phone fishing rod tool… It wasn’t looking hopeful.
Amie took it like a champ and swum back out and we carried out playing guess who, and then we eventually went in for dinner.
Both nights now we had tried to have a fire but due to the wet wood we just couldn’t do it! We still had a lovely evening though!
Once in bed there was another round of thunder and lightning. This time I decided to should get out of my tent and watch the storm. It was amazing, lighting up the whole river in bright purple!!
I decided it was a good idea to retreat back up to the house, and I could hear people talking. It was Amie, Hollie and Howard! We all sat and talked for a bit and then went to bed about 1am..still in the storm but we lived to tell the tale as we woke up alive the next day!
Th next day was another chilled one, enjoying paddle boarding on the lake. Hollie and I tried to both stand up on the board together, which was super difficult, but so fun as we would fall off and crash into the water together! We also paddled around the outskirts of the lake, being super optimistic that we would find Amie’s phone washed up at the shore. No such luck.
We had a wholesome rest of the afternoon, Amie did some painting, I read and had a nap. We had some dinner and watched some of the film Chappi with Howard.
The next day we headed into Guatape. Howard dropped us off there, but first a stop off for fresh orange juice. Which was sooooo nice!!!!
Guatepe is mad, it has a huge rock just poking out the ground. Which they have built steps into so you can climb the rock!
Before we did this, we sat and had a Pina Colada over looking the sunning views of the River Nare. This was a seriously stunning place!
Then we climbed the steps…. 659 steps exactly… The views were insane!! It was awesome to see for so far all around. They had gift shops, toilets and of course a bar at the top. We enjoyed a beer and then made our descent.
Hollie and Amie went for food and I explored the town. The shops were so colourful and I found a square with all different coloured steps. There were 3 guys busking, and lots of people dancing. Then a lady went around with their guitar case and everyone was putting money in and cheering! It was so wholesome and lovely!
I met Holz and Amie and we bought ingredients to make burgers and then got a tuk tuk taxi back. I was sad that we had only spent one day in this quirky little town, and would have loved more time!
Howard had got a fire going for us, so we finally had one after 3 nights of wanting one! We had amazing black bean burgers and I made chips, we played cards and then went to the local bar at the top of the road.
The bar staff and people inside the bar were really friendly, but outside were 2 groups. One group looked like the men were taking it in turns to dance with the women.. And the other group looked like maybe a mum, her son and their friends and a stray uncle. The place reminded me of a caravan club bar.. Not that I’ve ever been to one. But it was that kind of vibe… In the middle of nowhere, going to the only place for miles. We headed back to our tents at about 4am!
We awoke the next day and had to make our dinner so it was ready and we didn’t need to use the kitchen later in the day, as there would be lots of guests coming to stay, and they anticipated having to cook lots of meals.. I should mention that so far we were the only people camping, so we had the place to ourselves.
We had a swim, and then sat on the grass with a glass of wine and Amie read our tarot cards. Mine seemed pretty accurate, it was kinda spooky, I got goosebumps! It was a very wholesome afternoon.
Lots of new people arrived, and we sat and ate our chilli outside, by a non lit fire, as we still had no luck! Then Hollie noticed that her phone was missing, and last seen on the grass before having a swim. We searched and searched, and asked the groups of people… but went to bed with out finding it.
From my tent I later heard Hollie shout that it was wrapped up in her sleeping bag, we wondered if someone had put it there after getting a guilty conscience, but overall the main thing was that she had it!
We woke up early the next morning, said goodbye to Marta, and Howard dropped us to the bus terminal, we hugged him goodbye and got on the bus that would take us to Salento!… this would be a very sweaty bus, and take a long time!!! Blog on this to follow ….
