The second day in Salento began pretty early. We wanted to do the trail to the Cocora Valley. The jeeps that take you to the start of the trail leave at different times a day, but we wanted to catch the one at 9.30 am. You would think, we shouldn´t wake up that early...but we sometimes take a lot of time getting ready (we're 3 to use a bathroom...) and we like having breakfast at ease.
So, at 10 am we started walking and walking and climbing. On the jeep to the starting point we met 2 German sisters who were traveling together, Leoni and Caroline. We hiked together for a while and got to know each other. They had lots of information and tips on South-America for us! In the 'jungle' we kind of lost them and were all of a suddend only 3 left. We arrived at the first resting point "Acaime", a natural reserve where we could see kolibri's and other beautiful birds. We had some hot chocolate with cheese and ate our lunch there.
Half our later we were on our way again. The purpose was to take another route than the one we used to climb up and this other one would take us right through the Cocora Valley. Since there were no signs and we only had to do it with the directions from other people, it was hard to decide which trail to follow. We were always in discussion when it came down to which path to take...but majority always wins, so it's good were 3 and not 2 :D
Oh, in the meantime it started to rain pretty heavy. Fog came lying down on the trees, so visibility was getting worse. Since my running sneakers were still wet from the last day horsebackriding, I had to do the trail on my allstars. I can say it was pretty slippery! I'm lucky I didn't fell, only slipped a few times.
At one point we realized we were going the wrong way and we had climbed pretty steeply for about half an hour. We had to go back down again...mierda!
We encountered another traveler who seemed to know the right way and she pointed us in the right direction. She said the last climb was a steep one, but a short one. Steep it was, short it wasn't! After reaching the top and the second resting point - where we didn't rest - we were happy we had gone through all of this trouble. The view was amazing! The rain had stopped, there was still a little fog, but it started to clear up. When looking down the valley I couldn't help it but thinking I was in a Jurassic Park movie. The only thing missing was a brachiosaurus reaching up the high palm trees to grab his dinner.
Back in the hostel we met some new people: Geena and Benny, a Swedish couple who will be doing the same trip through Colombia as us and Dean, an Israeli who had just finised his army and who was so funny and entertaining us all with his shy beatboxing and pentricks.
The last day we went with 6 of us to Azarcea, an organic coffee farm, for a coffee tour. It should be the real Colombian experience. I can agree, the tour was only in Spanish and the owner was a really nice old man. He missed out on another profession tough, he should have been a photographer! He often asked us for our camera to take a picture while we were picking berries or trying out one of his machineries.
After the tour we could taste a cup of coffee. De-li-cious!
