Medellin (day four and half of five)

I'm in the Medellin airport, waiting to go back to Bogota and then home. 

Day four

I woke up to an email from Ray that he was having stomach troubles.  Who could have guessed that tepid soup with hits of mystery meat might cause issues!?  I, however, was fine.  Or at least I hoped so because I was about to get on a bus for two hours

Ray did not come on this adventure.  He had already been and I don't think he would have been up for 'joanne style' travel.  Public bus!  Ya, baby.  

I was heading for Guatepe, a little town with a big rock. People go there to climb the rock.  It has over 700 stairs.  I did the math.  20 stairs per floor, 708 stairs = 35 stories.  I did not climb the rock.  

The bus was uneventful.  I got to ride in the front seat. The co-pilot's seat!  I wished the driver had one of those 'God is my co-pilot' plaques so I could feel even MORE important! 

All of the other tourists got off at the rock.  I went straight into town.  What a sweet little town.  I'm telling you, communities around Colombia have really embraced the tourism boom.  Tourists like bright colours.  Paint EVERYTHING!  Restaurants and gift shops galore.  Umbrellas overhead.  We can do that.  

The whole area is surrounded by various arms of a lake.  A blue-green lake.  Here are a million out of context photos 

They have a thing for sheep here, not sure what  I think I overheard a tour guide say something about a festival And the prettiest sheep?

Very colourful tuktuks

Very pretty, I guess

The rock, from the bus

The rock, from a distance from the bus.

I got home around 6.  Had a shower and met Ray for dinner at Waffles and Crepes.  I really only wanted a mini waffle with ice cream but I was a responsible adult and also had soup.

And for those of you getting all excited (Dottie), that was the last I saw of Ray. 

Day five. 

Two walking tours planned for this day. I don't know what I was thinking.  First one at 9am.  The fruit market.  I took the metro to get to our meeting spot.  

Have I mentioned how awesome the metro is here.  Trains are clean and people are very respectful of the cars and stations.  Zero litter.  

There were only two of us on the tour with our guide Julian.  We basically walked to the giant fruit market that seems to service wholesale buyers and the general public.  And dopey tourists who are just in the way. 

The entrance.  Very inviting

Sugar cane juice.  Yum! 

No little bits of this and that on this tour.  Whole pieces of fruit.  So many pieces of fruit.  If it is from northern South America, we tried it.  Three kinds of passion fruit.  Of course, the best one can only be found in Colombia.  Guavas, bananas, things I don't even know.  Those sour gooseberries that are on desserts as garnish at home - actually sweet and tasty here. 

Dragon fruit - so good here.  As we were eating it, he mentioned that it is super high in fibre and people shouldn't eat it if they are getting on an airplane the next day.  Thanks for the heads up buddy!  

I'm now in the Bogota airport, waiting to board my flight to Montreal.  I cheated and checked my backpack (two kilos of coffee beans did me in).  Anyway, I'm going to post this mid-day four and start a new post for the last but.  So at least I get this out before I leave Colombia.