Salento

The only low point of Medellin was when Meredith left for Bogota on Friday to catch a Saturday flight back to the States.  Thus began solo travels.  The beauty of traveling alone is that you’re never actually alone.  I spent Friday night with the Aussies and by the following day had stumbled upon my new travel buddy, Dave.  I woke Saturday morning to Dave packing his bag, headed to Salento, which just so happened to be my next stop.  Perfect.  

Dave and I made our way to the bus terminal for the seven hour trip to Armenia.  When we finally arrived at 9pm the last bus to Salento had already left.  We easily found a room across the street from the bus terminal.  Backpacking doesn’t always lend itself to the most spectacular of accommodations, but this was hands down the dodgiest of the trip.  For $3 each, Dave and I split a small room in the basement of a house that vaguely resembled a jail cell with daunting metal doors and bars on the window.  The dozens of small children, running and screaming in the hallway gave it the feel of a McDonald’s play area.  Either way, it was a place to sleep and the close proximity to the bus station meant we were up early to make our way to the Salento the next morning.  

When we finally arrived in Salento the weather was cool and town eluded the tranquil colonial vibe I've come to know so well.  Being Sunday the plaza was busy with church goers who later filed into restaurants and dozens of the small shops.  Dave and I had arrived too late in the day for El Valle de Cócora hike that Salento is known for so we spent the day shopping and walking around town.  That night we went into town to play tejo.  

Tejo is roughly horseshoes meets bags and add gun powder.  On each end of a narrow dirt court there are wooden boxes filled with clay and a metal ring in the middle.  On top of this circle packets of gunpowder are placed.  Teams of two then take turns throwing steel pucks, aiming for the middle of the circle.  If you hit the gunpowder they explode, which is very entertaining.  The locals are incredibly good at this game and frequently hit their targets from 60 feet away.  We however were put on the kiddy court, which is about 20 feet and includes smaller pucks.  I attempted to throw the 5 lb puck on the proper court and almost took out a local two courts over.  I was quickly sent back to the kiddy court.

The next morning we were plaza by 7am for the Jeep to Valle de Cócora.  Our goal was to make hike in time for the 12:30pm transportation back, shower, and then head back to Armenia for a night bus to Ecuador.  It was a big day.

The hike takes you past valleys of huge palm trees and cloud forests.  It was a fairly easy and spectacular hike for the first couple of hours.  We stopped at a hummingbird farm half way for hot chocolate and cheese, a Colombian favorite.  

 From there we headed up.  The elevation gain was tough, but views at the top absolutely worth the sweat.  The hike down passed even more palm trees.  And we made it back in time for the noon Jeep.  Showers were an absolute necessity after 5 hours of hiking and we were well worn for the 14 hour bus ride that evening.  

We made our way to buy our tickets to the border and were met with the bad news that there was only one seat available on the bus.  Fortunately someone in Bogota had missed the bus so there was an extra seat not shown on the computer.  A dozen phone calls later and we both had tickets.  I had heard horror stories of night buses being high jacked between Cali and the border, but it was a risk I was willing to take.  Luckily it was a very uneventful bus ride.  Nothing more than the standard poorly dubbed film and trying to find a comfortable sleeping position as the bus barreled through switchbacks on the way to Ecuador.