We were booked on a full day tour to Guatapé that included breakfast and lunch so we only needed a coffee before our pickup. Rafa, our driver and guide for the day, arrived at the hostel at 9am with a really cool customised blue Ford van from the '70s. There was only ourselves and a couple from New York so we could spread out on the seats.

Rafa drove us through some of the eastern neighborhoods of the Medellín such as Buenos Aires, Las Palmas and Milagro as we gradually climbed up the side of the mountains. It wasn't too long before we left the city concrete behind and below us as we continued up the steep and windy road. Views back down into Medellín city were spectacular. We picked up a young musician, he sat in the front of the van and played a drum and harmonica. After 3 songs, we stopped to let him out at a viewpoint overlooking the city. It was incredible being on the side of the mountain looking across a huge city to the mountains behind.

We carried on to Santa Elena, a beautiful little village, at about 2600m above sea level . Even though the sun was shining, the air was noticeably cooler at this elevation. We had a nice breakfast of eggs, tomatoes and spinach with some warmed ciabatta bread at Donde Rafa's. A dog appeared from nowhere and decided David was his new best friend, he wouldn't leave David alone and was scrambling to get up on his lap.

Two Colombian girls from Barranquilla who were staying at Donde Rafa's joined us for the tour. The journey continued through beautiful rich, green countryside - there was a good mixture of dairy cattle and a huge variety of vegetables. In the middle of all the farmland was Casa Blanca, Pablo Escobar's (Medellín's most infamous drug lord) former cocaine lab. Up in the highlands, Chivas buses were driving around as normal form of transport, instead of being a boozy, party bus for tourists.

We stopped for gas for the van, and it was natural gas. We'd never seen anything quite like it before. Lots of vehicles were popping their bonnets open for attendants to attach some pipes close to the engine. This particular gas station offered it's customers free coffee, ice tea and water.

The next stop was at Peñol Nuevo (new) for Rafa to buy some tomatoes for lunch and for us to see the church built in rock. The original Peñol town was lost to the flooding of the valley to create a lake for hydroelectric power. This town also appeared to be the central meeting point for every Chivas Bus in the area, there seemed to be hundreds of them.

We continued our journey but the going was a bit slow. The roads were steep and windy and there were held ups by trucks loaded with horses. It seems there was going to be a 'cabalgata' (a procession on horseback) in San Rafael. Every time we managed to overtake a horse truck, we rounded a bend and then there was another in front of us again.

We eventually made it to a replica of the original Penol's village square.Looking out over the lake you can see a cross rising above the water, where the original village and church lie beneath the water. The cross is not original though, it was erected to show the centre of the village.

The two Colombian girls came back with a bag of ice creams for everyone. It was like an ice cream sandwich with some biscuit on the outside and there was raisins in the ice cream - a bit weird but nice all the same on a hot day.

A little further along the road, we pulled off and drove down a very narrow dirt road which eventually came to an even narrower but long suspension bridge over part of the lake. The bridge was made with rickety planks, some not bolted down creating big gaps here and there. We were scared we might lose a jandal, to the water 15m below, on the walk across. Safely on the other side, we walked down a path to the lake's edge. The water was crystal clear and looked very cold but we were assured it was good for swimming. David put his togs on and took the plunge - it seemed a bit chilly at first but it was only the difference to the air temperature. It was actually about 25c which is not bad considering an altitude of about 2000m. On the way back over the bridge to the van, there were three local kids jumping off the bridge - David was tempted but already dry and dressed to continue our tour.

Within minutes of being back on the road, we had our first glimpse of the monolithic rock, La Piedra del Peñol, and the manmade staircase looming behind the lakes. It was quite a sight from a distance but as we drove closer, we started to appreciate the scale. The granite rock dome is 200m high and has a staircase built into the natural split on the southern side.

Rafa told us that while he prepared lunch, we could go and climb the rock. It looked very imposing when standing at the bottom, looking up at all the stairs, zig-zagging backwards and forwards. The thought of the 360 degree views outweighed the dread of the climb and we set off. 659 steps later we were on the top of the actual rock, another 81 steps were required to take us to the very top of the viewing platform. Despite the sun, it wasn't that bad a climb and worth the effort for the view. Every direction we looked the sun was glinting off the artificial lake. This was not your standard lake either though, as opposed to being an oversized puddle, this lake had risen within a mountain range and the peaks now looked like islands in a huge sea of water.

Back down on the ground, Rafa had prepared our picnic lunch. We were expecting a sandwich and maybe a bit of salad on the side but we were in for a real treat. We were having a full on cooked lunch. Fish and vegetables, rice, salad and curried chick peas, all washed down with fresh juice. Even though we were in the car park, we were hidden by the van and faced out over the lake and mountains again - a 5 star restaurant would have killed for dining views like that.

Our final destination of the tour was Guatapé village to see the zocolas, the colourful painting/reliefs on houses describing the story of the family etc. We started in the village square with church and wooden roof interior before walking around the village's narrow, colourful streets. While we were taking a photo, an old guy came over to us to explain the house we were taking picture of, with beautiful balcony and heaps of flowers, belonged to a woman who died 3 months ago and house is now her children's. He then continued to tell us that pretty much whole street and next street up was inhabited by his relatives.

We walked towards the edge of village on the lakeside and it was a stark contrast to peaceful pace of life we had just came from. The waterfront boulevard was packed with floating discos and bars, jet-ski rentals and even a zip-line crossing above them all.

We drove the 2 hours back to Medellín with only one stop at the gas station to fill up the van with fuel and us with coffee. As we continued our journey, we veered off the main route back into the city and started climbing the mountainside again even though it was now dark. It finally made sense when we pulled up at a mirador. It was a very popular viewpoint too, dozens of locals were already at the same spot stop taking in the night time view of Medellín city. Our tour was running late and suspect we should have been there for sunset but it was nice anyway.

Back in El Poblado we went to the pasta place just up the street from our hostel and managed to get served just before they closed. Lucky because the food was really good and we were starving...