Colombia Ellis Salento

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1/2/2010 I left popayan that night and made it to armenia at 2 in the am where I slept in the terminal before I could take a bus to salento at 5 30. Once in salento I missed the first jeeps to the valle to cocora and caught the second set at 9. Now I figured one jeep, 4 riders would be about right….try 11 put 2 in the front next to the driver, 6 in benched added to the back, 2 on the roof and another 3 hanging onto the back standing on the rear bumper. I was one of the last set, and the 40 min ride to follow was bumpy enough to warrant the 4 wheel drive. Just getting there was a workout. I walked the trail and it was absolutely amazing, the scenery is beautifula and hard to describe, the photos on facebook show it pretty well, check out the one where the woman an a horse is dwarfed by the palms 80 m tall. Then you entered a section of paramo forest where you felt like you were deep ion the jungle, I saw a few neon blue humming birds and a rainbow bird that looked like a small parrot. After exitig the forest I snapped a photo of one of the soldiers on the trail who was cool with it andf got to ride a horse for a while , when a family passing by wasn’t using all theirs and a girl offered me one for a while…you can call me cowboy Dan now. I made the choice to chill on the mountain for an hour, eating a mango, and tanning since it was so nice. BAD IDEA, it may seem plesant but im so white from winter and the elevation is so high I turned bright red. Right now…im writng this 6 days later and im peeling. It just started to stop hurting yesterdday. That night I went back to town to chill, eat dinner, and swear id wear sunscreen in the future.

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