Sunday, July 3rd, 2016

The alarm went off at 6am and immediately I heard Teresa say 6:30.  I got up and when I came out of the shower I saw that she was up also.

I forgot to mention that the week ended with 2,933 pesos to the dollar.

The three of us got to the corner by Wilson’s Bocados Bar by 8:10 where we were picked up by Juan and Laura.  I thanked him for his information about wifi but, of course, now I’m in a better location where I can easily upgrade to a faster speed if necessary.

We headed east out of town using a road I haven’t been on before.  We stopped at a restaurant called La Cantaleta where they had a glass of juiice and we had coffee and hot chocolate and guajabanas (sp?).  We made another stop at a restaurant that had a children’s zoo next to it.  I saw ponies, a zebra, a llama, and a pig.  We met the other car with Albero, Vicky, Samuel, and Daniela with the baby.

We continued on to Guatape.  As we drove through the town of El Penol Juan said there is an interesting museum in town about La Piedra and Guatape.  Traffic was very heavy from there and we got to Guatape at 1pm.  Five hours?  It only takes 2 hours by bus from the northern bus station in Medellin.  Maybe it would take an hour from the apt to the station but 5 hours total?  Tomorrow is a holiday and the area was packed with people and all the booths and entertainments were open.

First we had lunch at a new (for me) restaurant called El Portal located on the main street (Calle 32) along the lagoons of Guatape.  The building itself looks pretty impressive with its tiled roof entryway.  It had a couple dozen tables outside and another dozen inside.

L to R: Albero, Samuel, Laura, Teresa, Vicky, Daniela, Laura, Juan.

My steak.

Teresa's fish.

The menu included a number of Colombian dishes.  I usually recommend NOT to order beef (except ground beef) at restaurants because it is too lean (chewy).  They had Solomito (top sirloin) on their menu (listed as Solomo) and I had been wanting to try this steak so I ordered it along with a fresh lemonade.  It came with steamed potatoes in cream sauce, a small salad and, of course, a small (hockey puck-like) arepa.  The steak was tasty like a skirt steak but was still a little chewy.

Teresa and Laura ordered the Trucho al ajillo (garlic trout) and enjoyed it.  My steak was 21,000 COP and their fish were 18,000 pesos each.  They had a lemonade also and the total came to 67000 pesos (about $23).

Teresa has wanted to go on a boat ride.  We checked out a couple of the large boats – they only cost 10-13mil per person but the lines were too long.

We ended up on a large outboard motorboat with a canvas top that reminded me of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean jungle ride.  It was only 10,000 pesos per person, it took us 25 minutes out into the lagoon and it only took 15 minutes to return.

In the boat.

Teresa and I

We wanted to go on the zipline but the lines were too long.  We ended sitting on the grass facing the lagoon.  Albero disappeared for awhile and came back with a small bottle of rum and a couple plastic cups filled with ice.  Teresa and Albero drank the bottle until we left at 6:15.

L to R: Juan, Laura, Samuel, Vicky, Daniela w/ baby, Teresa, Laura.

Traffic was bumper to bumper for about 45 minutes as we left the area.  It also started raining which continued during the night.  Teresa went back in Albero’s car and Laura in Juan’s.  Albero stopped in downtown El Penol and pointed out a church that looks like La Piedra (the rock).  He ran into a store and came out with another small bottle of rum.

Teresa got pretty obnoxious in the back seat.  It took us 4 ½ hours in the rain to get back to the apartment.  Teresa was drunk and I had a difficult time getting her out of the back seat of Albero’s coupe.  I’m glad she only drinks like this about once a year.

She fell into bed with her clothes on.

T-shirt of the day: Stay bad.