Lake break - Guatape, Columbia

For a little break from the city madness, we headed to a small town that's surrounded by lakes, just a few hours from Medellin. It's a popular weekend getaway for the locals and as it was a public holiday long weekend the place was doubly packed and we were unable to pre-book accommodation. From experience, this usually means that you're in for some interesting times! We were taken hostage by a lady upon arriving in Guatape and showed to her rooms, we accepted as we had little option besides staying in a tent on a hill in the pouring rain (well it is the Columbian wet season!). Initially it looked like a tranquil spot across from the lake until we realised that we were virtually on top of a nightclub!









Guatape is a beautiful and colourful little village, with little characters and patterns moulded and attached to the fronts of the houses.









As it was raining we spent most of the evening at a pool hall - these are very old-school macho hangouts, where women are stared at and drooled over. There are even open urinals next to the pool tables! We were approached by many drunk toothless old men who spoke to us in dribbly Spanish - we had absolutely no idea what they were saying other than welcoming us to their country. One of them would not stop hugging Claire for most of the evening, and we weren't sure if he was going to let her go! That night we had most probably one of the worst night sleeps on record - the music from the nightclub did not stop pounding until 4am, we had one hr of sleep before someone decided to start hammering in the room upstairs. South Americans certainly have bizarre sleep patterns.




The boys making the most of the 'facilties' as Claire takes a killer shot


Claire and Paul making friends with the locals