Day 3 Villa d Leyva to Armenia
Late start today but a very long drive back to the airport at Bogota for a late flight to next spot. The countryside is lovely with green hills, arable farms and little houses. The Colombian people are very friendly and one stall holder indicated that I should not have my camera around my neck.
We drove for about 4 hours to get back to Bogota airport so that we could catch a thirty minute flight to Armenia. The flight is basically up and over the mountain – amazingly enough they serve drinks during the flight! It was a very small local airport and once we collected our bags we started to load on to jeeps. Luckily I was placed in the front even though there was no window and the rain was bucketing down.
We finally arrived at our destination and quickly dropped our bags before going straight to dinner which was barbecued meat.
Day 4 Armenia
Today we left in the jeeps heading to a coffee plantation. The tour of the plantation was very interesting and we also stayed on for a coffee tasting session which was very interesting. Even had a coffee which had a layer of mango, a layer of coffee flowers and then the ground coffee before having the water filtering through it. It was actually quite pleasant and I’m not a coffee drinker! The funniest part was when we had to don traditional dress and learn a traditional dance – these Colombians are certainly energetic!
Back to the hotel and a lazy time in the pool and jacuzzi before going for a massage. I had a chocolate massage and thought it was strange that I was lying on plastic but when I turned over I was covered in a chocolate layer of oil. I smelt delicious and after getting my back massaged I was sent off to the shower. Someone had a real mess to clean up after I had finished. I did feel very relaxed and my skin was very soft.
Day 5 Armenia to Salento via the Cocora Valley
A reasonable start time and a 90 minute drive led us to the start of the hike to the cloud forests to see wax palms. These palms grow to 65 feet but take about 180 years to do so! Valda and I did a slow wander up hill, we were gaining altitude so we were huffing and puffing quite a bit. The other, much younger, members of the group rushed on ahead and reached the destination. We went half way and then turned back – luckily we had to return to the starting point.
After lunch, of trout, we set off for our accommodation.
We are in a small town which is like a mini San Francisco, steep hills. We reached the central square and it was heaving with people. Houses are brightly coloured and it looks rather quaint.
At the moment thunder is rumbling – it tends to rain each afternoon. A little later we are going to play the Colombian national sport – Tejo. It consists of hurling a metal ball into a pit and if it lands on a certain spot it sets off an explosion – one way to get rid of pent up frustration!
If you hear from me again you can assume I was unscathed but I really would like to hit the target and cause a large explosion!
Late start today but a very long drive back to the airport at Bogota for a late flight to next spot. The countryside is lovely with green hills, arable farms and little houses. The Colombian people are very friendly and one stall holder indicated that I should not have my camera around my neck.
We drove for about 4 hours to get back to Bogota airport so that we could catch a thirty minute flight to Armenia. The flight is basically up and over the mountain – amazingly enough they serve drinks during the flight! It was a very small local airport and once we collected our bags we started to load on to jeeps. Luckily I was placed in the front even though there was no window and the rain was bucketing down.
We finally arrived at our destination and quickly dropped our bags before going straight to dinner which was barbecued meat.
Day 4 Armenia
Today we left in the jeeps heading to a coffee plantation. The tour of the plantation was very interesting and we also stayed on for a coffee tasting session which was very interesting. Even had a coffee which had a layer of mango, a layer of coffee flowers and then the ground coffee before having the water filtering through it. It was actually quite pleasant and I’m not a coffee drinker! The funniest part was when we had to don traditional dress and learn a traditional dance – these Colombians are certainly energetic!
Back to the hotel and a lazy time in the pool and jacuzzi before going for a massage. I had a chocolate massage and thought it was strange that I was lying on plastic but when I turned over I was covered in a chocolate layer of oil. I smelt delicious and after getting my back massaged I was sent off to the shower. Someone had a real mess to clean up after I had finished. I did feel very relaxed and my skin was very soft.
Day 5 Armenia to Salento via the Cocora Valley
A reasonable start time and a 90 minute drive led us to the start of the hike to the cloud forests to see wax palms. These palms grow to 65 feet but take about 180 years to do so! Valda and I did a slow wander up hill, we were gaining altitude so we were huffing and puffing quite a bit. The other, much younger, members of the group rushed on ahead and reached the destination. We went half way and then turned back – luckily we had to return to the starting point.
After lunch, of trout, we set off for our accommodation.
At the moment thunder is rumbling – it tends to rain each afternoon. A little later we are going to play the Colombian national sport – Tejo. It consists of hurling a metal ball into a pit and if it lands on a certain spot it sets off an explosion – one way to get rid of pent up frustration!
If you hear from me again you can assume I was unscathed but I really would like to hit the target and cause a large explosion!
Love you Les, keep me updated, I read your updates every night before bed x
ReplyDeleteLove you Les, keep me updated, I read your updates every night before bed x
ReplyDelete