It was tipping it down when the alarm woke us up. The alarm has been getting far too much use recently but this time it was not to get an early bus, we were hoping to go on a walk. 'Hoping' as the current rain was an issue, however going by the din on the roof I couldn't see it keeping it up and decided to get ready. Liz on the other hand was not convinced and stayed in bed.

Forget nuts when you look at bird feeders in Solento - they have Hummingbirds and 'necta' feeders. They had one of these at the hostel complete with little flowers painted on so that the birds know where to aim for. Trying to get a decent picture of these whilst chomping on my breakfast started the day off nicely.

I love it when I am right, the rain stopped and I was faced with the warty issue of getting Liz out of bed. This was easier than expected and within an hour we were directed to a jeep that would take us up to Valle de Cocora.

How many can you fit in a small jeep? Answer: 11, three on the frount seat, five in the back and three hanging off the step at the back. Through all the close quarter bodies I could see some of the countryside rolling past. I thought it looked a bit like the Lake District in England, probally because of the cows, rolling mountains and lush grass due to all the rain. It even had some dry stone walling but the illusion was shattered by the very distinctive wax palms.

According to the guide book that I am only just reading, this is one of the most important areas for Wax Palms (the national tree and amongst the tallest trees in the world). These trees make the place look unreal, they are spaced well apart, unnaturaly lanky but more importantly look good.

We set off on the walk with the group in the jeep. All apart from one were wearing Wellington Boots that were rented out by the hostals. The reason why we were strongly advised to part with some cash soon became apparent - the path was a quadmire. A barbed wire fence ran down both sides of the path to ensure you or the cows didn't stray. The firmest ground was right by the fence, however you had to be careful it was a narrow path between being snagged by the fence or sliding down into the mud below.

There was an alternative to the mud, either rent a horse or cross the fence into green pastures. It took one to go for it and like sheep the rest followed. Crossing the fence also got you away from the mud that splatters up from the half submerged horses - it was eco vandalism but as the first person said we had no choice.

The gain in altitude brought us into cloud forest and in addition to mud dodging we had numerous swollen river crossings to negociate. To make it just possible half foot diameter trunks were layed across to form primitive bridges. Staying dry meant you passed the balance test.

With the bridges behind us the next issue was which path to take at an unexpected tee junction. I was expecting a single circular path, however the sign post indicated that we had to make a choice but was more confusing than helpful in that decision. We guessed go right, 20 minutes later we were within sight of a wooden building with hot chocolate, a lump of cheese and hummingbirds.

This place was simply heaving with different varieties of hummingbirds. You could hear and feel their wings as they darted past you. Any grumblings about the mud were soon forgotten as we set about getting that perfect shot.

Feeling better after the stop we headed back down to the sign where we took the alternative route back. Rather than go down this took us up further to just below 3000m. We signed a book at the top and this time set off downhill along the valleys ridge. This was the nicest part of the walk and good for getting close to the Wax Palms.

It was a good beautiful walk and a good way to kill time before getting a night bus North.