Before going to bed the previous night I had asked the big man (he was a big guy) running the little camp site we were at to wake me up for the sunrise. It was pretty fair to assume that it would be pretty stunning being in the desert and all. I’m pretty sure he did actually wake me up, but it’s not like I jumped right out of bed. I think I missed the better shots but it was still nice to get up early and get going.

Early morning sun...

That said, our guide Chopo had actually arranged to come and pick us up at 730 am to get going and do some walking. He claimed that it was best to get going early to avoid the scorching afternoon heat and who were we to disagree. I think we actually ended up leaving the site at about 830, Chopo decided to make a little extra money by driving some other people back to Villavieja from the desert, while Devi and I tried to wake up a bit.

When Chopo returned we were off. The first part of our tour was to a spot about 500 meters from our camp, why we drove, I just don’t know. Anyways, this portion of the “desert” looked very much like the desert we, have here in California and Arizona. The fun thing though was the fact that Devi had never actually been in a desert and this was her first taste of cactus, pillars of dirt and all that jazz. She was pretty excited to say the least. For me, it was neat, but I was just happy to be somewhere that was a little out there. This is a part of Colombia that not a lot of people get to and it was nice to finally find a place where there was some quiet.

Desert

There’s more…

DK (that’d Dave for those of you who don’t know him by “DK”), that slut!

Dave left this morning, his flight was pretty early in the morning and I think had woken me up to say “goodbye” but honestly, I don’t/didn’t remember it.

As I mentioned in the last post in the last two days now we’d lost Marie, Pia, Caro and now Dave. So, it was just Devi and I and our plan was to continue traveling on together. But, before we were to leave Bogota there was one last thing I wanted to check out, the Museo de Oro (Gold Museum). I have to be honest, I wasn’t really that interested in it but I’d heard from a few people, including Dave, that it was worth checking out.

This was some creepy room in the museum that was filled with gold trinkets…

After the museum our plan was to head to El Desierto de Tatacoa which is a “desert” just outside of Villavieja, south of Bogota. We didn’t really know how to get there or what we would do once we were there but we were going to go for it anyways.

I can’t recall too much from our bus trip except for the fact that our bus was awful. It had no air conditioning and their were bugs perhaps sand flies, not really sure what they were but it was annoying as hell.

We had heard that once the bus stops in Nieva we’d then have to catch a collectivo (or a smaller bus) to viellavieja and then from there a moto-taxi into the desert. We’d also heard that the collectivo’s don’t run too late to viellavieja and even if you make it, it’s even harder to find a moto-taxi at that point to take you into the desert. But, it just happened that luck was in our favor.

Don’t stop reading now…

Dave showed up at our hostel in Bogota early in the morning. Once Marie, Devi and I were awake we decided to venture out for breakfast before Marie’s flight. We had a hard time choosing a place and eventually when we did, I for some reason had a tamale for breakfast. Bad decision. It’s not that it made me sick or anything, it was just gross.

Marie'

Anyways, we had a nice meal reminiscing about where and what the four us had done together and of course talked about keeping in touch which hasn’t exactly happened yet (it will, right?). Afterward, we delivered Marie back to the hostel so she could get her bags and watched as she got in her cab and headed for the airport.

Once Marie left, Devi, Dave and I got our stuff together and got ready to make something of our day. Our first tourist activity was to head to Montserrat which is a cathedral high up on a high which overlooks all of Bogota. Seeing as we had gotten birds eye views of other place we’d been in Colombia we didn’t want to leave Bogota out. I had also heard from someone back home that at Montserrat you could purchase these really cool flasks which are made out of animal hoofs. Gotta have one of those right?

In order to get to the top of Montserrat there are there options. You can walk, you can take a cable car or you can take the ferrocarril which is like a tram. Because it was a weekday the walking trail was actually closed. Apparently during the week this walk is extremely dangerous for whatever reason but during the weekends, when there is mass at the cathedral and there are a ton of people using the trail it’s much safer. It also turns out that the day we were there the cable car was being worked on so our only option was the ferrocarril.

Cruising in our Ferrocarril

Once we got to the top we had to walk a bit more until we actually take in the views. The ferrocarril ride and the short walk were well worth the view.

Keep reading and witness the Pony Malta challenge…

In the morning, after putzing around for awhile it was time to go out and explore the city. Devi and Marie left the hostel a little bit before me and we had tentative plans to meet up at Plaza Bolivar, not too far from the hostel.

I didn’t really have any plans for the day, really just wanted to wander around and get safely lost. My first stop was Plaza Bolivar. I didn’t end up finding Marie and Devi but I wasn’t too upset. I was actually kind of looking forward to having the day to myself. As it turns out, I think they actually got separated as well.

I hadn’t heard too much about safety issues in the city itself so I wasn’t really all that concerned. I did however decide to avoid the buses as I figured that was probably the easiest way to get seriously lost. My sense of direction was pretty off kilter so I either walked or took taxis, although I rarely did that.

After cruising around the center of the city for a bit I decided it was time to make my way out. Not to far bear in mind, but just away from the hustle and bustle of the center. I eventually decided to cruise out to Universidad Nacional de Colombia which is Colombia’s largest and most prestigious public university. It’s also where, if there are any, student protests go down. I didn’t expect to see much happening I just thought it would be cool to see what it was like much like I did when I was in Medellin.

Graffiti on the Universidad Nacional Campus

Universidad Library

What are you looking at?

Keep reading, good story ahead…

Waking up to quite a bit of rain Devi, Marie and I weren’t too bummed to be leaving Salento and getting on a bus headed for Bogota. As I had mentioned, Dave was going to stay another night at a retreat called Eagles Nest (or something like that) outside of Salento, as he’d already spent some time in Bogota.

The four of us though did go out for breakfast before leaving so that we wouldn’t be starving when we got on our 9 hour bus to Bogota. We ended up at a pretty sweet little spot right in the town and somehow I ended up having meat and beans for breakfast. Don’t ask how, it just happened, it was pretty good though.

We're ready for breakfast!

Breakfast of... champions?

The bus stop in Salento just so happens to be right in front of the firehouse. So, since we were waiting, Devi, Marie and I decided that it would be a splendid idea to take some pictures of us on some antique looking fire engines. Once we got the firemen involved they actually invited us to climb up on top and sit in the cab of their newest truck but as we were doing so our bus came screeching by and we had to run to catch it. I was pretty disappointed to not get those pictures but oh well.

Oh, it was interesting bus ride… read on!

Like I had mentioned yesterday, Dave had decided to wake up early to get an early ride out to Valle de Cocora where as Devi and I decided to sleep in a little bit later and take a 9 o’clock ride. We had heard from previous hikers that taking gum boots, wellingtons, whatever you’d like to call them with us was a good idea as rain was frequent and the trails in the Valle could often be muddy. We had heard correctly, boots were definitely useful and we were glad to have them.

As it turns out another gentleman we had met in Medellin, saw again in Manizales and was now here in Salento with us, was also going to be taking the 9 o’clock ride to the Valle. We were actually a few minutes late for the 9 o’clock ride and were originally told that we’d have to for the 1030. Luckily, we gathered a group of 7 people and were off. The drivers usually only go with 8 but because I was inpatient and didn’t feel like waiting any longer I decided to pay for myself and an invisible person so that we could leave more promptly. It wasn’t as though I was spending a fortune, I think it cost me a total of $4.

We arrived at the entrance to the hike and really weren’t quite sure what to do. There were a couple signs pointing in various directions so we just decided to jump on the one that a few people in front of us had taken. The hike itself starts off in some pastures which have majestic wax palms scattered throughout. Valle de Cocora, I believe, is known for these palms and they are one of the main reasons people come to visit and hike.

Wax Palms

We didn’t really know what to expect once we made it past the portion of the walk with the palms but kept on trudging along. I half expected to run into Dave at some point but then again I had no idea which route he had taken. As it turns out, we didn’t run into him until we were back in Salento.

So… we kept on walking. Eventually we started seeing these signs about every 100 meters telling us that there was a 3000 peso coverage charge ($1.50) which came with a snack and a drink but we had no idea where this was and were getting quite annoyed with the number of signs, they were everywhere. So, like I said, we kept walking. We came across a waterfall, crossed a few bridges, some actual bridges, others just logs lying across the river which were all fun to cross.

After walking for roughly three hours we finally made it to Acaime which is where the signs telling of the cover charge are directing you. Devi and I paid, had a drink and rested for a bit. I actually asked the proprietors whether or not they had seen Dave and they had but it had been several hours earlier. After a bit it was time to move along.

Devi and I headed off in the same direction from where we came but at a certain point in the trail decided to take another path back to the entrance. It had started raining at this point so the going was tough, especially since we were climbing up hill, but I enjoyed it none the less. The views from where we were headed were supposed to be phenomenal but given the rain and cloud cover there really wasn’t much to see.

On our decent we ran into a bunch of school kids who had come out to Cocora for a field trip. They were probably high school aged and we had a good time chatting with them. I’m pretty sure they had a good time laughing at our expense but they also took the time to teach us some local slang which is always fun.

And what did we do that evening? Read on and find out!

Once again it was time to move along. From Manizales we would be heading to Salento, also in the Zona Cafetera with goals of going to Valle de Cocora to do some hiking and see some gorgeous scenery.

For some reason that I can’t quite recall, Dave and I would be leaving for Salento before Marie and Devi (they would be meeting us later). In order for us to get from Manizales to Salento we would have to catch a bus first to Pereira and then depending on what time we made it there either straight to Salento or Salento via Armenia. I’m pretty sure that Dave and I managed to get from Pereira to Salento without having to go through Armenia but again, I don’t quite recall the details.

We did however arrive in Salento while there was still some sunlight. Once we got settled at the Plantation House Hostel in Salento Dave and I decided to go out and check out the town. While walking around we passed by this little cafe/gallery that was up some interesting steps so without anything holding us back we decided to have a look. At the top we were greeted by a woman who spoke very good English and took us into her small gallery. It turned out this was also her home which she shared with her mother. After talking to her for awhile she let us know that she and her mother prepare home cooked vegetarian meals out of their kitchen as a quasi restaurant. Being intrigued Dave and I made arrangements to come back the following night with Marie and Devi for dinner. Devi is a vegetarian so we were fairly confident that everyone would be happy. You’ll have to wait until my next post to find out just how this meal went.

The trip continues…