Calle Los Recuerdos de Guatape

Guatape! Very happy to have made your acquaintance. I wasn't even aware of this place until a couple of others mentioned it along the trail. It's funny how the last fellow who raved about it said in places the road there is non-existent & he made it sound very remote. Truth is, the place is easy to get to from Medellin & the road is great all the way there.

I was nervous when I started seeing Guatape billboards with jetskis, "family fun", etc. but once I got there it was clear this place only gets temporarily overrun with tourists & mostly only of the Colombian variety. During the weekdays it just feels like a quiet, friendly small town.

One of the more impressive observations so far is how consistently friendly & helpful the Colombian people are. I know I've already mentioned it, but the consistency is wonderful. Appears to be a part of their culture to look out after your neighbor without regard for age, gender or country of origin.

Guatape has this spectacular landscape with all these connected lagoons & coves with this giant stone in the middle of all of it that juts up severely from the landscape as if some giant asteroid plunged itself down from the dark unknown. It almost looks like another planet when viewed from atop La Pierdra.

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Playeros

"Playeros" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Tolu wasn't supposed to be more than a quick rest stop to break up the trip to Cartagena, but the lack of other foreigners & feeling like a stranger again... called me to stay awhile & ease into this Caribbean groove.

Locomotion

"Locomotion" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Stroller

"Stroller" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Amarillo Dulce

"Amarillo Dulce" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Mack de Cuchillo

"Mack de Cuchillo" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Palma Sucre

"Palma Sucre" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Diosa de la Tierra

"Diosa de la Tierra" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Locomotion in Tolu

On paper, having a multitude of boom boxes all blasting variations on Caribbean grooves sounds like a disaster. But in practice, it almost actually works. :)

Santa Maria

"Santa Maria" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Cat Call

"Cat Call" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Caballero

"Caballero" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Lotto Fever

"Lotto Fever" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Rosa

"Rosa" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Venta de Cervezas

"Venta de Cervezas" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Sueno del Payaso

"Sueno del Payaso" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Color

"Color" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Mama Coco

"Mama Coco" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Rosarita

"Rosarita" ~ Tolu, Colombia (c) 2012 Skip Hunt

Bicicleta Rhumba de Tolu

Because Tolu isn't popular with foreigners, my expectation was somewhat low. I wasn't looking forward to the night bus from Medellin, but it wasn't bad at all. No crying babies or freezing air conditioning. Other than a tedious police checkpoint where several Colombians were treated with shakedowns, they pretty much left me alone other than a quick look in my bag. The policia asked where I was going & coming from in Colombia, but I misunderstood the Spanish & thought he was asking where I was from. When I answered, "Texas" he basically rolled his eyes & dismissed me as not worth the hassle. Score!

Tolu is bustling with Caribbean bicycle taxis that are all customized in candy-colors with boom boxes blasting all varieties of Salsa & Caribbean rap music. That sounds like an auditory assault, however the mix was strangely melodic & fun.

I was incessantly approached by the bicycle taxi dudes as I lumbered along the muggy boulevard toward the malecon. I thought for sure this was going to get old fast, but after telling them "no gracias..." I just want the exercise to work off too many empanadas, they'd just respond with bright smiles and say "Bueno!" as they peddled away to a rhumba beat.

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