A Weekend at the Lake

Growing up in Central PA, a lot of people I knew had boats, and took them out on Raystown Lake all the time. We were not a lake family, so I didn’t grow up learning how to do any water sports.

When I found out that we could easily reach a beautiful lake and go wakeboarding and waterskiing, I decided that it was time to learn! Just a quick 35 minute plane ride to Medellin, and then an hour drive to Guatape, and we had beautiful lake views and an excellent Airbnb to stay in for two nights! And to top it off, it was Mama's birthday! A perfect excuse to go on a trip.

We rented a boat for two hours in the middle of the day and headed out on the lake to try our hand at water skiing, wakeboarding, and tubing. Tubing, I knew I could do. The rest? Not so much.

Andrés went first, and we all knew he was going to kill it. The man is almost 100% muscle, and loves learning new sports. We were right, and on the 7th attempt, he was up! It was from no help from the boat driver/instructor, unfortunately. He gave almost no tips and tricks, and barely taught at all! I wasn't feeling too hopeful at this point.

Next up was Mama, who already knows how to water ski. She did great, but when she got back on the boat, she told us that the driver didn't know what he was doing (lol). He kept pulling her up into a turn, like a wakeboarder, and not letting her go straight forward at all, like a skiier. My hopes plummeted even further.

Next up was Nicholas, and he had a great time. I thought that if all else failed, I could at least get a good ride out of the tube!

Then it was my turn. With almost no instruction and very little hope, I jumped in the water and strapped my feet in. Time after time, I face planted in the water or got the lead rope ripped out of my hands. My shoulders were aching, my hands were red, but I was having a great time. The sun was shining and the lake water was warm!

On the seventh try, I did something similar to standing. The rest of it was a big fail, but I am so glad I did it, and I can't wait to try again! As I type now, my wrist flexors are so sore that I can barely clench my hands into fists!

After our two hours on the boat, we headed to Parque Comfama Guatape, an awesome ninja-warrior style obstacle course park on top of the water! This was where I heard the most laughing from my family that I've heard in the past five years. As we slipped and slid and totally face planted, we were having the absolute best time.

The only other people there were a bunch of teenagers on a school trip, and we were definitely seeing the difference. They all ran across each obstacle, but we were crawling and still falling! If you ever get the chance to do an obstacle course like this, take it! You'll feel like a kid again!

All in all, the trip was absolutely fantastic. It was super cool to fly to a different city just to have a fun day on the lake. The three day trip flew by, and I can't wait to get back to a lake to try my hand at wakeboarding again one day!