Category: Colombia

It was our last morning at Alto Bonito in Salamina, and the sunshine was fierce. Martin showed off his cooking skills one final time, and my belly was full and happy as I enjoyed our views for the last few minutes.

We caught the little bus heading toward town where we booked bus tickets to get to La Pintada. We knew nothing about La Pintada other than that we could supposedly get to Jardin from there.

The bus ride had great views of the mountains the whole way, but it was also hot with way too many stops. We were a whole 10 minutes from La Pintada when they made one more stop for everyone to eat lunch.

After arriving, we started asking around for how to get to Jardin. The consensus seemed to be that we should get a bus heading to Bolombolo, and from there, we’ll get a Jardin-bound bus. So we finally agreed and waited an hour for that bus to take off.

The route was full of construction so now we had dust blowing in through the windows to stick to our sweaty skin. But the driver was fast and soon enough, we were hopping off at La Peñalisa to await our final bus. Anthony tried to leave his wallet on the bus, but a good Samaritan alerted me to it before I climbed off.

Luckily, we only had to wait 5 minutes before we were able to flag down a Rapido Ochoa bus that said Jardin on the windshield. And that bus had air conditioning! Have I said “bus” too many times yet?

At last, we made it to Jardin around 6 pm. The main plaza was filled with people eating fresh fruit from food stalls, children dancing and laughing, men sitting outside bars drinking some beers, other sitting in bars watching the soccer game. Still more were just leaving the big beautiful Church.

We checked into our hotel which directly overlooked all this action.

After freshening up, we walked around to see the town and had a pleasant dinner at Café Europa. After walking around a little longer, we decided to enjoy the action from our balcony for the evening.

We heard people outside partying until early morning, and soon after that stopped, the locals were outside sweeping, and the Church bells were ringing.

We got an early start and sat outside a café drinking our coffee. When walking around the square, a yellow pup came sprinting up to us and started biting Anthony’s legs. I thought it was hilarious, but he wasn’t so sure the pup was being friendly and couldn’t get her to stop. We walked back into our hotel with her attacking our legs the whole time. She knew not to come inside but just looked at us sadly, like we were her only friends and we had abandoned her. Once we came back outside, she followed us around, much more politely now. She became my puppy for the remainder of our time there.

After eating some breakfast, we changed to go on a hike. There are tons of tours and activities around Jardin, probably the most popular of which is the horseback riding tour to the waterfall that falls through a cave. I had wanted to do that, but we decided we weren’t going to have enough time, so instead, we did a decently long hike on a path going outside of town, looping around and coming back through a different part of town. We walked through banana trees, yucca plants, and flowers galore. We visited horses, and the world’s cutest pup visited us, running up to us whimpering for attention.

We took a slight detour and caught some incredible views of Jardin.

We came across a river and crossed the bridge over it.

We saw a waterfall through some dense trees, but there was a locked gate to get to it. After some wandering around, we found a house that provided tours to the waterfall, but first they led us through a long cave full of hundreds of bats.

We came out the other side and climbed up to the waterfall. The spray felt refreshing after our long morning of hiking uphill in the sun.

We continued our walk, coming across another waterfall on the way, this one the waterfall of love. Apparently, it guarantees that your love will last forever if you kiss in front of it. So we were sure to lock that down.

We found a little cobblestone foot path short cut the rest of the way back into town, and then we walked the streets until we found somewhere that looked good for lunch.

Next up was Medellin, so we caught a bus for the 3-3.5 hour journey. It was honestly one of the prettiest drives I’ve ever been on, gorgeous mountain and river views from both sides of the bus the whole way.

Unfortunately, I was a bit carsick from all the bumps and lurches, but we survived, experiencing urban life in Colombia for the first time, and what a change of pace it was. We grabbed an Uber to our apartment in the El Poblado neighborhood. Jaw dropped as soon as we walked in and saw our views.

We weren’t sure we even wanted to leave, but it was our only night in the city so we went out and grabbed some dinner around Parque Lleras.

We decided to check out one more place for drinks and ordered some fancy cocktails.

I was dead tired, so we decided to relax back at our balcony for the rest of the night, the evening views every bit as spectacular.

Sometimes, when I’m sitting in an airport after getting only a few hours sleep the night before, and my flight just keeps getting more and more delayed, and I’m missing my puppies back home, I start to wonder if I’m over this whole traveling thing.

But then my last plane finally lands, and I step outside the airport, and that excitement to explore somewhere new kicks in, and I realize that I’ll never be over this whole traveling thing.

And that’s how I felt when I landed in Manizales, Colombia. It was only a stopping point for us, but it looked like a worthy stay in its own right. We stayed long enough to ride the cable car across town, observing life below us and then caught a colectivo heading north.

Once we arrived in Salamina, I was no longer disappointed to have left Manizales. We picked up some wine and caught a taxi to our AirBnB, Alto Bonito, outside of town. We hung out with our hosts, Martin and his five dogs, taking in the views and eating a fantastic dinner that Martin made.

 

But after a bit, our exhaustion kicked in and we retired for the night, sleeping for nearly 12 hours. We woke up to delicious coffee and even more delicious breakfast.

We decided to walk into town so that we could enjoy the views all the way in. It was a 45 minute walk to the main plaza, and we unfortunately timed it for as soon as the clouds rolled in and hid the mountains around us, but it was still very pleasant. The weather was great, and once we got to town, we walked by the locals starting their days. Older ladies were standing outside on their balconies, talking to each other. Men were sweeping the sidewalks outside their stores. Dogs were running around in search of food and attention.

Salamina is known for its architecture, and it was obvious why. I found myself taking pictures of doors and balconies more than anything else.

But of course, the plaza is muy bonita as well. We went to a café to enjoy some coffee while staring out at the park, people watching. A great way to waste a morning.

Afterward, we walked around town, visiting the cemetary and the church. We took a break to read in the park for awhile before getting some lunch.

I will admit, Salamina is no culinary destination, particularly for vegetarians. We’re lucky we have a host that’s a fantastic cook (and a vegetarian one too). We stopped in one restaurant, and the only option for me was some carrot soup, so we ate some of that and then made our way to another restaurants that specifically mentioned vegan options outside. They didn’t have a menu, and Anthony and the server were having a hard time understanding each other and some how we ended up with more soups, a bean soup for both of us and a fish soup for Anthony that he has no idea how he ordered.

On that note, the town is known for two dishes, huevos al vapor and la macana. Huevos al vapor is simply steamed eggs, usually with chopped up hot dogs. La macana is crushed saltines with milk, butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Foodies of the world, aren’t you enticed?

We spent much of the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how we were going to get to Jardin next, which we never were able to figure out. Eventually, we got a bus to the edge of town, and we walked the rest of the way back, this time in rain.

But soon after we got back, the weather cleared up, so we wandered back down the road to appreciate the views we hadn’t gotten to see earlier. And we were so, so glad we did.

We ran into Martin walking his dogs while we were there, and he showed us a way to get through a fence to see better. Once we had our fill, we turned back.

We spent the rest of the evening just hanging out at Alto Bonito, drinking some coffee, snuggling with dogs, enjoying the fresh air.

The next day started nice and early with some yoga outside. Well, until all the beautiful pups decided they wanted attention.

Martin made us some more wonderful breakfast and then arranged for a jeep to come pick us up at 8.

Our jeep driver was friendly and funny and let us stop whenever we wanted to get pictues. Fun fact, he told us that these jeeps can fit 25 people. I call BS.

We stopped at one building on the side of the road and got us the sweetest snack I’ve ever had in my life. It was like fudge but made from potatoes. He then stopped at another place down the road to get us some berries, but the boy working said none were ready. Our driver disagreed though, and he climbed the fence to pick some for us on his own.

Our destination was Samaria in San Felix, but to get there, we had to ride over potholed dirt roads almost the entire way. It was only an 18 km drive, but it took us an hour 45 minutes, if that tells you anything. We periodically caught views of Salamina, getting smaller and smaller.

We stopped at the square in San Felix for a few minutes, and then Anthony and I hopped on top of the jeep to continue our drive to the wax palm forest, the national tree of Colombia.

Our guide awaited us when we pulled into the farm. We had the place to ourselves and had his undivided attention which was perfect. Samaria is new, in operation around two years, and is still relatively unknown. Most people travel down to Salento to visit the Cocora Valley, but I was happy we went off the beaten path for this.

Our guide was very informative, showed us two year old wax palms vs 25 year old wax palms vs 200 year old wax palms. He pointed out cool birds to us, including a toucan, some loro loros, and colibris. The hike itself went across the open field, down through the forest, across a river a couple times, and then back up. We were around 10,000 feet elevation, but luckily he took things slowly and stopped frequently to explain things, so I was never too out of breath.

We lucked out with absolutely perfect weather. It’s usually pretty chilly up there, as well as cloudy, but we had warm sunshine. All in all, a perfect tour.

We stopped and got some lunch in town on the way back, and then bounced our way home. We went back into town, and as it was a Saturday evening, Salamina was full of life. We sat in a bar on the main square and just took in all the activity around us. We walked around the park a few times, and then decided it was time for dinner.

We didn’t see any beer on the menu, but never one to be discouraged, Anthony asked the server if they had any. As is the style of Colombian people, the server said of course, and then left the restaurant to go next door and buy us some beer. He brought us some little plastic cups to pour it in, and there we had our feast.

After dinner, we caught a taxi back to Alto Bonito where we spent our last evening hanging out with Martin. And of course, the precious pups.