This trip was for the purpose of finding a location for my buddy Dominik to buy or lease for the development of a youth hostel. He settled on an area located near a lake in the mountains outside of Medellin.
General location map – I had no idea Colombia was as far north as Nicaragua
Arrived in Medellin – taxi ride to the lake
ManMade lake +/- 74 km^2 created in the 1960’s – 2000 meters above sea level
View from Galeria hostel – beautiful everyday – water was warm enough to swim in and clear enough to see the bottom around the edges
Random nicely landscaped yard
One of the town squares in Guatape’ – apparently there is a sale on bright paint
Tuk Tuk decoration is serious business
Oh the optimism – nearly gushing
Meeting with land developer/realtor
Looking for the three elements – View of the Rock – Access to Lake – Near the Tourists
Possible place to rent – just too small and no much land available for expansion
How “not to” roof construction – of course the realtor says “absolutely no problems”
Typical home interior – hand made furniture – no heat or A.C. needed because the weather is great
Oh the disappointment – i can still hear his heart imploding – some properties should not be built on
Growing tomatoes – passion fruit is also a common crop
Mariposa
Native bees eating a bird of paradise – they also ate staghorn fern
World Cup 2018 – Colombia got pretty far and every game stopped the town
Awesome views
D and I thought we would go on a day hike to explore the coutryside on foot – this image shows that the mountains are first sprayed with herbicide before timber(pine) is planted
Wild orchids
D giving the international 1 finger salute which means all is good. We didn’t really know where we were going and as you can see the trail wasn’t really there as we hoped.
Interesting red moss
Again the 1 finger salute – this means we realized we walked all day and are not gonna make it to a road before dark. Luckily we brought cookies and gum and ear buds.
Thanks to U.N.I.C.E.F. and others poor planning we were able to stay in this abandoned school overnight since there was rain in the area we were super glad to have the shelter. If you look close you will see the concrete is covered in horse poop but none on the grass.
These guys were interested in the smelly white people. Wondering how we can eat just cookies for food.
By shear luck we survived the night and were back on the move before sunrise
If a strenuous hike and a night sleeping on concrete wasn’t enough we had to take a tuk tuk like 25 miles on a gravel road
We were so high up jackets were needed in the middle of the day
Next day we were on the road again – this time on some motorbikes
The countryside is so nice and green
Some of the roads were not too good –
Some real jungle and natural stream
Waterfall which we were able to swim in and cool off from riding
Another fun motorbike tour in the mountains
Mostly rural area
4 signs of heart failure
Lonely days in the mountains
Bandejas de Paisa – typical restaurant food
Super nice property with house – Casa Bonita Rosada
Optimism back to full – next is negotiations
Typical night in a hostel
Notice not all the pool tables have holes and there is a guy peeing on the wall
May have gone a bit too far on the checker color scheme
Fernando Botero – sculptor Medellin
Just cant look away
Fun for the whole family
Sweet amphitheater at the botanical garden – Medellin
So during the couple weeks that I was in Colombia with Dominik we visited about 20 properties and were brought around by a few realtors. Unfortunately there has not been any absolutes yet. Many contacts have been made and D will be in country for a few more weeks knocking on doors and getting feelers out.
Posted in:
South America
by
John Gamache /
