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Playing with gunpowder and hopping fences

Argitaratu: 14.12.2019

The WiFi was super slow in the hostel so I had some trouble uploading the photos. Now I'm done tho.

There is a game called Tejo here in Colombia. You basically throw heavy iron balls on paper filled with gunpowder. The better you hit, the more points you get. Drinking alcohol while playing is obligatory (not kidding here).

It looks like this. The white shards in the middle are filled with gunpowder.

This was the gang for the night, cool people from the hostel.

Next day: Hike to 'Valle de Cocora'. Don't get me wrong here, it IS very beautiful but apparently Salento is the second biggest touristic spot in Colombia (even tho it didn't feel that bad) and the Valle is just as beautiful as all the other mountains around it, so I don't really know why this town is so famous.

Nevertheless, it has been cool hiking there.
This is the 'Forest of Palmtrees'. Some of these trees grow supposedly higher than 60 meters.

It has been really foggy and should start to rain soon, like all the other days.

Due to the fog I've not had the greatest views but a mystical feeling
Found this cutie on the way. The rain started already and maybe he didn't feel like flying. He didn't move at all, even tho I have been close.
This has been up on the hill. There was a restaurant where I waited the heavy rain out.

The way back was drier, the sun came out and it was really nice. The way back was also more jungle like, you only could get there by foot or horse (horse tours for tourists are big here)

I went down with two Australian guys from Perth
This is a river...
This is our walking path. Can you spot the difference? 😂

And yes, as always I have been in sport sneakers hiking. Needless to say, that they were totally wet but that will be the case many days here in Colombia. It's way wetter than expected.

There were four of these phenomenal bridges on the way

On the way back we really had some jungle feelings.

More bridges..
I'm loving these bridges!
The views have been great on the way back, check the photo section for more pictures!
The only public transportation are old 4x4 US army trucks. Completely unnecessary tho, a Fiat Twingo would have been just as good. The road was one of the best here yet..

To the left of me, the two Australian guys 🤙

I don't often take pictures of my food but this hamburger was awesome. Not able to spot the hamburger under all that beef, salad and avocado
Salento has A LOT of Christmas decoration. This is on the main square
Jesus under palm trees with 🦜

I found a travel companion with couchsurfing, this is her:

Hanna from Poland 👍

While I slept really long, enjoyed a large breakfast and had a video call afterwards she did the Valle de Cocora. Afterwards we decided to discover the area around the main road. The fences had small holes here and there to let people in but keep the animals off the road. We found a small path that led down to the river.

This river had a 'normal' bridge like you would expect it. On our way (we had to hop some other fences, I think we have been sometimes on private property but going the same way back was no option 🤷🏼‍♂️) we found another bridge.

Not looking too bad..
Ironically this bridge is called 'bridge of hope and prosperity'

We also saw another, even more adventurous looking bridge but this one was definitely in the middle of a private cow farm.

Needless to say, we didn't go there.

Views have been great as always in that region!

There was live music later that night. Apparently you yell 'oleee' after each song.

Afterwards we went to play Tejo with two Canadian friends and went to sleep.

Right now I'm sitting at a bus terminal in Manizales, they have free WiFi and will try to go to some hot springs that are not well known. There is no proper public transport, so we will have to hitchhike. Just waiting for a bus to take us out of the city. We are equipped with a tent and food, so there will be no wifi for some days - no need to be worried if you don't hear much from me on this blog. We are (properly) fine 😂


Peace out,

Laurin



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