Salento & Thousands of Wax Palms

Even though we left Colombia behind on the 19th of February we have to let you take part on our last Colombian experience!

When we arrived in Salento at 2000 meters, situated in the coffee region, we had as usual no big idea of how long we were going to stay. But on the second day we decided to book a cheap flight from the nearby Pereira to Panama which also meant that we definitely burried our plans of going to Panama by boat. So we knew that we have plenty of time to discover the many incredibly beautiful places around Salento.

First of all we got to see lots of really cool, colourful birds in the gardens of Plantation House, where we lodged. Among them one of our favourites, the tiny hummingbird...but do not worry we have not become fanatic birdwatchers...!

The owner of Plantation House also runs a small coffee farm. On a tour through the fields we got to know the most important things about growing colombian coffee.

And learned about the whole process from the red or yellow coffeebeans on the plants to the dried pale beans ready to be roasted. We also could wander around on the coffeefarm and see all the different other plants and fruits they grow there. Such as pineapples, bananas, blackberries, strawberries, lemons and oranges as well as a big bamboo forest.

Most of the people visit Salento because it is the gateway to the Valle de Cocora, famous for its wax palm (Ceroxylon quindiuense), which is the national tree of Colombia.

It is really weird to see palms at this altitude...the reason they grow there is because the wind carried the seeds all the way from the coast up to the highlands. The result are the forests full of up to 60 meters high palm trees, swaying gently as the wind blows. It is really cool to stand in the middle of it and watch to the top.

An other fantastic experience was our overnight stay up on 3000 meters on a remote farm (finca), only accessible by a four-wheel-drive car, by foot or by horse. Omar and his family lived from growing and harvesting potatoes but ten years ago they changed to cattle farming because of the climate change. You still can see the terraces all over the hills.

The dimension of their land is incredible...standing on a hill and looking around means you only see their property! We think something like that is impossible to see in Switzerland!

On the arriving day we visited one of the most beautiful places we found in Colombia. It is an other valley full of wax palms, but ten times more than in Valley the Cocora. It is a privat owend property and not developed for the tourism. It is a real secret that only locals know and only a few foreign tourists have been there. Omar told us we are around visitor number 50. This is the case because he just opend his farm for tourism about a month ago and he is the first farmer in this area who started the business. We are very happy that we got to know Omar, his family and that natural wonder!

Sorry, there are no good pictures from this area because it is not possible to picture that beauty.

On the second day we got an early start, milking the cows, drinking freshfresh milk with brandy...what a delight!

We are really glad that we could finish our Colombian travels by visiting this place!

By the way the name of this place is: EL ROCIO, whoever visits this area should ask us for the contact details!

Feliz Cumpleaños HOMBRE !

Hombre haerzlechi Gratulation zum Geburtstag !
Leider hei mir nid mit Dir choenne astosse, drum hei die zwoei naette Duetsche muesse dra gloube...hehehe...

Cartagena and going South

As it is been long since our last entry and we have been to lots of great places AND as this is our last day in Colombia, we are going to post some fotos and describe briefly where it was and so on...


CARTAGENA DE LOS INDIOS

Cartagena is one of the most important and surely the biggest colonial city in Colombia.
On the first of February we had to say goodbye to our friend Dani, who flew back home.
We took the four hour bus to Cartagena and finally left Taganga behind.
Cartagena has a really beautiful and super clean old town where we enjoyed sightseeing and wandering around. But living in this part of town is totally overpriced as it is a major tourist attraction in Colombia.
After two days we were saturated of the big city life and headed off by boat to Playa Blanca. As the name says it is a classical beach with white, fine sand. It looks like an advertisement picture of a travel agencie. We wanted to escape the daytrippers and stayed overnight, sleeping in hammocks just by the water and eating fresh fish cooked by our lovely host Jose.
What else?



MOMPOX

Our first stop on the way South, Mompox is not the easiest way to reach. Bus, boat and taxi that is what you need to arrive in this hot, charming town at the banks of the mighty Magdalena river. There is not much to do, but we ended up staying four days because of the laid back athmosphere and its charme. Fourty degrees during the day forces the always smiling inhabitantes to take life slowly and relax in the famous Momposian rocking chairs.
In the evenings as the air cooled down to 29° or so, the main plaza is the place where the whole town gathers around the many foodstalls. The fairly cheap food allows them to also it out once in a while.
Trying all the different meals, such as Salchipapas, Pollo a la Plancha con Yucca, Butifarras, Perros calientes, Hamburguesas and Pizzas, drinking juices and local beers, chatting with fellow travellers and locals, turned out as our daily ritual in the evenings...



MEDELLIN

Famous throughout the world because of Pablo Escobar and his drug cartel.
Going further south we had to pass through this big and modern city.
On the first day we took advantage of the unique and very handy Metro whichlead us to some of the sights, as the botanical gardens and the recently built caple car connecting some outskirts with the city center.
Also we hanged around the Plaza Botero, home to more than twenty of Botero's sculptures. Botero ist Colombias most recognized painter and sculptor with an unique style - characterized by the abnormal fatness of his figures.
In the evenings wearing sweaters, long pants and sneakers, we enjoyed italian and mexican food inclusive a glass of vino tinto in Medellin's upperclass zone, the Zona Rosa.
We also have to mention that we found a real french baguette and prepared some delicious sandwiches for lunch...well, food is indeed very important and we could write a huge enty about this topic :-)
PS @ Dani: Sorry das mir kes Foeteli choei poste vo naette Silicones, hesch nid viu voerpasst, aes het fasch keni ume gha...



MANIZALES

Manizales is one of the three gateways to the Zona Cafetera.
We did not expect too much of the town itself but it turned out very funny because of Juan, an emloyee of the hostel, and his freaky friends. Most of them are Art and Design students at the uni and are "taging" and "graffiting" all over the town, they took us to a nice little lookout to watch the sunset and to a local Salsa bar. We also got to know how 20 to 24 year old students go out on a low budget: Botellones!
The first night we cooked some delicious veggie-ratatouille for some of them. They were very impressed about our preparation and loved it.
The second evening they introduced us to a local dish called Aborrajado, which is Plantain-patties filled with cheese and bocadillo, a sweet fruity gelee, covered in a dough and fried in a pan. Tambien muy delicioso pero con mucha grasa.
We also got to know a part of the amazing nature around Manizales...there are lots of green hills and it reminded us of the Swiss Emmental. We visited a natural park where we saw a garden with medical plants, a butterfly farm and finally an amazing forest full of beautiful orchids...Fabi was going crazy !

Grues ad Langethaler Fasnaechtler us uesem Dschungu...

Mir wuensche de Langethaler Fasnaechtler und bsungers am Pizzi ae fantastischi Fasnacht!

Ou mir hei aes paar Erfahrige im Dschungu gsammlet...

Heit Dir eigentlech no Schnee? Isch dr Umzug ueberhoupt mueglech oder gheit aer i Schnee?

Parque Nacional de Tayrona

After a couple of days of recovering at the Tagangan beaches, sipping on delicious fruitjuices, we headed of to the nearby nationalpark of Tayrona. We were a group of five...us two, Dani, Isa and Nora from Zurich...

The public transport drops you of at the park entrance, from we walked 1.5hours to the campsite of Cabo de San Juan. Having arrived, we were surprised by the amount of people staying there. The Camping was almost full and we kind of could get the last five sleeping places in the hammocks...its acctually a comfy way of sleeping but this time was not as relaxing as there were no mosquito nets and its just full of these nasty insects! After two nights Danis face looked like teenage-acne...

The beaches though are very pretty with lots of clean white sand and cristal clear water. There are other places in the park to sleep but we decided to go to Cabo because you can swim there. Elsewhere its forbidden to swim due to strong and dangereous currents. So we experienced three quality beachdays in the park, having good chats and fun.

A very negative fact is the food...the best option is to bring and cook your own meals. As we did not have the right equipment, we had to rely on the only restaurant in the camp. Thats one reason we headed back to Taganga on the third day.