It all worked out fine in the end! Diary of an older woman travelling solo in Colombia.

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All the references on the web describe Salamina as a quiet, sleepy sort of place. I have never heard such nonsense. The place is absolutely buzzing well into the evening, which would be fine if it weren't for the traffic. Turns out that this house is on the corner of one of the main routes into town. I still don't understand why there is such a lot of traffic as the road we came in on is hardly a recommended throughway. Anyway there are motor bikes roaring past all the time and lorries start thundering by at about five in the morning. Fortunately the son has kept his promise and I have been moved to an interior room which has only a skylight - not exactly free of traffic noise but muted.

In other respects I have gone right off him. As I suspected yesterday, I was manoeuvred into agreeing to pay for his visit to the coffee finca. To be fair it would have cost me the same had I gone on my own (but I would probably have explored other alternatives.) Also he explained (in Spanish) to me what the owner was saying so got a lot more out of the visit than otherwise would have done. But still, I hate being manoeuvred into a corner. The finca is very primitive and they use no machinery in the fields because of the steep slope. Horses carry the sacks up to the house. There was this sort of thrown together wooden platform which is used to remove the shells from the beans. I never knew that coffee beans when ripe had a bright red shell and that the beans were creamy white before roasting. What was disappointing was that the owner claimed to show you the while process from bean to cup but we missed out on the roasting (which I think he does in a frying pan - I might have got that wrong!) and most of the drying is done elsewhere. We had lunch there for the usual 7000 pesos which was just about edible but really am getting to the point where I would rather pay more for something better - which does not seem to be available here. I even paid for the son's lunch as he showed no signs of forking out until he reimbursed me for this later. I suspect his mother had had words with him. On the way back he did take me into a greengrocer so I could see the different fruits which I am not familiar with. They actually taste more exotic than they look and I will never remember which is which.

In the afternoon I shot off on my own before he could suggest any more joint activities. Someone on Lonely Planet Thorntree forum had suggested getting a bus to a village nearby, which has terrific views, and then walking back. He was right. I just love this countryside. In the distance you can see a whole series of mountain ranges, if you are lucky with the weather, and immediately in front of you is the green valley covered in luxuriant vegetation, cultivated fields and meadows with cows grazing. A lot of the houses have red tiled roofs like in Tuscany or Galicia and brightly coloured painted walls with lots of flowers everywhere. It was a lovely walk along a road which is mostly unpaved and has very little traffic

Colombians seem to major on drinks rather than food. With lunch came ‘agua panela’ which is made with the brown loaf sugar they produce here and in this case flavoured with lemon. I stopped for a 'kumis' at a café with amazing views. Still don't know what is in this local drink apart from fermented milk but it appears to be a sort of thin yogurt. The owner let me taste the flavourings that went into it and assured me I didn't have to pay if I didn't like it. Actually I did. He sat down to talk with me (business was slow) but conversation was difficult as I don't know Spanish /Colombian words related to crops/agriculture! Without my asking, he told me how to make sure I was on the right route home, which was kind. I did stop a guy on a motorbike to check the way. He offered to take me back to Salamina but as the only time I have ever been on a scooter I came off I declined.

In the evening had the usual local dish of cremated meat/fish with rice, banana and soggy salad (which, of course, you are advised not to eat in areas where the water is not safe to drink, such as here).

Unfortunately in spite of my quiet room I didn' t sleep well last night as have a dodgy tummy. Took two immodium and hope that this will do the trick.

Two Germans who I had had my photo taken with in the Tourist Office, for their publicity material presumably, turned out to be staying here. I was very jealous of the son’s Spanish until it emerged that he studied this at university, has lived in Venezuela and Spain, has a Colombian wife and has visited here lots of times.

Went off to the market hoping to see mules arriving with sacks of coffee on their backs. Not a mule in sight but loads of people arriving with sacks including on the public transport jeeps. I really want a photo of one of these with people hanging off all around them and sitting on the top on sacks but so far they have been moving too fast for me to capture. I went to the coffee buyer whom I had been introduced to a couple of days ago and watched the process. He weighs, takes samples, tramples on some or even looks at dubious beans under a special light before offering a price. Afterwards had a very good cup of coffee at a place recommended by the son. He was right about it - most coffee available here is poor as the best is exported and the Colombians don't seem to demand high quality.

Set off to do a walk along a road to a recreational area with a swimming pool recommended by the Tourist Office. I kept getting delayed by people who I asked the way of who then wanted to chat and by a woman who clearly wanted me to take a picture of her balcony. They have a tradition here of using elaborate wooden carvings on doors, balconies etc as well as inside their houses. It was a bit hot for walking and nobody else was doing this. I kept looking out for jeeps, which stop on demand, but it is very difficult to be sure that they are public service ones until it is too late and they have gone past. Also most of them were choc a bloc. I may be adventurous but I am not hanging on to the back of one or climbing up on to the top - not even sure how you do that!

Los Mangos was ramshackle in a typical Colombian (South American way?) but the swiming pool was deserted so took the opportunity for a dip. When I asked the guy in charge, who turned out to be the owner's son, where there was a place to eat this turned into a half hour chat. His father had put the place up when the road had been built and tons of earth left lying around. Most interestingly, he turned out to be a supporter of the notorious Pablo Escobar (the drugs baron). In his opinion there had been more business opportunities when he was around and he only started having politicians killed when they started interfering in his activities!! He had done a lot of good for the country (because he was wealthy?) This young man was five at the time of Escobar's death! We talked about lots of other things. He remarked that I had 'la vida deliciosa' because I was able to travel so much. People here couldn't afford to and his father had never seen the sea although I suspect that might have been from choice. He's right - I feel very privileged.

I went off to a charmingly lopsided cafe made mainly out of cane for lunch and discovered they only had chorizo with bread or arepa. Saturday was a slack day with everybody at the market. The chorizo was homemade and the young woman was actually smoking some more over an open wood fire near where I was sitting. She told me she should have been preparing empanadas to cook over the same fire but had been distracted by chatting to me! Asked her whether they learnt English in school and she said only the most basic stuff such as numbers. When you go to the loo in these places, which is surprisingly clean, it is also the family bathroom with toothbrushes and clothes around.

On the way back I had hoped not to walk as it was uphill all the way but the jeeps were all full. A car driven by a young man stopped to offer me a lift and his passengers waved cheerfully at me when I declined. I'm sure it would have been perfectly safe but decided to be sensible.

Then when I got back had to be sociable again and chat to the mother as I had been offered water and juice. And they ask if it is lonely travelling on your own! Salento, where I am going tomorrow, is much more touristy so don't expect to be quite the focus of interest that I appear to be here.

Just in case you think I have a rose- tinted view of Colombians, I can report that I had a bad experience this evening. Walked into a pizza place and could immediately tell the staff, a young woman and her father, weren' t interested even though there was hardly anybody else in. After a 20 minute wait I saw dough being rolled out for a pizza and, suspecting it was mine, asked how much longer. On being told 10 minutes, which was obviously a gross underestimate since it hadn't even been made, I paid for my beer and walked out. Am afraid have got very used to attentive and smiling service!

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