El Penon de Guatape of Colombia

 

#Rock_Guatape_Colombia

The rock of Guatape has 650 stairs to climb to the top
 The slowest part of the ascend is the beginning because of the many people who thought they were fit and were not
 So they clog up the narrow staircase trying to catch their breath plus all of a sudden decide to stretch 
But once i was past that, your guy did the roundtrip twice in around one hour

KeyTip;
 Because the Colombian Peso is so devalued it will cost you (at a great bargain) around
$5.00 US for an entrance fee
 Also if taking a bus from Medellin its around $6.00 US for a 3 hour ride
Now in most cases you will need cash for your admission fee, the water/snacks plus transportation

Finally;
 Needless to say do not drink the tap water and bring your own toilet paper

Before modern day Colombia
 The local indigenous people (Tahami ) viewed the rock as an object of worship, as El Penon has stood for millions of years in this area of Antioquia region

Guatape means stones and water in Quechua
 Which is an Indigenous language that originated in central Peru plus spread to others countries near the Andes Mountains

The rock has had several exciting theories about its origins;
 From an ancient meteorite, being an extinct volcano, maybe even the Gods had created it

 But Sorry
 Here is the boring explanation,
 the mass of granite was less fractured than the surrounding bedrock and it just survived thousand of years of erosion. 

Moving forward, finally El Penon was declared a National Monument in the 1940s

400 more steps to go...... for one of four trips up and down 😃

In 2024 The Amazing Race Show had the contestants racing up the stairs here in Colombia
  Previous TV seasons with some of the countries that were visited;
 United States, China, India, France, Italy and Thailand.

Fun Fact
The show has now been to every continent except Antarctica

The rock was first officially climbed in 1954 and it took the three men five days to complete 

One of the trio (Luis Eduardo Villegas Lopez) bought the rock from the local farmers as they viewed it useless for their needs.
 Then Lopez built stairs into the cracks of the rock and started charging people to climb the steps.

Fast forward to present day,
 His family still continues to earn a percentage of admissions for the ascends
Talk about entrepreneurial thinking

Do i need to say this 😕
 Wear proper shoes as its the equivalent of walking 45 flights of stairs, so please leave your high heels and flip flops back at your hotel jajajaja

Always thinking like a photographer i am;
 using the stairs for a frame to highlight the town below

Be sun smart and bring some sun lotion, hat, plus glasses
 As the UV intensity increases 4% for every 1000 feet, so with Guatape at 6200 feet
 you can do the math

 Here i am around 200+ meters (650 feet) up, so you can get some great panoramic views of Guatape Lake plus its surrounding areas.
This was formed when the government in the 1970s decided to flood this area and to create a reservoir that provides electricity to 35% of Colombia

 Now once at the top, there are vendors selling water plus snacks and a bar to perhaps celebrate your quest of the stairs 😄

I leave you with some colors from Guatape Town, Colombia

Notice the lower parts of the buildings, these are called zocalos which depicts local life, beliefs, flora plus fauna
The unique and vibrant structures was a direct result by the mayor and his forward thinking to make everything more vivid, as he knew the "Rock" would bring visitors to his area