Guatape And The Great Staircase

Today we walked to the famous crack in the rock stair with 740 steps, looking over the side was little daunting at times as the rock is undercut.

This was a swing bridge that crosses the road on the way.



The target for the day La Piedra Del Peñol





There was some money parked on the water, a mobile pub/bar/dance rig ... this was still while walking up to the rock



The whole stair is concrete pinned to the rock base, as an engineering type I was hoping the guys had done their job properly .... in some places there are reinforcing bars poking out into nothing!! DOH 

The stats if you are interested



Well nothing fell down and the view from top is incredible to say the least
As usual no need to carry water etc up as there is 5-6 shops up at the top that will sell you as much sugar as you need





The town of Guatape in the distance





The old stair



The new stair



I wasn't feeling the greatest with gut cramps just enough to knock my energy down and at 2000 meters high air is already thinner so to be honest I struggled a bit and was not feeling very shiny at the top, a sit down down, some water and a sit in the sun and all was good ..... or at least not as bad as I still had my gut cramps.

Looking up the stair ..... conquered that one with a saw guts... even had time for an ADV salute for you fellas  ... this just proves we are thinking of you!! 

 

If you look hard you can see Ellen



We made it back down no prob and carried on back into town.

Next morning I was still feeling second - hand so it was a lay down and rest day, ring in sick and bunk work....not much to say other than poo!!!

The following morning I was feeling better and we were packing to leave, the cleaner lady said were are you going?, we replied Medellin for moto servicing, no you’re not she said, the road is closed with riots and truck blockades ..... ouwh ... ok we will stay another day then.

Maya was bored so we took her for a ride to El Panol then back to Guatape for lunch and out to San Rafael and back for a look, nice wee ride.



Ellen liked this picture in a cafe....



We also stopped at the staircase to get some pics with Maya, we were here 

Mirock and GPStair art 



Spokeart, nothing beats a dirty rim shot





That afternoon and early evening I took Maya to a small moto shop and did a headlight earth wiring job putting a switch in the earth wire to turn off the headlight and leave only the LEDs going, reason being more power gets to the fans and they spin up much faster emptying the heat out of the engine more efficiently and at 38 - 40 degrees any extra or better cooling is welcomed.

The town of Guatape is beautiful, great place to visit and a nice place to be stuck when there are riots, blockades, protests and other normal stuff, even if you wonna be sick there it is a cool hangout 

Note the guys tok tok is on his wall too



Colours, no shortage here, I love this place is it so colourful, laidback and tidy 



The church with rain cloud looming 



Next mission to try and get to Medellin....