The next day we travelled through beautiful scenery, full of banana trees and coffee plantations until arriving in the lovely, small town of Salento. We checked into our hostel "Plantation House" which was set amongst a lush garden with stunning views of jungle valleys and coffee plantations. We strolled into town, past the charming main plaza that is surrounded by 2 storey old traditional multicoloured terraced building. We went up some steps that lead to some swings and great views of the town. Here we met Michael (UK) who was to become our friend for the next few days. We stopped for a beer in a lovely bar that had a fire pit and great views, then went to the square for more beers and to people watch. We met some local boys, aged 6, who asked me who my boyfriend was. To that i replied "both! Its normal in England to have 2 boyfriends". To which the boys fell about laughing. Michael suggested sampling the local liquor, Aguardiente, and Stu willingly obliged. Back at the hostel I cooked us dinner whilst the boys proceeded to sink the drink, which tasted like Ouzo, Yuk! More people joined us for drinks and our 1st night in Salento was alot of fun.
The next day we set off on a 5hour walk to Cocora Valley, famed for its giant wax palm trees, the national symbol of Colombia. The walk took us through lush valleys with rocky river crossing and up to an old shack restuarant. Here Stu tried the weird Colombian combo of a hot sugar cane drink called Aguapanela, that is served with a huge block of very salty and sour chesse. Fine for sandwiches, but not just with a hot drink! I was even given cheese with my hot chocolate, odd! Whilst there we met a bunch of people who were staying at our hostel. Leo, Tony(UK) Altis(Iceland) & Sonya(Canada). There were also about 5 different types of hummingbird drinking from a bird table right infront of us. They were so close that you could hear their sweet little wings beating. They were so cute, tiny and beautiful! From there we carried on up to a view of a very pointed mountain and then down into a lush valley where the giant palms lived. They really wete giant, growing up to 60m and they stand alone, making their height stand out even more. It was another one of those walks where you kept saying "Wow! it`s so beautiful here" and kept stopping to take photos.
That evening we all went for dinner and lots of red wine. The boys ended up in one of the pool halls, whilst us girls sat on a bench being winos and people watching. Back at the hostal, armed with lites of rum, we had a little party and a boogie.
The next morning we went on a coffee plantation tour. In the afternoon we all went for a walk down by the river with Ramon the guest house hand in search of mushrooms. Possible one of the most pleasant saturday afternoon I've ever had. The river was a shallow bouldered refreshing affair and the scenery equally breathtaking. To top it off we found plenty of mushrooms and giggled plenty. That night was Saturday night, so we hit the town hard. We danced salsa in streets and drank yet more rum with the locals. It was a really great evening.
The next day there was only one thing for it, A roast dinner. Ohhh, it was so good to not have rice!