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Short Bus to Bogota

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Day 114

The day had come where we decided it was time to move on from Salento. We decided to take an overnight bus to the capital, Bogota. So with one more day in Salento we decided to stay away from trout today, checkout the town a bit more and maybe do a short walk. We started the day off with our usual cereal breakfast and great free coffee at the hostel. We headed into town after that and strolled around the clean streets. On weekends Salento is a big destination for domestic tourists, so many of the shops were closed during the week. On our way back to the hostel we picked up some food so we could make our own dinner tonight. A rare treat, we found soy meat in one of the shops!

Truly this was a lazy day, we walked about 30 minutes to a stunning viewpoint of the valley below Salento. Its actually a local families house but apparently if you walk up and just tell them you want a picture they will open the gate. We walked up and kinds stood in front of the gate. “Hola, Buenos Tardes”, I figured someone might hear me. A man peaked out the window said hello and told us to enter. The view was great and Jordana and I had to laugh about the family just letting people onto their property to snap a few shots. In so many countries the family would be asking for a few dollars for the privilege, here all that was wanted was thanks.

We sat in hammocks, read and I tried to catch up on the blog. Yes I know I am behind, is anyone actually reading this anyways? Actually I know people are reading this thanks to Counterize statistics. I even know your IP addresses! Why are you all so silent? How about a comment or two? Tell me the blog is crap or praise me on my fabulous writing talent.

Right, sorry went off on a bit of a tangent there. So we enjoyed our last few hours of Plantation House and Salento, plus a great meal that Jordana whipped up. Then it was off to the centre square to catch a bus to Armenia, the regional centre with bus connections to the capital. We met Steph, a Dutch guy from Plantation House who was also headed to Bogota that night. We travelled together to Armenia than bargained for tickets on what I was told was the best bus company in Colombia. Before we left I wanted to make a call home as it was my dads birthday. Trying to say happy birthday on a mobile phone in a noisy bus station is frustrating. Its already tough enough to be away from home for this sort of occasions, it just makes it worse when its so tough to even talk. These calls, birthdays and such are what makes me miss home. You almost wish you could atleast be home that day and then be back on the trip. The other thing I thought off as we hung up the phone was that every traveller must have the same conversation with their parents when calling from Colombia. Its mostly them talking about how wonderful the country is. Than the parents telling them to be safe and wondering when you’ll finally be leaving Colombia.

It was time to board the bus, the three of us walk out and saw a half bus. Huh? Yep, we were on the short bus to Colombia. The trip was ok, not the most comfortable and surprisingly hot on the bus. Eventually someone asked the driver to crank the a/c. We climbed high into the mountains over the Quindio Pass, 3350 meters high. I couldn’t sleep, I just stared wide eyed out the window at the traffic and how our driver seemed possesed. It was as if he had to pass every car and truck in sight, didn’t matter is it was a completely blind corner.
We arrived safely in the morning darkness of Bogota. Already at 5am this city of 8 million was buzzing. We were surprised at the cool air as we stepped of the bus. At 2650 meters above sea level Bogota is a cool city. We quickly got a taxi into the La Candelaria neighbourhood of the city. A colonial area full of character. We found a nice room at the Avenida Jimenez and passed out on the bed immediately. Exploring the city would have to wait till after we finally get some sleep today.

High on Salento

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

Day 113

One of the most enjoyable things about a long term trip is you can stay somewhere just about as long as you want. The Plantation House here in Salento is one of those places you think you may spend 2 nights and next thing you know its 4 or 5 or a month. Tim the owner really has a great thing going here. The house is full of character and the views are incredible. There is free coffee, a kitchen you can use, very cheap beer and some great hammocks to chill out on. All this is made even more enjoyable since Tim is an interesting guy and just loves to chat. Also with the setup of the house its a great way to meet fellow travellers. In the evenings everyone sits around a big table talking travel, politics a and whatever else. All while enjoying the .75 cent beer. What I’m trying to say is if you are ever in Salento, which you should be, then make sure you stay at Plantation House. Its one of the more special places we have found on our travels.

Right, so we have actually done more here than eat trout, drink beer and laze around. We spent yesterday on a pleasant hike wandering the beautiful countryside and visited a working coffee plantation. Most of the walk followed a dirt trail that looks like its sometimes used as a road. The hiking was fairly simple with a few steep sections. At the plantation we were taken around on a quick tour of the coffee plants and the process of harvesting the beans. Since we already did a very informative tour in English (this was in Spanish) in Guatemala we knew the basics. The interesting thing about this plantation is that it is organic. It was good to see the way everything is recycled, so that made it slightly different than Guatemala. To be honest though the free cup of coffee at the end wasn’t that great. Colombians don’t make there coffee strong, so often good coffee just doesn’t taste as good as it should.

We continued the hike down a steep hillside through the coffee plants to a wide river. From here we followed the valley out to the main road where instead of catching a bus we walked the steep 1 hour climb back into town. Finishing in the main square for some fabulous fried trout with patacones. Patacones are plantains pressed flat to a thin pancake then deep fried. They are massive and cover the entire plate, while the trout sits on top. Its damn good, I like to call it the Colombian version of fish and chips.

Today we were off again on a longer hike. Although I’ll tell ya its tough to leave the comforts of Plantation House but the surrounding countryside offers some great hikes in the Andes and today we were off to walk one of the best. We joined up with a German couple from the hostel to split the cost of a jeep to drive us the 8 km to the trail head of the Cocora valley. The hike began in the beautifully lush green valley as we followed a small river. On either side of us towered green mountains covered with pine trees. Further up the valley we climbed higher and entered the dense cover of the cloud forest. The scenery was stunning, thick green forest with a river falling down the mountainside. About halfway through the hike we came to the Acaime Nature Reserve. A paticuarly steep section were we climbed to 2770 meters. We emerged at a clearing where a man and his wife have a sort of rest stop going. Its a pretty odd spot located way up here on a mountainside but it is gorgeous. The temperature was noticeably cooler and clouds swirled all around us. The friendly couple offered us the odd combination of hot chocolate and cheese. The man has setup hummingbird feeders throughout the area that attract a large number of unique hummingbirds. It was a great stop to refuel, although I wanted to get going again as it was really chilly up there.

We came to a beautiful viewpoint just down about 1km after our break, even with visibility reduced by the clouds it was a good spot. We finished the trail descending into the Cocora valley with its surreal landscape of giant wax palms. Not only are the wax palms the national tree of Colombia but one of the tallest in the world. The valley was so green it almost looked as if someone had painted it, there wasn’t much tree cover except for the wax palms. Wax palms grow to heights of 60 meters, with the huge palms and silent green landscape it made for one of the most beautiful spots I have seen on the trip. As we completed the hike back at the road we discovered we had just missed a jeep back to town by a few minutes and the next one would not be for 2 hours. So we decided to walk the 8 km back into Salento.

The road has very little traffic so it made for a great walk in the incredible green landscape. Its what I imagine Ireland to look like, only with the tall peaks of the Andes surrounding us. We only passed a few boys on horseback the whole walk back and two beautiful mountain billed toucans. Other than that the only other people we saw were the odd solider just sitting against a tree with his weapon, just waiting and watching. A bit disconcerning actually. This region is now supposed to be free from the FARC rebels but obviously the army still sees some threat. On the other hand I’m starting to get the sense that the huge military presence here in Colombia is a sort of scare tactic for the locals. Its more evident in the rural countryside. Its almost as if a constant and very visible military presence in every town will make anyone think twice about joining any kind of anti-government movement.

We finally reached Salento just before night fall with thunder rumbling in the distance. Jordana and I made straight for the town centre for yet another tasty trout dinner. I wonder when someone gets sick of the same meal everyday no matter how good it is. We returned to Plantation House and after much needed showers sat in the lounge area with all the other travellers as rain fell outside. We all chatted about travel and exchanged tips on places we had been and received information on places we were headed next. With all the talk of travel, politics and which countries have the best beer one thing everyone around the table agreed upon was that Colombia was at the top of their list of most enjoyable countries. So far its at the top of ours as well.

Don’t Mix Cheese and Pineapple

Monday, February 25th, 2008
Day 111 It was tough to leave Medellin today, we had become so comfortable here. We had a daily routine of breakfast at our cafe and then afternoon beers on the patio at the Proximo supermarket. It was a ... [Continue reading this entry]

El Classico

Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
Day 109 Finally the day we were going to see a football match in Latin America was here. We had been talking about going to see a match before we even left home. I figured somewhere in Mexico would be easy, ... [Continue reading this entry]

The New Medellin

Friday, February 22nd, 2008
Day 108 We don't usual stay in dorm rooms, but here in Medellin it was our best and cheapest option. Surprisingly last night was one of my best sleeps in a while. It may have been that I was overly tired ... [Continue reading this entry]

El Poblado, El Bonito

Thursday, February 21st, 2008
Day 107 We arrived in Medellin at 9am at the large northern bus station. Since we have a lack of guidebook information I gave the tourist desk a go. Usually these desks have zero information and could careless about ... [Continue reading this entry]

Touristic Impressions

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
Day 106 Cartagena has been an excellent introduction to Colombia. An easy introduction, a beautiful, romantic, walled city set on the Caribbean with fresh night breezes blowing while we sip beer and gaze upon stunning colonial architecture. However its ... [Continue reading this entry]

Red Hot Cartagena

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Day 105 Cartagena is hot, damn hot. Truthfully the nights do have a beautifully cooling breeze off the caribbean. The thing is once the sunrises it takes about 2 hours for the heat and humidity to become oppressive. Waking up in ... [Continue reading this entry]

A New Day, A New Continent

Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Day 103 Up just before sunrise we stumbled out of the hostel into the quiet and still cool early morning streets of Panama City. We hailed a taxi and for the first time on the trip we were headed to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Jungle in the City

Saturday, February 16th, 2008
Day 103 Our last day in Panama City. Its certainly never been boring in this country, usually for the wrong reasons. Believe it or not our bad luck struck again last night. We were in a net cafe ... [Continue reading this entry]