Salento, Colombia

Salento (11/05 – 13/05)
This would be near to our favourite stop in Colombia. A small town set in the coffee region of Colombia. Here we stayed in a place called The Plantation House, owned by an expat (English & Australian) coffee farmer. It was a beautiful place to stay, quaint little room with a fireplace with mountain views.

Our first day we visited a local coffee farm that was owned by the hostel. Here we learnt about the coffee industry in Colombia, and saw firsthand the coffee making process from

bean to cup. It’s amazing how much work goes into one cup of coffee. I think we all have more appreciation for our morning coffee now.

We spent that afternoon on a mountain bike exploring the area surrounding Salento. The route led us to a beautiful waterfall tucked away amongst the hills, and ended in a steep 3km climb back to town. On our second full day we all went on a full day hike to Valle De Cocora. This was a challenging hike in the altitude but the views were exceptional, and the photos speak for themselves.

That night we were exposed to a typical Colombian tradition, a game called Tejo. A national sport which involves mandatory beer, and throwing a metal ‘puck’ to try and explode gun

powder set in clay. This was an interesting and super fun experience we had at a restaurant after dinner.

Reluctant to move on we set off to a nearby town called Armenia to catch a flight to Bogota.

Bogota (14/05 – 15/05)
Bogota was a quick stop, in transit to Peru. The warnings we got here from taxi drivers and the hostel definitely did not make or a comfortable experience. Speaking to many people, even Colombians themselves, Bogota is still considered a relatively dangerous city.

Reluctant to explore Bogota at all, we decided to do a biking tour of the city, not a good choice in the end. Lani and Brodie almost got hit by cars pulling out onto the road. Courtney got nudged by a taxi, too impatient to wait for her to cross the road, and her bike pedal got caught underneath the taxi bumper. To add to this it was cold and rainy, not a good experience for us in the end. We can all laugh about it now, but at the time we weren’t impressed with the tour.

We were all excited to move onto our next country, Peru!