Even though I am a real Colombian pueblo fanatic, the one village I haven’t explored (and one that’s so close to Medellin) is Guatapé and the famous nearby monolith, El Peñón. A couple of Sundays ago I hopped on a bus for the hour and a half  journey to see what everyone is talking about.

After wandering around its brightly colored streets, seeing lots of drunk cowboys and witnessing the insanely gorgeous view from El Peñón, I realized how much I missed exploring new pueblos this year.

Besides, who can really get enough of drunk cowboys?

Welcome to Guatape!

Guatape’s steep hills

busy central park and church

colored panels lining the walls

why walk up the mountain when you can go horseback?

view from El Peñón

enjoying the view

hey look, a ginormous rock!

To get to Guatapé, take the metro to the Caribe stop and follow the pedestrian bridge to Terminal del Norte. Buy a 12,000 COP bus ticket and ask the bus driver to let you off near the parque central along the lake.

To get to El Peñón, head to the park and jump in the back of a colectivo (less than 2,000 COP) who will let you off by the path leading up to the monolith. If you’re lucky, there will be a local with a few horses waiting to charge you 5,000 COP to get up the hill.

Alternatively, you can take a mototaxi that will drive you from the park straight up to El Peñón. Viewing of campesinos borrachos seems to be best on Sundays.