An enormous rock

Today I did not ride my bicycle.

Instead I walked, then rode the metro, and then took a bus to the town of Guatape, to climb 649 stairs up a giant rock.

Our bus slowed down slightly for a toll booth, and a Mr Roadside Snacks broke into a run, grabbed the handle of the door, and hoisted himself aboard. "Papas! Papas!" he called up the bus aisle. He had only a little time. Just a bit past the toll-booth, and Mr Driver slows down just enough for Mr Snacks to jump out and hit the pavement running. Talk about a day-job for quick reflexes.

Medellin is a city the size of Chicago, this enormous pile of humanity poured into a valley along the Andes. It is the second largest city in Colombia, and an incredible success story of crime reduction. It is the only city with a metro system, which is pristine: no graffiti, security guards on every platform. I could relax out a metro window and marvel at this huge city.

It was a really good Saturday. Good in the ways of simple pleasures, enjoying life without too much work. I ate a guava-cheese pastry, climbed the hundreds of stairs past heaving and panting people, revelled in a gorgeous breath-taker of a view, acquired a becoming hat, and watched the world go past out a bus window like a contented dog. We wandered around the town of Guatape, the houses painted playful colors and decorated with with paintings of sheep, flowers, horses....  The place was so cute it felt like we were in a doll house; that people actually live in a place so decorated says something about this culture and this country. I love it.

The enormous rock, bizarrely yet perfectly placed among a beautiful cut and curving set of lakes

The view from the top of the rock, El Piñol. It was amazing in a way words cannot express; I spent a long time up there, in the breeze, just feasting my eyes on the expansive and intricate land and water.

When climbing the many stairs up the rock, please don't eat ice creams or mangos. I love that this sign probably exists only in this one place on the planet, such a unique problem. Tropical food slipperiness.

And many stairs there were. I love heights, but even I found it a little dizzying.

The impossibly adorable town of Guatapè, near El Piñol rock. I felt like I was a doll in a dollhouse, being in this town.

All of the houses were decorated in this manner.

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