Cail and Salento - Columbia

So far we are loving Columbia. Guerilla warfare of recent years is no longer a common threat in most areas, and due to a huge amount of money spent by the government, the police presence is strong and combat ready and very visible. This has pushed the guerillas further into the jungle, making the country accessible to travellers. Army and police walk the streets everywhere in groups with weapons slung over their shoulders, making things seem safer rather than scary.

Added to this, Columbia is generally a really clean, hygienic, organised country with the friendliest people who will go out of their way to assist travellers and be helpful. The weather is hot, facilties are good and its not over-run with tourists. We are glad we changed out plans to come here.

We spent 2 nights in Cali, Columbia´s third largest city which is centred around a river and the Avenue Sexta which splits the city in half. Its a big city with big buildings, big banks, big roads. Cali is not necessarily beautiful, nor does it have many sites to check out, but its hot and sultry and vibrant and is the home to salsa music. So when in Rome/Columbia...i learnt to salsa. Sexta Ave is lined with large clubs and discoteques and salsateques and whilst Tuesday is the quiet night in town, we hit the busiest club where lots of young Columbian men and women were on the dancefloor. With a few Aguadientes under my belt (the main drink around here, it´s similar to Sambucca but not quite as potent and drunk as a shot with salt and lime), i was encourgaged on to the dancefloor with 2 Columbian guys from the hostel. We danced to salsa and also merengue which is a 2-step style dance and much easier. As they told me, everywhere dances here. This is what you do when you got out, and its the means for being social with the opposite sex. I cant say i was great at salsa, but it was a fun night til the music changed and loud techno music belted out and a crazy funny strip show thing for the ladies occured which is all apprently very common.

Whilst in Cali, we visited the Zoologica or simply Zoo, which was really well laid out and maintained in lovely grounds and featured lots of pumas and big cats, plus the whole gammet of zoo animals including even kangaroos. It was a really nice day til we reaslied we had been bitten by invisible midgies again and were now in for a few days of excricuating itchiness.

We hit the road again, heading for the Zona Cafetera region and a small town called Salento. We stayed in a great hostel on an old restored coffee plantatation and realxed for 3 days in the tranquil setting. The landscape in this region is beautiful and there are rolling green hills reminiscent of Scotland or somewhere, plus lovely farmhouses and green trees everywhere. We walked through the coffee plantation and were explained the processes involved, and also saw the many blackberry and banana plantations interwined between coffee plants. And of course we drank loads of delicious coffee which we have been lacking throughout our Sth American sojourn so far. As is often the way, the best local products get exported and until now, our caffiene addiction has been quenched by instant coffee or bad tea. So we rejoiced and drank it up.

Salento is a cool little town with a spacious main plaza with a few restuarants and bars and arty shops around it, and 1 main street. The style is colourful and like a Western saloon. The local characters in this story wear gum boots and somberos for working in the plantations. There are 2 billard bars, and also a venue for playing a game called Tejo. The game is played undercover and involves throwing a metal disk or puck along a kind of playing alley. You aim for a clay pit where there are pieces of gunpowder in the middle which explode when you hit it and is the ultimate score. For those who know our Sunday Games in the Park days, its similar to Bocci Golf, but with gunpowder and a similar amount of disregard for safety. With unspoken experience in this kind of game, the locals were suitably impressed at Jebs aim and ability to hit the gunpowder.

Just outside Salento, we set of for a hike through the Valley Cocora and witnessed the huge wax plam trees scattered throughout a stunning area of farming and hillsides. The wax palms are unique to this region and grow to about 70m and are now protected. The hike ventured out of open surrounds, and into a beautiful, lush rainforest trail and ended up at a house where we were served coffee by the owners and watched the hummingbirds flitter all around us. They are super fast birds and taking a picture was a challenge but you could get so close to them as they drank from the bird feeders filled with panela syrup water, which Columnians also substitute for sugar in coffee and a straight hot drink too. We rode back in the jeep which serves as a kinda of bus, but obviosuly with alot less seats and Jeb gladly snatched up seat on the roof making for a thrilling ride.

Off next to the town of Medellin, Pablo Escabor territory.