Day 65, 66, and 67 - The beautiful Valle de Cocora and the journey to Cali

Day 65 - Friday 25.11.2022
A hike through the breathtakingly beautiful Valle de Cocora

Today, another highlight of our Colombia trip was planned. Valle de Cocora is famous for its giant wax palms and the beautiful nature reserve surrounding it. Our journey started again with finding a Jeep to get to Valle. Since there was no more space on the truck bed, we were allowed to ride on the back shelf of the Jeep. The wind blew through our hair, the landscape became more and more beautiful, and we enjoyed every second of the ride. Upon arrival, we started immediately. We chose the long route, described as 6 hours. Since it had rained quite a bit in the days before, it was quite wet and muddy, but that didn't bother us because we were well equipped. The path started very relaxed between meadows and fields and then turned into a jungle-like forest path. We visited the waterfalls on our way to the hummingbird house, which was supposed to be the endpoint of our hike. After about two hours, we met other hikers who had just come from the hummingbird house and told us that it wasn't really worth seeing and that an entrance fee was required there. We decided to complete the loop without visiting the hummingbird house. We passed beautiful viewpoints, a small coffee house, and of course the wax palm fields. It was breathtaking, we enjoyed every minute and took pictures along the way. After 5 hours through the Colombian nature, we treated ourselves to a beer at the end and looked back on the hike. It was truly beautiful and we can only recommend this attraction to everyone. Back in Salento, we had to replenish our calorie balance, so we didn't just indulge in a main course but also two generous desserts.

Day 66 - Saturday 26.11.2022
Departure from Salento and Welcome to Cali

Today was another travel day. We had already booked a bus around noon, which, however, departed from a city about 40 minutes away from Salento. After breakfast, we packed our things and off we went. After changing buses twice, encountering some construction sites, and making a brief stop at a rest area, we arrived in Cali almost 9 hours later. A taxi took us to our new accommodation, which was really beautiful. We had a two-story apartment with a rooftop terrace, rented through AirBnB. The price was very cheap and we were overjoyed when we arrived there.

Day 67 - Sunday 27.11.2022
Working, planning, relaxing, and a somewhat unexpected task

We had to take care of some administrative matters again. In addition to planning our further travels, we also thought about future work plans, and Manfred also had to take care of some things for Holzeck. We took a little break from the travel fever and stayed most of the time in our AirBnB. In the early afternoon, we went out briefly to buy some laundry detergent and boom, it happened. Both keys were inside the apartment and Anna and Manfred were not. We had locked ourselves out. Desperately, we tried to reach our landlord, but unfortunately, it was Sunday and he had turned off his phone. We tried everything possible. With the help of YouTube videos, we wanted to learn how to pick the lock, but unfortunately without success. We didn't have the skills or the tools for it. After two hours, Anna called a locksmith, and 20 minutes later an old Colombian man in work pants came rushing in. After some initial difficulties, he explained to us that we had a very good lock installed here and our hopes dwindled. With united forces and a few back and forth, we finally managed to unlock the lock and a huge weight was lifted off our shoulders. The man only asked for 15€ for his work, but since we were so relieved, we paid him almost double. The rest of the day, we spent cooking, doing laundry, and watching Netflix.