Colombia: Stuck Between A Rock and A Hard Place

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” - Helen Keller

 

 

You know that moment in a movie when the main characters are riding in a taxi after midnight in a foreign country. Then, all of a sudden, the driver takes an obscure route, pulls over on the side of the street, and gets out of the car to walk to a dark building. He claims he has to "fill out paperwork." As the movie watcher, you just know that something bad is about to happen. Well, except for the "something bad is about to happen," that scenario happened to us Friday night.

A few of us decided to head to Salenta, Colombia for the weekend. Our bus left Medellín at 4:30pm and was set to arrive at 9:30pm. Due to lots of traffic and winding mountain roads, we didn't get to the final station until midnight. Exhausted, we grabbed a taxi after confirming that he knew where we were going- 45 min away. We got in and started on our way and shortly there after, we were confronted with the bad scene in a movie. As the driving is trying to explain he needs paperwork for a possible police check, the three of us are making eyes at each other, wondering what the hell was really going on. We were stuck- we were in a small town with no life around except the two homeless guys wandering by. We were at the mercy of our driver. After about 10 minutes, the driver had his "paperwork", Pascal signed it, and we were again on our way safely. Those were probably the longest 10 minutes of my life. 

Even after the long journey in, we woke up early to hike the Los Nevados National Park. This hike was legit and had all things I love- plush greenery, wild animals, water falls, rickety bridges, passes over rocks and through creeks. It also had the one thing I hate on hikes- mountains. Not hills, mountains! The 7.5 miles were filled with exquisite landscapes. We started in a lush pasture, entered into a cloud forest, walk up a mountain or two, and then ended with their famous valley of tall palm trees. It was all so breathtaking and unlike any other hike I've done.

 

 

 

  During the 45 minute straight up mountain section, I could feel my heart pounding in every part of my body.

 

Me, Pascal and Olivia (both from Switzerland)

 

 

 

 

 

 

First class coffee. 70% of the first class beans are exported to be roasted in other countries. People here typically drink 2nd class coffee, which means the beans have more imperfections.

 

 

Winning at Tejo. Objective is to throw the Tejo (rock ish thing) to the other side. You win one point if you're closest to center. If your Tejo hits the target, an explosion of gun powder occurs and you get 3 points.
 

Trout lunch after game of Tejo