Blogs from Colombia, South America - page 298

Salento is a quaint little town with a central plaza and really nicly done up roads. All the buildings are kept in the old style and we stayed at a hostel that Patty had stayed at 2 years previously. There we met up with Daryl who we had met in San Agustin and Patty bargained for us all to have a room together at a much cheaper rate than they wanted. Salento has a lookout with lots of stairs to climb. The others had a climb up their that afternoon, but I was looking at the shops and resting. We caught a jeep to the walk, Salento has amongst the hills, it takes you passed wax palms. Hundreds of very tall thin wax palms, best example in South America. The track follows a bridal path passed ... read more

From San Agustin there is a loop road that leads to Tierradentro, another place with archealogical sites, the only known underground tombs in South America. This trip was another experience, thank goodness for Patty who could speak spanish and barttered our way there. Sometimes we were in and out of buses, not knowing whether we were in or not as she was busy bartering away, if it didn´t suit her or the price was not to her liking she yelled for us to all get out, it was quite hilarious. We left from San Agustin to Pitalito in a ford king cab and had to wait for the next big bus to Garzon and then La plater. Twice the transport had to stop and everyone off so that the Soldiers could check for bad people. Paul ... read more

We caught a taxi to the bus station just on the outskirts of Popayan to go to San Agustin. We had no trouble getting a ticket for the 11 am bus. However when the bus arrived, it was full and with no language we did not know what was going on. I asked the conductor twice and there was alot of hand waving a words and still we did not know what was going on. Lots of other people were trying to get on as well. Eventually another bus came along and promptly filled that up. The bus trip was 120 km to San Agustin and the bus averaged 20 km/hour and took over 6 hours. It was a very rough road and went though beautiful alpine rain forest. We passed alot of cyclists. I said ... read more

Of all the cities that we have visited so far in South America this one we have liked the most. With a history of pirates this town has forts and a Spanish colonial center next to a high rise resort area on a fantastic beach. But it is hot! When we left the plane the hot moist air hit us. Jose met us at the airport. He would be our host during our visit. He explained some history on the short ride to the hotel. We were staying at Hotel El Viajero inside the walls of the old town. Rooms had shutters only so if the window was open it was open to the veranda and the inside of the hotel. We were unlucky enough to have a room without aircon, only a fan. But there ... read more

We initially had some excitement planned for our next day in Colombia; visiting a bulletproof vest factory, and testing one out. Yes, that´s right, the brave amongst us could try on a vest and be shot at. Unfortunately they were going to charge too much for the "ruined vests", so we didn´t do it in the end. So, we drove four hours north of Bogota to the beautiful village of Villa De Leyva. Founded in 1533, it remains untouched by modern architecture, retaining all the original buildings. If it wasn´t for the occasional car lurching along it´s cobbled streets, you´d think you´d been transported back to the sixteenth century. We were staying at a more modern place however, a gorgeous lodge in the hills about 30 minutes walk from the village. On my first walk into ... read more