We had an amazing weekend in the countryside of Medellin last week. Our coworker, Giovanny invited us to join him and his girlfriend to her family’s farm. They own a fish farm about 2 hours outside of Medellin in San Rafael. It is a beautiful small mountain town that has a gorgeous river that runs through it. During our drive to San Rafael we stopped to climb Penon de Guatape, which is a famous rock that people trudge up the endless steps to get to the top for spectacular views. The steps are anything but safe and are definitely not ADA approved but the views were worth the struggle. After our up hill excursion we enjoyed the touristy little river town of Guatape. Guatape is full of bars and shopping and water sports much like the beach towns in the States. We strolled around a little before heading to the country.
Alejandra’s, Giovanny’s girlfriend, family was there and they were so excited to have us join them. Martha showed us all the fruits and trees that grow around their house. They tried their best to speak English and we tried our best to speak Spanish. The kids, two boys about 12 years old, tried their hardest to speak English and it was a great source of entertainment. Everything they knew came from video games and rap music and they never knew what they were saying! Then they wanted to go for a little walk, even though we were still exhausted from the endless staircase we decided to go. Unfortunately families in Colombia are similar to mine and although we took the “short cut” it ended up being a 2 hour walk! Needless to say after a beer and a soccer game I passed out.
After falling asleep we woke up to the noises of little tiny feet scurrying all around us. After hearing one then there were 10 and 20 and then they were EVERYWHERE! There was no more sleeping for the rest of the night. But even after a less then perfect night the morning was so beautiful that it was soon forgotten. After a nap on the porch I couldn’t even remember the sound of those scurrying feet. We spent some time in the little town of San Raphael, it was a typical busy Sunday morning. We sat and enjoyed some people watching before heading over to the market. The rest of the day was spent laying around, swimming in the river, and enjoying the company of the familia. The evening was spent drinking a couple of beers and playing cards, Colombian rummy is much more fun then the one in the States.
It was a very relaxing weekend and so much fun being a part of a family for a weekend. We made a lot of friends and had a great time. Hopefully each holiday weekend will be as fun as this one was!
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