This is not the boat that I am currently on.  Thank goodness. Two and a half weeks on a 15ft fishing boat with fourteen other people would not be pretty.

We did, however, take this nice little skiff across the lake from Guatapé to visit the finca of another Tío.  We zipped across the calm water, huddling in our vests to stay warm at such high altitude.  We passed little homesteads, protected lands, and so much beautiful green space.  I waited with anticipation, wondering what this other finca would be like and how I and the rest of the family would spend the weekend.

Sometimes its nice to just sit down and watch the world pass by.  Not to be in the middle of it, rushing about from one place to another, but to relax and observe.

When the rest of the cousins decided to go zip-lining, I sat down, in between two Pablos, and watched them fly through the sky in front of me.  With anticipation, they were pulled high up the slope by the cables and then one by one, they came soaring down.  We laughed as they came crashing back to earth in a cacophony of delighted screams, us taking photos of arms flailing through the air.  We observed as the lake water lapped against the side of the shore and a horse walked by picking at the available grass.  We sat and chatted until everyone had made it back down and then with smiles, we continued on.   

You know its going to be a good day when you have a beer in your hand by 10am.  

And a good day it was.  Eleven members of the family piled into three cars and set out for Guatapé.  During the drive there, I received an education in pop-e-rop music (try saying Pop Rock with a Latino accent) while enjoying the window-seat view of the Colombian countryside.  We arrived mid-morning and wandered around the cute town following mother hen Tío Sergio, stopping at each corner to take a group photo. 

I marveled at the brightly colored houses.  Yellow and red with blue, green, magenta, and mauve.  Who would have thought of such a combination?  Power clashing at its finest.  But somehow, it works.  As an ardent supporter of white, off white, and neutral, the rainbow of colors in Guatapé left me speechless.  Apparently, though, if you put enough colors together that don't match at all, you will arrive at a cohesively fantastic zen.