Blogs from Quindío, Colombia, South America - page 10

We had two options - a thirty minute jeep ride at 7.30am or a three hour walk. It was a no brainer. Out came the boots. Yes, I would rather walk for three hours than get up early. Even missing the jeep, we still left Salento the wrong side of nine o´clock for my liking. And so we walked, winding down from Salento into the Valle de Cocora. After the steep twisty descent we crossed the Rio Quindio and made our way along country lanes lined with eucalyptus trees. Halfway to Cocora, a young lad was herding about ten calves down the lane behind us. James used his farming instinct and correctly pointed ahead at the field the cows were heading towards. The lad nodded. How James knew which one beats me - there seemed to ... read more

Day 726 (25.03.09) Having had some more leisurely starts to our days it came as a bit of a shock when we got up for the 7.30am jeep from Salento out to Cocora for another day of walking. With its huge, lanky looking rubber palms and stunning walking it is an obvious and not to be missed days walking if you're in the area and we set off excited for more exercise and fresh air. Cramming 12 (not including the driver) onto our jeep which has seats for only 6 we ended up with Mark on the roof and many more hanging onto the back and sides of the jeep. We took the stunning 20 min drive out to the start of the walk where with all the passengers getting off you could almost hear the ... read more

Day 723 (22.03.09) Today was filled with bus travel as we made our way into Colombia's Zona Cafetera, first to the large town of Armenia and then on towards Salento an hour up the road. We passed through lush countryside and stunning views of the dramatic hills that make up this area and arrived into the town's main square just as night was falling. The plaza was full of revellers supping on beers and sitting around in food tents and the usual band of stray dogs that you find everywhere in this continent were running rings around excited kids. We learned that this was a long weekend for a festival celebration. It lent a great party atmosphere to the town but we soon found it was going to cause us a problem with accomodation with all ... read more

In Colombia during Christmas, almost anywhere you go you will see Christmas lights... but Im not just talking about plain old Christmas lights you see on Christmas trees... Im talking huge displays of lights in the shape of flowers, animals, people, cars etc. called alumbrados. I had heard of these lights my whole life, so when I went to Colombia and saw just how amazing they were I couldn't believe it! The ones I saw in Cali and in Armenia are located in huge parks. I dont know where they store these after Christmas is over because I imagine they'd need a warehouse to store them, they're so big! I really enjoyed Christmas in Colombia. Los alumbrados are something unique and special in Colombia. You have families hosting novenas, which are a series of traditional prayers ... read more

We have seen The World, and it's massive. Huge! It's 644 feet long and 98 feet wide and is occupied by the kind of people whose idea of a property crash is striking an iceberg. And when we saw it, it was floating (somehow) out of Cartagena harbour like a morbidly obese person attempting to negotiate a rather small door. The fact that the world's most frivolous housing estate was blocking our view of the sky in one of the most picturesque cities on earth (we couldn't see the sky for the world - is that profound or just ponsey?) was a sign that we had arrived in a city that even the moneyed hoity toity consider worth a visit- and it's been a while since we were in one of those places. But we know ... read more