La Piedra Del Peñol (Spanish for
"The Rock of Guatapé") is also known as El Peñol Stone or simply La
Piedra (Spanish for "The Stone"), is a monolithic formation situated
at the town and municipality of Guatapé, 1 km inside the city limits (86 kilometers
northeast of Medellín or two hours by bus) in Antioquia, Colombia. The awesome wide
Antioquian rock base is known as "batlolito antioqueño", and the
"Peñón" were formed 70 million years ago. The stone rises from the
bottom of the hydroelectric dam of Peñol-Guatapé. This monolith was spotted as
a border landmark between country farms and the two cities. At its highest
part, on the rear southeast side, it has an elevation of 7,005 ft over sea
level, with an average temperature of 18 °C. The "Peñol" has 6,500 cu
ft of rock mass and it is 1,263 ft long, with an approximate weight of 11,000,000
tons. It has some rock breaks, one of which was used for the construction of
the 650 stairs that can be used to go to the top. Also you can visit 2 monasteries
that belong to the "Benedictinos" Communities and are also many extreme and traditional water
sports available.
