July 2012

Colombia is known for many things but one thing we were very interested in sampling was its coffee. After quite a lot of rubbish coffee throughout South America we had our hopes set on a decent cup once we arrived in Colombia and what a better place to go then where Colombian coffee beans are grown.

Zona Cafetera covers a region with quite a few towns but we had decided to visit Salento, somewhere that everyone we met raved about.

We caught a local bus from Cali to Armenia. From Armenia we had to catch a little collectivo to Salento an hour away. It turned out to be quite an interesting ride. Firstly it was quite a small bus so we had to cram in with our backpacks needing to sit with them on our laps. We then drove through the streets of Armenia mid afternoon where there were junkies sitting on the pavement shooting up on busy streets just meters away from cafes where people were sitting enjoying coffee. Then halfway up a hill there was a huge clunk and the bus lost all power. Turns out the rear axle had snapped so we had to wait on the side of the road for a new collectivo. But as soon as we left the highway and headed down the winding roads into the lush green hills we knew the journey was well worth it.

We arrived in Salento and headed to our accommodation at Plantation House. It is a 100 year old coffee farm located in Salento. It was bought 4.5 years ago by Tim an Australian guy and his wife. They now run it as a hostel and also a small coffee farm further down the valley.
We dumped our bags and went to explore the town. It is only a small town but was so beautiful with traditional houses and streets nestled in between amazingly lush hills. The town was quite busy with Colombians there on weekend trips. As always seems the case in South America there was a random parade which involved cowboys and cowgirls on their horses going through town. Sounds ok until you throw in that a lot of them were drunk and they were followed by a guy sitting in a back of a ute setting off fireworks with his cigarette! What could possibly go wrong with that situation?

Random parade in Salento

After surviving not being kicked or trampled by a horse we went to what we had been told was the best coffee shop in town, Jesus Martin. It was indeed a very good strong, smooth coffee with silky, creamy milk. Definitely the best coffee we have had in South America. The long wait was worth it.

Best coffee in South America

That night we went out to a restaurant and sampled some of the local specialties trout and patacones (fried corn sheets). It was quite tasty especially since my trout was covered in a creamy garlic sauce.

On Monday we headed to Valle de Cocora (Cocora Valley) for some hiking. We we crammed into one of the jeeps in the main square for the 11km drive to the valley and the start of the walking trail. The first part of the trek was through trails that ran through green fields with cows. We soon made it to the forest where it was a bit of an uphill climb. We had to cross the river several times on very dodgy wooden bridges. I think it is a miracle I didn't end up in the water.

Bridge crossing in Valle de Cocora

We walked for about 2.5 hours until we made it to Reserva Natural Acaime which houses a hummingbird reserve. Our $3000 peso entrance fee included agua de panela (hot sugar cane drink) and a chunk of local cheese. So we sat there and had great break enjoying watching the dozens of hummingbirds zipping around our heads.

Agua de panela con queso

It was then time to set off up to La Montana an hours walk up to the top of the hill. Once we reached the top we had amazing views as we walked back to town across the valley and over the hundreds of wax palms. The wax palms were amazing with some of them 60m high. It was a stunning walk through the valley and it definitely lived up to its reputation.

Valle de Cocora

Wax Palm in Valle de Cocora

That night we went for dinner and drinks at the SpeakEasy bar. It is owned by a Australian guy from Perth, Dave. We had met Dave in Cali and with an Ozzie burger on his menu we had to stop by. Of course when we arrived there were a bunch of other people from the hostel in Cali that had decided to come to Salento too. So we had a couple of beers and a burger.

We then decided to head out to try the 'national sport' Tejo at Los Amigos. Now Tejo is played in a big warehouse and involves clay, metal weights and gunpowder. We started out on the beginners courts. The game basically involves throwing a metal weight at a packing crate full of clay. The aim is to get your weight in the centre of a metal ring which gives 9 points. However on the outside of the ring you position 2 pink triangles which are packed with gunpowder. If you hit one of these it explodes giving you 3 points. We played in teams and Alex and my team won all our matches (first to 21). We each got a few explosions and I got my weight into the centre twice. It takes a while to get use to the loud bangs that echo around the warehouse and it was really funny to see some peoples reactions when there was explosions. Coupled with a few drinks and a warehouse full of people playing, it made for a really fun evening out.

Tejo court

Alex playing Tejo

The next day was all about coffee. We started off with a detailed explanation about coffee from Tim, the owner of Plantation House. He really knows his stuff and over an hour was able to tell us all about the planting, growing, drying and roasting of coffee. We learnt lots of interesting facts which I won't bore you all with here. We then walked down into the valley to his Don Eduardo coffee farm. There we got to see the coffee plantation as well as plenty of other fruit and vegetables also growing there. We were then shown examples of the beans through different stages and got some coffee roasted fresh for us. Fresh roasted coffee beans are delicious! We were then brewed a cup of coffee and got to enjoy it overlooking the valley and coffee farm. A very enjoyable morning.

Enjoying a cup of freshly roasted and brewed coffee at the Don Eduardo coffee farm

We had lunch and then headed to our second coffee activity of the day, our Coffee Preparation Course at La Eliana restaurant. We met Jesus and for the next few hours we did nothing but talk about coffee and sample different preparation methods. At the end we even tried some coffee wine which was like a delicious home made version of Kahlua. Jesus was extremely knowledgeable and we left with our brains filled with so much information about coffee.

Fueled up on about 6 cups of coffee we had a walk around town and then up to the mirador for a great view across the valley. Later that night we had dinner again of the local specialty trout and patacones.

Trout and patacones

Unfortunately on Tuesday it was time to move on. Salento is such a beautiful little town with so much to do and see. I can completely understand why there are so many expats living there.

Next stop the infamous Medellín.

Cali would be our first stop in Colombia. We had heard so many fantastic stories about Colombia but not too much about Cali. The guide book had told us "Cali needs you less than you need it. Its a busy, tough, at times grimy and unsafe town but when the night falls the locals seize the night with the ferociousness of people who worked hard and need to party". It was the end destination of our bus from Ecuador so we decided to explore it our self and see what it was like.

Our 18 hour bus ride from Quito was pretty straight forward with a freezing cold border crossing at 3am. We arrived into Cali around 4pm and caught a little yellow cab to our hostel. Finally a cab in South America with a meter! Still no working seat belts though.

We had chosen to stay in The Green Saman hostel. It is a beautiful hostel set in the suburb of Bellavista. It is owned by Fraser a Scottish expat. The hostel is in a former mansion of someone high up in the drug cartel a few decades ago so every room had a jacuzzi and amazing fittings. There was a pool, steam room, beautiful gardens which made it the perfect place to chill out after a long bus journey. We met a few people in hostel and enjoyed a few drinks at the bar during happy hour. Being Friday the 13th Fraser had organised a theme night so there were quite a few locals who also came to drink at the bar.

Later that night we decided to set out and explore the famous Cali nightlife with a few others from the hostel. We ended up doing a bit of a bar crawl around some bars and clubs in the nightlife area but nothing really had that much of a buzz despite it being a Friday night. So around 2am we headed to a hotel bar where we had a drink at the rooftop bar overlooking the city before heading home.

The next day we reviewed our options for things to do and see in Cali. The truth was there really wasn't too much for the gringo tourist. We had breakfast at a bakery up the road and then headed to the Cali Zoo which was not too far from the hostel.

The zoo was pretty good with lots of animals not only from Colombia but around the world. It was good to see some animals from South America that we had only caught glimpses of before or only seen at night. The zoo was well layed out and we spent a few hours there exploring.

Capybara

Osos de Anteojos - Spectacled Bears

Anteater

After the zoo we wandered to San Antonio which was located just down the hill from the hostel. It was suppose to be quite a popular restaurant and cafe area but everything was mostly closed up and it was a Saturday afternoon. We did find a cafe and had some drinks before returning to the hostel to relax for a few hours.

That night we had some beers and cocktails during happy hour before heading out with a few guys from the hostel to a Salsa club. We had chose Tin Tin Deo based on talking to a few locals and one of the guys we were with had been there before and said it was lots of fun. Admission was fairly expensive (but it was $3000 pesos cheaper for girls :-) ). However once we were inside we found out that $10000 pesos of each of our admissions were drinks vouchers. So we all put our vouchers together and got a bottle of rum and a jug of coke. It is very popular here for people to buy bottles of spirits at clubs and almost every bar we have been to has bottles of dozens of different types of spirits for sale.

We were allocated a table next to the dance floor where we were able to watch all the locals show off their dance moves. We were the only gringos in the club so as seems the case everywhere we go, we attracted quite a few looks. There is definitely no blending in for me here in Colombia and am constantly stared at everywhere I go. It is like they have never seen a redhead before!

After a few drinks to build our courage and a few tips from a Spanish guy we were with, we hit the dance floor. Sure we were terrible but we had lots of fun. Some of the locals were unbelievably amazing dancers but have probably spent years perfecting their moves. We even got thumbs up from a salsa teacher who thought Alex and I must of had lessons and said we were doing quite good for beginners.

The next morning we packed up and bid everyone farewell. We had a great time in Cali but if you visit, don't expect it to be a touristy city. Go to meet some locals and experience life in a Colombian city.

Next stop coffee time in Salento, Zona Cafetera!

Now we hadn't really planned on visiting Quito or staying very long there as we had heard a lot of bad stories from other travelers. There were definitely parts of the town you didn't want to venture into and not a lot to actually see and do. But due to our recent decision to visit Cuba after Colombia we needed to get a visa from a Cuban embassy and there was one in Quito. From Banos it was only a 4 hour bus ride to Quito.

We arrived about 5pm and caught a taxi to our hostel which ended up taking about 30 minutes. We had arrived at the south bus terminal and we were staying in the new town which was the opposite side of town. With Quito being built in a valley it can take a long time to get from one end to another. Luckily it only cost us $8. After checking into our hostel we had dinner at a nearby restaurant and headed to bed.

We were up early the next morning as we had a lot to organise. First we headed to the post office to post our winter jackets and other bulky winter clothes home. They sure did get used heavily in Bolivia and Peru but with little need for them over the next 3 months we decided to condense our backpacks and save carrying around unnecessary weight by posting some stuff home. It was pretty simple besides having to find a box and tape from neighbouring shops.

We then needed to find a bus that would hopefully take us all the way through to Colombia. We had a few options but after visiting the first companies office we were told they don't run buses to Colombia anymore so decided to sort out our visa first.

We had prepared all our paperwork and requirements listed on the Cuban embassy's website but on arriving at the embassy we were told we also needed a photo. This was really frustrating as we had passport photos back in the hostel but it was over the other side of town. After a bit of searching in nearby streets we found a shopping mall that had a camera shop which we were able to get photos from. The rest of the process was quite straight forward and soon we were in possession of our Cuban visas.

Next stop was the Old Town for lunch. We decided we needed to see something of the city besides the bus station and the area around our hostel so headed into the UNESCO world heritage listed centre. Our destination for lunch was Heladaria San Agustin, a restaurant that has been opened in the old town since 1858. I had a deliciously tender Seco de Chivo (goat stew) followed by some of their super tasty icecream. They make it in huge copper bowls using a recipe 158 years old. They sure know what they are doing as the food was excellent and was fully packed over lunch with locals.

Seco de Chivo

After a walk around the Old Town, we then went to visit the central bus terminal to get bus tickets. However all we found was a huge derelict building. Turns out since our guidebook had been written the bus terminal has been shutdown. So we needed to make another journey across town on the crammed trolley bus. We found the Rutas de America office on a side street in the middle of nowhere and thankfully were told that they had a 18 hour bus to Cali leaving that night at 10pm. We bought tickets grateful we would be able to get to Colombia so quickly.

Before our bus we had dinner at a traditional Ecuadorian restaurant. I finally opted for the Cuy al Horno (baked guinea pig). I had tried it before but wanted to have it the way it is traditionally eaten. So it arrived to the table with its head still on with its little teeth showing. After disposing of the head I was able to eat the rest of it with no problem. They even provided gloves for me to wear so you could pick it up and chew off all the meat. It was quite nice tasting like a cross between chicken and rabbit but there really wasn't that much meat on it.

Cuy al Horno

After dinner we collected our backpacks and made our way to the bus terminal for our overnight bus. Next stop Cali, the heart of Salsa dancing in Colombia.

To get to Banos from Puerto Lopez would require us to go back via Guayaquil. We knew there was an overnight bus from Guayaquil to Banos so after breakfast decided to set off, after all you never know with South American buses. So we caught 2 local buses, one to Jipijapa and then one onto Guayaquil. We arrived into Guayaquil bus terminal at 4:45pm and found out there was a bus leaving straight away to Banos. So rather then wait around for 7 hours for the overnight bus we bought tickets and rushed to jump on the bus. Luckily we made it just in time.
Just before 11pm we were dropped of on the side of the road in Banos. Being a Sunday night almost everything was closed but we managed to get to our hostel, just before it shut and managed to get a bed for the night.

The next day we had a bit of a sleep in before exploring the town a bit. We checked out a few tour agencies for trips into the Amazon. Since we are now time limited we decided on a 1 day tour as it crammed in just as much as the 2 day tour. Sure we would have loved to do a 4-10 day tour into the Amazon but we just don't have time for it this trip.

We then went for a short hike up one of the hills surrounding the city to the Virgin statue. From there we had a great view over the town. The walk was quite steep but fairly easy until we ran into a bull blocking the path on the way down. We managed to bypass him ok and return safely to town.

Banos

We then decided it was time to try out one of the thermal pools located in Banos. There are quite a few around but we chose Piscina de la Virgin. We made it there just after it reopened for the night time session at 6pm. Once we were ready we went to hop into the first pool. Alex got a bit aggravated about how long the people in front of us were taking to hop into the pool and rushed over to another set of steps only to abruptly stop himself. The water was so hot it was pretty much impossible to even dip a toe in. We found another pool that was a bit cooler and lasted in there for about 30 minutes. We then returned to the super hot pool and slowly submerged into it. Turns out it was only 45-46 degrees but trust me that was still too hot to stay in for more then a few minutes.

That night we did a volcano viewing tour on a traditional chiva bus. However the bus had been pimped up a bit with lots of lights and speaker systems that constantly pumped dance music. It was a real party bus. We drove up to one of the surrounding hills where we would get a view of the active Tungurahua volcano. Unfortunately when we arrived at the viewpoint everything was covered by cloud. We did get a bit of a view of Banos at night when the clouds broke. So instead of seeing an active volcano we got treated to a comic and magician who put on a bit of a performance. Somehow the comedian picked Alex and I out from over 100 other people and used us for a few jokes. It is times like these I really wish my Spanish was better. But all the other tourists (95% Ecuadorian) were all very impressed we were from Australia and gave us a nice round of applause. It was a bit disappointing we didn't get to see the volcano but these things happen.

Chiva party bus

The next day we headed off on our 1 day tour into the Amazon jungle with Geotours. We met our guide Luis who gave us wellington boots and off we went. Turns out that no one else had booked in so Alex and I would get a private tour, nice! We drove through Puyo and a town called Shell that is named after the petrol company. They used it as a base to extract petrol from the jungle 50-60 years ago and the name has just stuck even though they are long gone. Now it is a military base with highly trained special jungle force soldiers.
Our first stop of the tour was at La Casa del Arbol for something our guide just told us would be "interesting". The place was beautiful with everything covered in mosaics. We were led into an entrance of a cave with the owner of the place. As the door was shut behind us it turned pitch dark. We had to hold onto each others hands to find our way through. You could literally not see your hand in front of your face. At one point we had to crawl through a section. Finally we could see the light to exit by when a bat flew over my head. Of course everyone thought my yelp was hilarious but I had just been in a pitch black cave with bats!

Cave enterance at La Casa del Arbol

Then we got to climb the treehouse. Now this is now normal treehouse with it having 8 stories. From the top we had an awesome view over the jungle.

Amazing treehouse at Las Casa del Arbol

Next stop was at a fish farm to see some gigantic fish from the Amazon river. We were staring into a large pond when our guide threw in a fish. All of a sudden about a dozen monster fish surfaced from the water causing me to yelp again. The Arapaima Gigas is the largest fresh water fish with them reaching 3m and up to 200kgs. They were huge fish. They also breath air like whales and dolphins so you can see them surface every 15 seconds or so. Quite interesting to watch from the land but I wouldn't want to be in the water with them.

Giant Amazon fish

The third stop was at a small village where we got our faces painted with a local red fruit. It is traditionally done to protect against bad spirits in the jungle and after hearing about all the snakes and spiders we might encounter I figured it couldn't hurt. Our guide assured us that it would wash off with just water (not true!). From the village we caught a canoe down the river to our lunch spot. Now this was a little wooden canoe from a hollowed out tree with 4 of us in it. We started out ok until we hit some rapids. Yes a large part of the river was rapids. So through them we went in this canoe with the guy at the back with just an oar to steer us. It got quite scary at places especially when we hit rocks in the river. I was sure the boat would break apart or we would capsize. But after about 20 minutes we made it to dry land all in one piece.

With my face painted to protect me in the Amazon Jungle

Canoe ride (before the rapids)

We had a delicious lunch of soup, local fish and yuca followed by tree tomatoes for desert.

Lunch in the jungle

Then it was time for our jungle trek. We put on our wellington boots and trekked through the jungle for about an hour and a half. The track was really muddy so it was a big relief to have wellies on. There were also lots and lots of spiders everywhere. Luis, our guide was very knowledgeable about everything and pointed out interesting plants and insects. We got to try some lemon ants which nest inside a leaf. So chewing the stem end of the leaf we got to eat them for a very citrusy taste. He also mixed us up a nice concoction with a plant that we were to sniff which is used traditionally to clear sinuses. It just stung like hell and had both Alex and I in tears. We eventually made it through the jungle to an amazing waterfall where we had a swim before walking back out.

The muddy track

Amazon Waterfall

Our last stop was at a lookout over the jungle. It really gave us a small look at the enormity of the Amazon given what we could see was such a small perspective.

View over the Amazon

Our 1 day trip was so much fun. We returned to Banos very muddy, red cheeked (the water did not wash off the paint!) but very happy.

On our last day in Banos we hired a go kart/buggy to explore Ruta de las Cascadas. So along the highway we took off in this little buggy following the valley along to view several waterfalls. It was really beautiful and Alex had lots of fun driving.

Alex in our vehicle for exploring Ruta de las Cascadas

We returned to town for lunch at the local market. We had Llapingachos which was sausages, eggs, salad and potato tortillas. Very tasty and cheap. We then sampled some banana empanadas which were also delicious. Finally we tried the local specialty, melcocha which is hand pulled taffy.

Llapingachos

Banana empanadas in Mercado Central

The delicious Melcocha

Then sadly it was time pickup our backpacks and head to the bus station. Next stop the capital of Ecuador, Quito.

After a fantastic month in Peru it was time to head further north into Ecuador. We decided to catch a direct bus all the way from Trujillo in Peru through to Guayaquil in Ecuador which would take around 18 hours. So after a busy day sightseeing we made our way to the bus station for our 11:45pm bus which didn't end up arriving until close to 1am.

After boarding the bus and getting some sleep, we we woken for our breakfast. Some of the better buses in South America are pretty deluxe and serve food, have a bus attendant, show movies and even have working toilets on board. Luckily we had one of these buses for this trip! After a couple of movies we arrived at the border. After lots of queuing we crossed into Ecuador for more queuing, but this time the border officials nicely played Men At Work, "Land Down Under" while we were waiting. They really do love that song here!

After an uneventful bus ride we arrived into Guayaquil around 6pm and made our way to our accommodation for the evening. Guayaquil is the largest city in Ecuador and located on Rio Guayas.That night we had a walk along Malecon 2000, which is a waterfront promenade overlooking the river.

The next morning we had a few hours in Guayaquil sightseeing before heading back to the bus station. We visited Parque Bolivar which is situated right in the middle of the city in between shops, flats and a church. The reason this was on our list to visit is the park is full of iguanas. Initially we could only see a few walking around on the grass but the closer you looked the more you saw in the trees and plants. There must of been close to 50 of them in this small park. After tracking down some for some photos we headed to Cerro Santa Ana. We did the walk up the 444 steps to get a great view of the city.

Parque Bolivar - Guayaquil

Iguana - Parque Bolivar

View over Guayaquil from Cerro Santa Ana

Then it was time to head to the coast. After 2 local buses we arrived in Puerto Lopez. After I had read that it was practically guaranteed to see whales at this time of year there, I had soon added it to our itinerary. Apparently humpbacks come to the area to mate between June and October. Plus it had been a while since we had some beach time.

Our hostel, Hosteria Itapoa was nice with little cabanas located just across the road from the beach. We booked in for a tour the next day and had a walk around town and along the beach. That night we sampled some of the delicious seafood and had some cocktails on the beach from one of beach bars.

On Saturday we had our breakfast in the hostel overlooking the Pacific ocean before heading off on our tour. We had chosen to do a tour to Isla de Plata with whale watching on the way. After a bit of mucking around and having to stand around on the beach waiting for our boat, we soon had all of our group and hopped onto our boat. The rest of our tour group were all local Ecuadorians and the tour would be Spanish so we needed to really concentrate. The day was overcast and the open boat was a bit cold. Apparently the weather hadn't got he message that we we at the beach and wanted some sunshine. Once we had left the shore, the waves really picked up and soon everyone on our side of the boat was saturated. But soon after that we had spotted our first spout of water from a whale and the cold and wetness was forgotten in all the excitement. We traveled towards the whale and were able to see it from a distance. From that area we were also able to spot a few more whales around but there were a few other tourist boats around that made it difficult to see properly. Our boat then headed off in the other direction and soon we were treated to 2 whales up real close who put on a great show for us. They were so amazing to watch. After sometime watching them and following them as they traveled through the ocean we headed to Isla de Plata. Even as we traveled to the island we were able to see lots more whales around.

Whale of the coast of Puerto Lopez

Whale breaching

Isla de Plata is also known as the poor mans Galapagos and as we couldn't afford to make the very expensive trip to the Galapagos we had settled on this as a good alternative. The island is located 40kms off the coast from Puerto Lopez and is filled with bird life. We got to follow some of the trails around the island to see some Blue Footed Boobies and Frigatebirds. Yes there were lots of jokes about boobies but our guides hat said it all I think with just a simple "I Love Boobies"! The Frigatebirds were pretty cool as the males blow up their throats to create a big red balloon type thing to attract females. I was certainly impressed!

Alex with some Ecuadorian Boobies

The impressive Frigatebird

As we were leaving the island we were treating to a few sea turtles swimming around our boat. Unfortunately there were none where we stopped after lunch to go snorkeling over a coral reef but there were a few cool fish. Luckily it wasn't until we were back on the boat that the guide decided to mention that it was common to get 2m sharks around the area as well.

The trip back was just as choppy but we got to see lots of sea turtles and one more whale.

Sea Turtle

That night we had another nice seafood meal before returning to our beach bar which turned into a full on beach nightclub with a DJ and heaps of locals dancing away on the sand. Lots of fun and some of the best strawberry daiquiris I have ever tasted!

While we could have spent more time in Puerto Lopez and the other beautiful towns on Ruta del Sol, with just a month left in South America we had to make a move. Next stop, the jungle town of Banos.