A Round Of Disappointment for Everyone!

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We left Salento in the middle of the afternoon and took a bus to Pereira at 2:50pm. There wasn't anything particular that we had planned, but we were making our way to Guatape, and had stayed in Salento a little longer in order to squeeze in the plantation tour.

Getting to Guatape was going to take about 4-6 hours from Pereira to Medellin, and then another 2 to Guatape. So it was just as well that we were breaking up the journey by stopping in Pereira, since the bus from Salento was going to take over an hour just on it's own.

Pereira is a fairly large city. It's clean and efficient looking. We once again took a taxi to the hostel, which was on the outskirts. Felipe was working the desk and checked us in. He's a really nice guy and really helpful.

We shared our dorm room with an older Canadian woman who actually served in the US peace corps in Colombia and had come back now, years later, to visit. I'm sure she has a few stories to tell.

We used the WiFi to make some plans and book some things. Not the least of which were some flights. We'd had enough long bus rides, and Mauricio had warned us that the trip from Medellin to the coast was pretty dull, and the scenery didn't really change or inspire. I think it was in San Gil when we'd also booked our flights back to Bogota from Santa Marta. So we'd certainly be saving about about 36 hours of bus travel and trading it for two hours on planes.

And for the low price of domestic plane travel in Colombia, it was worth it for us. I'm kind of disappointed though, because I like to see the landscapes in between places, even if it's dull, just to see what it looks like and feel like I can connect the dots in my memory. I don't like skipping stuff, and don't really mind the long travel days as much, but the time we're saving is hard to overlook, and we've only got so much of that left. So It's a good call in the end.

We took a taxi to the Mirador restaurant. I had read about this in Lonely Planet and was excited to have my frist Argentinian steak since I was in Argentina a few years back. If you've never had Argentine beef, let me just fill you in. It's the best. And I'm from Alberta, a place with world class beef. I'm saying Argentina's is better. There. I admit it. Second place to Argentinian beef is still amazing stuff though, so don't hate me...

The night view from the restaurant was outstanding. The food, however, was overcooked. Vanessa's salmon especially. It was very disappointing, and left us pining for Sandra's back in Salento. They ruined a good cut of beef, and unforgivable act.



Thoroughly disappointed, went back to hostel and went to bed. I guess I'm just going to have to go back to Argentina.

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