Guatape and La Piedra de Peñol

Very few places look exactly as they do in Pinterest photographs, but Guatape (the town) and La Piedra del Peñol (the giant rock) are definitely two of them.  A short hour and a half bus ride from Medellin, this is the perfect day trip.  The 740 step climb is more than worthwhile for the views you'll be rewarded with, and afterwards reward yourself with a bandeja paisa for lunch.  The bandeja paisa is typical for the region and boasts a whopping array of rice, beans, ground meat, fried pork rind, sausage, fried egg, potato salad, avocado, sweet plantain, and an arepa. It may be a lot, but surely you've earned it after those stairs ;)

Beauty and Food at the Medellin Botanical Garden

I don't think it'll surprise anyone that Peace Corps volunteers can be some of the best budget travelers around, so when looking for activities in Medellin I had three questions in mind: Is it easily accessible, free (or a good value), and, perhaps most importantly, is there good food nearby?  

After a leisurely breakfast with our AirBnB host family, we took the metro right up to the Botanical gardens (easily accessible- check). All areas are free and open to the public everyday (free!), and we were surprised to stumble upon the best meal we would eat from our entire trip (the best food).

The sprawling gardens are planned into multiple different themes ranging from dessert beauty to swampland, an orchid garden, and even a butterfly enclosure.  You can also find a gift-shop, a small cafe, the amazing Situ restaurant, and even tree nurseries and greenhouses offering plants for purchase.  

When we walked by Situ, we were sure it would be out of our price range.  This is the type of restaurant that's incredibly gorgeous on its own, featuring an open floor plan so that patrons can enjoy the beautiful gardens and fountains in the midst of Medellin's perfect Spring weather.  However, thanks to the strength of the American dollar during our visit, we realized that this was exactly the sweet, sit down meal we were looking for.  

Most of the items of the menu were locally sourced, and many of the fruits, vegetables, and herbs even came from right there at the Botanical gardens.  After we spent a fair amount of time trying not to drool over our options (this was not the type of restaurant for that), we finally decided to start out with two appetizers- a plate of homemade cheese, fried and served over a mixed berry compete, and a coconut lobster soup.  Though I tried to convince my friend to get something different than me so that I could try two different things, we both ended up getting their specialty salad- local greens served with mango, serrano ham, feta cheese, green apple, pecans, tomatoes, sesame seeds, and rose petals.  Every dish was just as amazing as it sounds and still only came out to just under $30 USD.  Where else can you get a deal like that?

To Colombia

It's been a while since I've blogged and, thankfully for me, I've finally gotten into the "busy season" of my job. So, after only having a few days at home over nearly a month, I was looking forward to a vacation quite a bit. 

Before coming to Panama, Colombia was never on my list of places to visit.  After all, the only Colombia that I knew of was certainly dangerous and not worth the time, expense, and risk to go there.  

However, due to its close proximity and cheap costs, Colombia is a very popular vacation destination for volunteers in Panama, and it seemed that every person that visited the country returned with nothing but glowing reviews.  After hearing so many good things about the people and places in Colombia, I finally decided to pack my bags and take the 50 minute flight to South America. 

Let me tell you- those glowing reviews were not wrong.  From our very first morning in Cartagena when a local man offered to share his breakfast with me when I couldn't decide what to order to our last day in Medellin when our AirBnB hosts spent the morning teaching me how to cook arepas, my trip to Colombia was filled with so many wonderful experiences with kind people, beautiful places, and great food.  As those happen to be three of my favorite things, how could I not love it?

I'll be posting a few more blogs about the costs (unbelievably cheap), our favorite things to do, and why staying with a host family can be one of your favorite parts of a trip to Colombia.  In the meantime, here are some of the photos from a country I will definitely be going back to.