Salento

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Salento is a very pretty small town. We decided to stay at a hostel recommended to us by a fellow volunteer in Salasaca. I was called La Serrana or something and it it was a ten minute walk out of town into the hills. It was quite good but although it advertised hot water, there wasn't any. And it was chilly. We mentioned it to the owner, a New Yorker, who told us, "I know, I've changed the cards so that they say 'warm water'." I don't know why he bothered because this was also a lie. The hostel did have sofas, though, and a film collection, and a very cute kitten who kept sleeping with the guests.

That first day, Adam went out with some other hostel guests to find some mushrooms while Anna and I watched a movie and went to eat in town. This kind of set the standard for life in Salento - lots of movie watching and eating, although some of the eating was done back at the hostel. We tried to go souvenir shopping, but all the souvenirs in Colombia are tacky and nasty, especially compared with Ecuador and Bolivia's offerings. On the Friday, the five of us went for a 9-course brunch at a hostel in town which was cooked by a French chef. It was good and cheap but not gourmet. We were going to go for a walk in the Valle de Cocora but it was a bit late once breakfast was done with, so we watched a movie and put the walk off until the next day. Anna was feeling poorly so she didn't join us. The weather was pretty changeable but mainly wet, and the going was slippy. The Valle de Cocora is famous for some wax palms and also it's just a nice place to go for a walk. There were lots of logs over river challenge for me, which I'm particularly rubbish at, but I'm pleased to say I managed them all without falling in. I did fall over twice on the (flat) last stretch, though, and hurt the bottom of my back. It was raining hard on the way down the hill, so we stopped at a little refuge place for a drink. There were lots of humming birds there and it was amazing to hear/feel them flying so close to your head. There was also a black cockerel there which gave me the distinct impression that it was not really a cockerel but Brian Blessed dressed up as a pirate and disguised as a cockerel. When we got back, we watched a movie, just for a change.

The next morning we left Salento for Cali, and hopefully warmer climes.

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