Valle de Cocora

September 18-19, 2015

After our day in Bogota adventuring to Monserrate, Taryn and I bid hasta luego to Orlando and Nell who had been kind enough to allow houseguests for the past week, and hopped a bus to Armenia with a transfer to Salento.

Yay for meeting new friends in Peru!

Salento is the cutest most colorful town. All the houses are white with bi-colored doors, balconies, and wall designs.

Its also got a mirador (lookout) with a breathtaking view.

The stairs we walked up to get there

We hung around town our first half-day after arrival. In the evening we went for a walk down the road just to see what was out there, and then split a brownie with ice cream at a candlelit cafe listening to a young guy play guitar. It was beyond delightful.

(We also played tejo, a game which involves throwing rocks at gunpowder.  It will get its very own post.)

This tree had character

This bird flew in circles, always returning to this post.  Which was good, because bird photography when the light is failing is harder than it sounds.

The next morning we got up early and caught a Jeep to Valle de Cocora for some hiking. We had 14 people riding. 8 in the back, 3 in the front seats and 3 of us standing on the tailgate.

Moving Jeep selfie! I didn´t announce I was taking a picture, but my companions noticed anyway.  It turned out perfect.

30 minutes and almost a head on collision with a motorcycle who was definitely on the wrong side of the road when going around a curve later, and we reached our destination.

View from the road

Through the fabled Blue Gate to start the hike and we were on our way.

Trailhead selfie!

The first part was through open hills with wax palms (palmas de cera) rising towards the sky.

The second half was through cloud forest with some sketch looking bridges. They had warnings posted to go one at a time.

Then 2km up a hill to Casa de Colibris (Hummingbird House) which lived up to its name.

Also hummingbird photography is difficult.  I got a lot of blank and blurry photos, showing where a hummingbird had been at one point.

Back down to the main trail and straight uphill to the Ranger Station which had a great view and inviting lunch spots.

That's when the clouds, thunder, and rain moved in. Try as they might, they couldn't ruin the walk back down to town.

The wax palms rising through the fog were magnificent and when we got below the clouds a little the views were breathtaking.

Definitely some of my favorite scenery so far.

Panorama courtesy of Taryn

Back in town we changed clothes, shopped a bit more, I sketched the church and had a nice talk about cultural differences with a gal who came to see what I was doing.

We listened to Guitar Guy a little more over hot chocolate and ice cream and then back on the bus back to Bogota to get to Villa de Leyva, taking with us memories of rolling hills and palm trees.