Sunday 28th October. Cali – Salento.

This morning with a little bit of a sore head, it was time to say goodbye to Cali. I had been surprised at how much I had enjoyed this large city, but I think this had a lot to do with the friendly local people and travellers I had met along the way. Today I caught two buses to get to the town of Salento which is further north and located in the coffee growing region with beautiful valleys and views of the surrounding hills. Salento is a gorgeous little town and on Sunday afternoon when I pulled in on the bus, it was heaving with local people on weekend getaways from Bogota. There were lots of little food stores set up in the central plaza and people selling lots of artesenal wares. My hostel was situated on the edge of town with beautiful views out over the valley, a lovely place to spend the afternoon writing my journal and watching the sun set over the hills. For dinner, I tried the local delicacy – grilled trout, unfortunately though I think I picked the wrong variety, mine was in a coconut sauce with mushrooms and very difficult to eat – way too sweet and thick! But the trout was nice once you found it amongst all that white sauce!

Monday 29th October. Salento

This morning I took a bus out to the nearby town of Boquia where there was a nice walk out to Finca Santa Rita where there were some lovely waterfalls and spooky tunnels to cross. It was a nice walk for the morning and there were some lovely views. I had a nice lunch in Boquia before jumping back on the bus back to Salento. In Salento, I climbed up to the nearby mirador for some great views over the surrounding valley. In the evening, I went with a couple of girls from the hostel to play the traditional Colombian game of Tejo. In order to play this game you must be drinking some time of alcohol so you can imagine the vibe in the Tejo Saloon! Basically there is a large square of thick clay, into which they put a metal ring. On the metal ring are placed some square paper explosive devices. You throw metal pucks at the paper trying to make them explode. There is a points system and basically the person who gets to 21 points first wins. It is a loud and super fun game! I managed to get a couple of explosions but not enough to take out the win.. We had some really delicious vegetarian food for dinner and then off to bed for an early night.