Guatapé

Before the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, the area was home to Indigenous groups, some of them led by a cacique named Guatapé, after whom the town is named; the name is often said to mean 'stones and water'. In 1714 the Indigenous people of the area were gathered into a settlement called San Antonio de Remolinos Peñol, and clay urns found at Alto Verde and several unstudied sites in the surrounding villages are traces of their presence. The town itself was founded on 4 October 1811 by the Spaniard Francisco Giraldo y Jiménez and became a municipality in September 1867.

For most of its history Guatapé was a farming town, living from cattle, crops and some mining, and many of the zócalos on its houses date from the early 20th century. In the 1970s the Medellín utility company EPM dammed the valley to build a large hydroelectric complex, making Guatapé one of the most important centres of electricity production in Colombia. The reservoir that filled behind the dam drowned the neighbouring town of El Peñol and rural parts of Guatapé, displacing thousands of people; a cross in the water marks the old parish church of El Peñol, and the reservoir covers about a quarter of Guatapé's territory.

The lake and the rock beside it turned the town towards tourism. The reservoir forced the town to change its economy to tourism, and today Guatapé is a major tourist attraction, especially for visitors from Medellín; in 2018 it launched its own tourism brand, 'Guatapé, a destination in full colour'.

The zócalos are Guatapé's signature. These sculpted, brightly painted panels run along the lower walls of the houses in the town centre, many of them depicting village life; many were made in the early 20th century, and newer ones continue the tradition. They earned the town its names of Pueblo de Zócalos and 'tourist paradise of Antioquia', and the Calle del Recuerdo is one of the most representative streets for them.

The Peñón de Guatapé is the other symbol, and a source of local rivalry: the town of El Peñol has long claimed the rock as its own, which is why it goes by several names — the Rock of Guatapé, the Stone of El Peñol, or simply La Piedra. A bronze statue at its base honours Luis Eduardo Villegas López, remembered as the first person to climb it.

Life follows the calendar of a Catholic Antioquian town, with the feast of the Virgen del Carmen in July, the festival of zócalos, reservoir and tourism in October, and Christmas celebrations in December.

Guatapé had about 9,100 inhabitants in 2023, about 6,100 of them in the town itself, at an altitude of about 1,890 metres. Its farms are known locally as 'las vegas', and the town is the gathering place for the rural families of the surrounding hills.

Electricity and tourism now dominate the economy. The hydroelectric complex built in the 1970s made the town nationally important for power, while the reservoir and the rock have turned much of the town over to restaurants, guesthouses, boat operators, craft shops and guiding. Farming continues in the countryside around it. The reservoir, the largest body of water in Antioquia, is used every day for motor boats, jet skis and other water sports, and local operators offer boat trips, a zip line over the lake, kayaking and horse riding.

The week has two rhythms. On weekdays the town is quiet, its streets left mostly to residents and a few visitors who stay the night. At weekends and on public holidays buses and cars arrive from Medellín, the malecón fills with stalls and the queues lengthen at the foot of the rock.

Trout is the local speciality, served fresh in many preparations in the restaurants along the malecón and around the central park. The menú del día, a cheap set lunch, is what most locals eat at midday.

The cooking is otherwise Antioquian: bandeja paisa, with beans, rice, ground meat, chicharrón, egg, plantain and arepa on one platter, alongside plain white arepas, sancocho stews and fried snacks such as empanadas. At weekends vendors on the malecón sell snacks and sweets to the crowds, and the restaurants catering to visitors have widened the choice to pizza and Mexican food. Arepas accompany almost any meal; aguapanela, hot water sweetened with panela, unrefined cane sugar, is a typical drink; and mazamorra, maize boiled and served with milk and a small piece of panela, is a traditional paisa dish.

Coffee comes as tinto, small sweet black cups, and the local spirit, as across Antioquia, is aguardiente, flavoured with anise. Fresh fruit juices made with water or milk are sold everywhere.