Rule #2: Don't Die.

People, we are officially on our way out of Colombia. We know, we have heard much concern as to whether or not we would ever move on. Honestly, we were also slightly concerned that we would never get to Ecuador. Colombia is one if those places with so much to see and do and such warm, wonderful people that there doesn’t seem to be any good reason to go. But the 90 day tourist visa runs out soon (we need to cross the Ecuador border on January 20th. So soon!) and H had a bit of a panic attack on our 9 month anniversary (such a long time!) so that was all the impetus we needed to get ourselves south.

And thus, we have begun what will be the most ridiculously intense section of our trip (at least hopefully this is the most intense!): our one-month dash to the Ecuador border. We have a list of things we want to see and do before we cross, and we are also on a tight budget at the moment. This means that we can only spend two to three days at each location and since we are taking transportation (surprisingly expensive in Colombia) we will be camping to make up the difference. No more beds for us for probably the next 4 weeks!

Our first stop on this mad dash south? A little out-of-the-way reserve called Río Claro. It’s situated about halfway between Medellín and Bogotá and (at least from what we saw) seems to be a little Colombia-tourist haven of river adventure.

The campsite was huge, and had little different areas to camp in depending on preferences. There was the forested area, the river access spot, a little set aside ravine area, and our choice, smack in the middle of a huge open field (there was a nice large tree to block some rain, we thought)

But the rain in this pleasantly temperate valley is of epic proportions at night. Even with our large tree as cover, our tent (thankfully it’s surprisingly tough for how light-weight it is) still sounded as though a hose had been turned on over us for most nights. Great news is we were used to this noise being a cue to sleep from our time tenting in El Cocuy!

The reserve is built with nice paved paths for the first section, and even has tall jumps built out over the river and ropes for crossing the rapids. We took a walk through the park until there was no more path to follow (paved or dirt) and then enjoyed the views of the surrounding limestone cliffs.

H about to jump in some rapids

The best part? They let you explore caves without a guide! Well, at least this little one:

That is a little waterfall with a net over it to help climb up, and then a series of caves that lead back into the mountain. H and I put on our brave faces and made it back two rooms before the combination of dark & cave (H’s claustrophobia) or dark & deep water pools (my water phobia) got the better of us and I ran/swam out of there as fast as I could.

We moved on, with the ambitious plan of making it to Salento in one day. The drive was beautiful, snaking along the tops of the Andes with views of perfect little valleys between. We gazed at the Parque National Natural Los Nevados, which is closed due to activity at the moment. Apparently there are volcanoes erupting in Ecuador and Argentina? But unfortunately, even though we made four bus transfers, our last bus couldn’t see us in the darkness at 8pm on the side of the road in a little stop called Las Flores. So our helpful and awesome bus line employee told us (probably jokingly) that if we were going to camp by the road for the night, we ought to cross the road and use the empty plastic advertising tent. We laughed and then headed across the road, because it’s about time we camped out along a highway on this trip! Our friend even offered to make us tinto or agua de panela before bed! Unfortunately it was too dark for me to get a good photo that night & I’m no use to anyone in the mornings so we will just have to wait for H’s Facebook update for the photo.

Bright and early the next morning we finished our journey to Salento. We checked into our new campsite, only a block away from the center plaza at Estrella de Agua, a local hostel/restaurant. Salento is a lot like many small Colombian mountain towns, full of cute little shops painted in bright colors:

a colorful staircase to a mirador:

and some nearby nature to enjoy down random streets that end up turning into to paths:

That’s some stunning scenery, right? That’s because Salento’s claim on the gringo trail lies just over the ridge at the edge of town. Namely, el Valle de Cócora. This little gem of a natural park hosts some of the tallest trees in the world, the wax palm. And they are massive! They seemed the size of redwoods, but with the girth of a normal palm tree at the base. The effect was reminiscent of a Dr. Seuss story!

We walked from Salento down through the valley, which was about 11km of great views and sunshine in the mid-morning. The views of the wax palms marching up the hills on our way:

Then we decided to explore a little around the area and headed down into the Acaime Nature Reserve. It was beautiful, and reminded us a little of our time at the Cloudbridge cloud forest back in Costa Rica. Except here they had some sketchy suspension bridges slung across the river, so that only one person at a time could cross and just walking shook so much that we were like to bounce ourselves right into the river!

We came to a crossroads and choose to hike straight up the side of a mountain to Finca La Montaña for 800 meters, which was especially fun because at some point during the sleep-on-the-side-of-the-highway adventure I had popped my hip out of socket and had not yet been able to get it back in place. Ouch. Once we made it to the top, our best view was of some angry black clouds bringing in the afternoon rains. While we skittered back downhill in the wet we ended up walking back through the valley in between the trees as they appeared out of the misty rain.

Doesn’t it look just like Dr. Seuss? Or at least something out of a dinosaur movie!

Mostly, though we have enjoyed running into our friends from Guatapé and San Carlos and video chatting with our distant family over the holidays. Salento may have one more exciting adventure for us later today, a game of tejo. We tried to go play on Christmas Eve, but instead were greeted by a pig slaughter. Literally, a pool of blood on two of the courts and a giant carcass being carved into on a table right by a spit for roasting meat and a pot full of boiling skin in the middle of the arena. We are hoping this trip may be a little more vegetarian-friendly!

Next stop, Cali!

Tags: Colombia, Las Flores, Rio Claro, Salento, travel blog, Valle de Cocora