Today we traveled out to Guatapé. We stopped on the way for Pastel de pollo and empanadas. It was a few hour drive through lots of winding roads in the mountains. The original city is now underwater from when a dam was created for hydropower. It is a neat layout of the city on islands surrounded by water. The main feature is a huge granite rock/boulder that is from volcanic activity. 700 steps have been made to make it to the top of the mountain. It gave amazing views of the city and surrounding landscape.

After having a lunch, we got a boat ride around some of the lake. Lots of famous people have their houses as lakefront property. On the way back we went for a swim in the warm water.

The town is very colorful and each building has it’s own unique bas-reliefs at the bottom. We had some coffee and began our return journey to Medellín.

The local football team was playing at the stadium near Simon’s house so we regrouped and went out to join the crowds. The cheers from the stadium could be heard from the house a half mile away. All of the streets around the stadium were completely packed with people watching the game from the televisions in the businesses on the streets. Every shop in the city (away from the stadium) had chairs out front with people watching the game. Around the stadium, there were fireworks and people selling items everywhere. When a goal was scored that put Medellín in the lead, the crowd went ballistic. People were cheering and dancing and the sound was deafening. Once the excitement died down after 10 minutes everyone continued to watch the game and cheer when a shot was attempted. The game was tied at the end so it went into 5 penalty kicks. Unfortunately the opposing team got 4 and we missed the first one. It came down to the last two kicks and the goal was not saved. Medellín lost and everyone turned to leave immediately. There were kids and families balling their eyes out because they are so invested in the sport. A wild experience to have that many people invested in one activity together.