Salento

View more photos 

After leaving Cali I backtracked a bit on a recommendation, and went to a town called Salento, in the coffee region.  There was nothing in my guide book about this place, but I decided to go and see what there was.

In the end, I have to say that it was one of the best places I have been.  The people were completely friendly, the town was peaceful and surround by green mountains, and best of all you could go on hikes without a guide.  The town was just the starting point for going to the Valle De Cocora and some coffee plantations in the area.  The Valle De Cocora is one of the only places that you can find the impressive Wax Palm, Colombia's national tree.  It grows only in high altitudes, and can grow over 50m tall. 

A Spanish girl I met on the bus was trying to convince me to go for a horse ride with her the next day.  Before I realized it I was sitting on the back of a horse who only knew two speeds STOP and GALLOP.  Redskin was his name, and he didn't prefer the speed STOP.  Every time I would get him to start going, he would, with no indication from me, start running!!!.   And to spicen it up a little more, the stirrups weren't big enough for shoes, so as he galloped away, I was doing everything I could to hang on and keep my feet in the stirrups.  On the way back, I decided to take off my shoes, and just use my socks.  
 
The trip was from the town into the Valle De Cocora.  Normally people just take around the valley, but we got a cheaper price($12all day)... and an extra 10km each way.  In total I guess we did around 25-30km, in about 5-6hrs.  I didn't get to enjoy the valley so much, but my first day on a horse was certainly exciting.
 
Surprisingly the next day I was still able to walk, and did a walking tour of the valley.  It took about 5 hours round trip with a stop at a natural reserve house, which mostly a lot of humming birds... one had a beak at least 3 inches long. 

Typical Dinner in the area... patacn - A bunch of plantains mashed and fried into a big potato chip. On my plate is some fresh trout from the area.

View more photos 

For the next four days, the plan was to go higher up into the mountains with, Christina, a Swiss girl I met at the hostel.  After a whole lot of research and questioning about how safe the mountains were, we decided to go for a 4 day trip to the high planes, 3800m.  But on the second day the weather was freezing rain at 3000m, and the clouds where getting closer.  We decided, with 4hrs more to go, that it wasn't going to be worth it to spend all our time freezing in the clouds.  The place we turned back was an old outpost for research, tourists and the military.  On a day when the military wasn't there it was burned down most likely by some of the FARC gorillas in the mountains.  (see photo)

The day we came back, I decided to climb to one of the peaks in the area, while Christina stayed in the valley to take some pictures.  Again, I didn't reach my goal because I had to be back by a certain time, and the paths got a bit iffy.  But I did get some great view of the valley from above... and hopefully worked off some of the extra weight I gained while at home.