On first impressions…
A tiny little mountain village!

On further examination…
A little surprise in the jungle…
The hostel recommended some local swimming pools around a 1 hour walk away, down an unmade, rough road. So bathers in tow, we trekked along the road, through thick mud, over boulders in the middle of the road and dodging peacocks! We eventually found the pools in the thick forest, locals bathing and tourists squealing as the water was freezing. The interesting part of the story came when we were walking back along the road to town. The road was so poorly made that motorbikes were the only mode of transport that could pass. So walking independently along the road, Adam maybe five meters ahead, I could hear a motorbike coming in the distance behind me. I moved as far as I could to the side of the road and listened to the sound of the bike coming nearer. The surprise came when I felt my bum being pinched and the motor bike rider just riding off into the distance, like nothing happened. WHAT? I was too shocked to even react. Who does that. Columbia, you are not selling yourself.

A real adventure…
That night we stayed in a jungle hostel, no wifi, in open air, palm leaf rooved huts. We had been told by Alma about a walk from Minca to Pasto del Mango, a hostel about 20km away through thick jungle. After making enquiries with two different hostel staff, the general impression was that no one does that walk, the staff had never done the walk and the available, not-to-scale map was faded and in parts illegible. So as any sane person would, we decided to go for it! An epic adventure was to come.

We left early and began hiking out of town. We walked around 10 minutes downhill before realising we had missed the first turn! Not the best start.

The adventurous part of the hike came when we had to find little timber signs along the way, directing the paths to take. The signs were painted yellow, green and white and were often nailed to trees and fence posts. The start of the walk (once we found it!) was steep, through jungle, coffee and cacao farms.

After walking the steep unmade road for about two hours, we managed to find the first sign, which directed us off the road, into the thick bush. We found a farmer slashing grass and little did we know at the time, he would be that last sign of life for hours to come. We made it about 3 hours in, only to miss a turn (sign no longer exists at the crucial part of the walk!) and walked a good hour in the wrong direction. Just when we figured we were lost (hadn’t seen another living soul for hours) the heavens opened, and rain came plummeting from the sky. Not just a drizzle, a huge down pour. We attempted to shelter under a tree, and then an apex shaped tin sign, but we were soaked through. We had no idea where the turn off should have been and thought we were going to have to walk back the way we came, uphill, and defeated. After about 30 minutes attempting to stay dry under our shelter we decided we needed to make a move. There was the realistic fear that if we didn’t get moving, the day light hours were dwindling, and we could have been stuck in the forest overnight. So we decided to run. Just as we set off we happened to pass a stinging nettle bush which practically jumped out and attacked our bare legs and arms, instant pain... just rubbing it in!

So lost, saturated and now covered in welts, we decided to try an unmarked farm gate as a last-ditch effort before walking back to where we came from! Luckily after following the path for about 10 min WE FOUND A SIGN!!!!

We knew we had three river crossings to come so we were a little worried about what was ahead of us given the torrential down pour. By this stage if we kept going there would be no turning back. We would be genuinely stuck in the jungle for the night if we couldn’t cross!

So as any sensible, ill prepared travellers would do, we decided to risk it! We eventually walked past a toothless farmer who assured us we were walking in the right direction and three river crossings and three hours later, we actually arrived! We couldn’t believe it!
The highs were high, and the lows were low, but it was epic! The beer that night had never tasted better!