5/3/23
Today we got up for a breakfast of kings in the hostel, pancakes no less!! Then we headed out to walk to a nearby coffee farm to take a tour. We walked down a country lane with pretty views of luscious green rolling hills on all sides. After an hour ish, we arrived at the farm, having crossed paths with both cows and yellow jeeps along the way. We got a coffee before the tour began and enjoyed looking out at the vista before us, multiple coffee farms reaching down the valley and as far as the eye could see. Beautiful.
The tour was interesting. I didn’t realise that it takes two years for each coffee tree to even be able to produce coffee beans and even once they do, the coffee beans are sorted rigorously and only the best ones are used for the best coffee, some are thrown away and some are used for cheap coffee. Also the picking season is normally the same as the rainy season which makes the tiered farms (necessary for good drainage) very difficult to walk on. The pickers carry a basket around their neck and if they fall, all the beans would roll out too! After the tour I decided that real coffee is very good value for money!! We had another coffee (this time an espresso to ‘do it properly’) before heading for lunch at a little cafe in the opposite side of the lane, overlooking a different plain with a river and waterfall. We had arepas (corn bread) with schnitzel, although of course it was called something else!!
Then we walked back and went to a recommended chocolate shop where they make the chocolate on site. We were sad to find that they didn’t have tours but took a dessert anyway. I had a banana split which I thought was a super British dessert but who knows?! It was good anyway! Afterwards, we went to chill, though of course, I needed to change hostels too since I hadn’t booked far in advance! I went to chill in my new hostel before we re met up for dinner. We went to an Italian place which had pizza, pasta and soup. I wasn’t so hungry so just had a spinach soup with garlic bread and my new fave drink a limonade de coco.
6/3/23
I had agreed to meet Luna in the square around 8am, but of course I was a little late. I had breakfast included in my hostel but it wasn’t on site so I had to go on a small goose chase to find it. On my way, I bumped into Holly’s mate Steph sitting on the curb at the side of the road on the phone. We had a quick chat before I went for breakfast, making me that little bit later! Steph and Holly had just got off a night bus and were waiting to check in to their hostal. After breakfast, I made an avocado roll and headed to the square. Luna had already got the jeep tickets so we headed off to Valle de Cocora, the valley with the tallest palm trees in the world. Ay ayyy!
We arrived in the valley maybe half an hour later along with the rest of the Netherlands it seemed! For the first quarter of the walk, everyone was Dutch apart from me! Strange since The Netherlands is a pretty small country but there we are! We passed a spot with many stations for Instagram influencers to pose with plastic signs and began our hike. Half an hour later, we reached the first viewpoint and another fifteen minutes or so we were at THE viewpoint. It was stunning. The trees started way down the valley and reached up so high they were almost touching the rocky mountains behind! We took some snaps, gazed at the view and then headed onwards. We climbed a fair bit more, stopping to pick wild strawberries before, which reminded me of Wales. I had first eaten wild strawberries in Laugharne, home of Wlesh poet Dylan Thomas and now the very same strawberries appeared again. What a treat! Soon afterwards, the path dropped down steeply into the valley and we met the river. We walked along the main path only for a man in flipflops to tell us we were walking to a hummingbird watching station and we were not on the route. We turned around and he quickly disappeared ahead of us, scrambling along in his flipflops!
There were meant to be seven bridges for us to cross back and fire across the river. All of these bridges were suspended and very bouncy! We enjoyed jumping up and down on the bridges, and bounding along them, while the thunder was roaring and a middle aged couple behind us tutted. After they crossed the bridge, they raced passed us – I reckon they were trying to beat the storm. Shortly after this, the rain began, along with the thunder and lightning. The couple slowed. The rain only lasted ten minutes or so, but it was so heavy, like a wee you’ve been holding in for a solid ten hours at work! We were absolutely drenched through but thankfully had coats (both bought by our mums) so carried on regardless. We bumped into some more Dutchies, one of which was a guy I’d met in Otavalo and again in Cali, who were just started the walk. They decided to turn back instead of doing the full hike in a storm. We made it back to the jeep place an hour later and waited in the rain for a jeep back to the town.
Back in the town, we went for a hot chocolate on the square and then headed back to our respective hostels to shower and chill. We would meet later for dinner, along with Holly and Steph too. I took a nap post shower and had a coffee in bed, which the hotel staff kindly brought to me while I lounged! Afterwards, I headed out to meet the gals. We went to a fancy Colombian restaurant which was so popular that we had to wait outside for a table! The food was yummy. Me and Steph ordered the same meaty dish again, and we chatted. After dins, we said our goodbyes and I headed on home.
wanderingwelshie2 travels 