Salento, Colombia

Thank heavens! A fresh breath of air in Salento. Fed up with the pollution and noise of Bogota, Salento was an oasis in our travels.

In every direction lush green hills span as far as the eye can see. Coffee plants and banana trees pepper the hills. The air is fresh and refreshing to the body and sole. The elevation is high, climbing the hills take your breath away like I said, everywhere you go there is another hill. You need the coffee just to get you through a day around town.

The second day we took a hike to see the Wax Palms in the Valle de Cocora a short jeep ride away from the town of Salento. The jeep ride itself, should not be underestimated. Josh and I were apparantly not pushy enough so ended up standing on the back of the jeep hanging on for our lives! Up and down hills on dirt road the jeep drove, my arms ached and a few blisters popped up on my hands by the time we arrived at the valley. The hike took about 5 hours consisting of many river crossings and quite a lot of climbing, not to mention lots of mud. But like every hike, even though I curse it in the beginning it's quite gratifying to finish. The cloud forest around the palms was quite beautiful as well. We were able to hike with a French guy and a German couple. It was a good day. Best of all, we got a seat for the jeep ride back.