Easter week (Semana Santa as it's called here) is a big holiday period for the locals. This meant that everything in Salento got booked up very quickly, so I booked into a hostel in a nearby city called Armenia. We left Medellin in the morning, around 10ish, reaching Armenia around 6pm. The journey there was absolutely stunning, through countryside and mountains.

We checked into Los Juanes hostel, around 10 minutes from the centre on a bus, having bought some food to cook for ourselves. The hostel itself was awesome. The owner, Danillo, a Bogotan who had lived and worked in New York bought the place when he retired. It had a pool, pool table, small football pitch and a basketball net. After cooking a meal of pasta and vegetables, we played a bit of pool and I chatted to a Colombian family who were on their vacation.

The next morning the family very kindly gave us a lift into Salento. They were headed to a church in the town, before hitting six more churches in nearby Pareira. Just after telling me this, the father also told me that in Pareira you can find carwashes where women use their breasts to clean your windscreen. If ever there was a reason to rent a car.......

We arrived into Salento around 10am. Robin and I had arranged to meet Will (the American from the hostel in Medellin) at 11am so we spent the time in the town square and buying some provisions for the day. Once Will arrived we jumped in one of the Willy's Jeeps which took us to the entrance.

We decided to trek the Finca de la Montaña route. We walked beautiful hilsides covered in tall, straight-trunked palms (the tallest in the world I'm told), alongside a small river and in hillside forests. The route itself was hard work, at around 3,000m above sea level, you could feel the effects of the altitude. We spent two tough hours climbing a steeply inclined path through the jungle. We finally came to an opening in the forest where we stopped for lunch. There was no panoramic view, but the walk had been really interesting, with all kinds of flaura and fauna on show. It was also incredible how quiet and peaceful it was up there (except for our heavy breathing of course!)

Fed but exhausted, we headed back down. This was a mch quicker journey, taking just 40 minutes or so.

Once we reached the entrance again, Will shouted us a much needed beer and e chatted while we waited for our Willy's Jeep back. It was an interesting journey. All the seats were full so we had to stand on the back of the jeep, on a tiny platform and hang on for dear life as the driver navigated the windy rural roads. Once we reached town, I was exhilerated but breathed a sigh of relief. My biceps had gotten their first workout in weeks as I clung onto the jeep.

Robin and I said our goodbyes to Will and headed back to Armenia to get rested and ready for the next day's trip to Cali.