Guatapé and Paragliding Adventure Day!

This day was going to be our long day. Because my son and I wanted to squeeze as much in as we possible could, we decided to try and do the following today: Visit El Peńon de Guatapé (a giant rock in the middle of the valley, a random boulder-turned-money-maker for the owner of the land), stroll around the cute artsie town of Guatapé, then go paragliding and waterfall rappelling near Cocorná. We are picked up early today for the 2 hour drive back out east to climb the rock first. From what we hear, it is much better to climb the rock without the crowds of tourists, which show up around 10 AM. It is raining today which we are nervous could potentially cause our paraglide to be canceled. We decide to hope for the best and tackle the rock in the rain and stroll the town and hope the clouds roll through. We arrive to zero crowds, and see only two other people the entire climb up the 675 stairs to the top. The view from the top is impressive, I must admit. However, in the rain, my son and I stay up top for only a few minutes to take some pictures of the Peńol-Guatapé Reservoir around the valley before descending back down.

Next, we visit Guatapé Town and stroll around on our own, looking at the shops and some of the quaint streets. We stop for an ice cream and to take a few pictures. We buy a few gifts for people back home here and then decide to return. The rain is only drizzling now, so we are hoping for the best. Next, we drive another 40 minutes or so to another lookout of Cocorná where a station on the side of the road is helping people paraglide off the steep hillside. By the time we arrive here, the skies have cleared up and the sun is even peaking out. It looks like we will be able to do it!

We grab our harnesses and receive a brief safety training, then are assigned to our pilots who will be strapped to our backs and steering the kites. My son goes first, taking a run off the hillside and into the air. I follow behind. The paragliding lasts for about 15 minutes, and I find that I am surprisingly not nervous of the height when in the air. The feeling of being securely strapped in the harness takes away any sense of 'vertigo' I feared I would feel. I do find however that I start to get nauseous with the constant circular motion we take to rise with the hot air.  While I was concerned that 15 minutes in the air would not feel like enough time, I am grateful to be done and land on the ground again.

We go eat lunch quickly at the next door restaurant before meeting back up with another guide for our harnesses and instructions to do the waterfall rappel. We drive shortly up the road to a trail where we hike about 30 minutes to the top of the waterfall, where a bolt and set up is found. We strap in with a safety reinforcement around a boulder and my son rappels down first, with the guide behind him guiding him each step. My son has never done this before, but the guide is patient to help him know where to put his feet. The rain from the morning has caused the waterfall to swell and become a bit wider than normal, so while the plan was not to be in the waterfall, we both end up in it and get quite wet. The climb back up to the top of the waterfall was certainly not for the faint of heart. After my son goes, I take a turn as well. We both conquered the waterfall (with paragliders flying behind us and watching us in the background) and are proud of doing the thing that seemed most scary on our trip!  We return to Medellin for another night in El Poblado for dinner.