Friday: School is out at 3:05 pm. Usually I have to stay after and finish some things, but this was the last regular Friday of the year and I was out of there as soon as the bell rang. Me and two coworkers, Katie and Ann, decided to take a trip to Manizales. This is a town about 3 hours from where I live in Armenia. We hopped off the school bus to wait at the bus stop. We weren´t there 30 minutes when a minivan stopped and asked if we wanted to go to Manizales. Normally, people take big buses to Manizales, but the price was the same and we thought we might get there even faster in a minivan, so we got inside. Shortly after getting on the bus we passed by something I have never seen in Colombia, traffic police.
This might be a good moment to comment on the driving of the average Colombian. I have always understood road signs in the country to be a suggestion, not really a rule. Nobody makes a complete stop at stop signs and everyone goes as fast as they want, sometimes right through red lights. This is why I was so surprised when we drove by police with radar guns!!! I have seen some of the craziest driving here, and we get pulled over for going a little over the speed limit. Well, luckily, it is South America and a little $$ in the hands of the police officer and we were on our way again. I was told by another passenger that the 50.000 pesos ($25) we spent on our tickets is the money he used to bribe the cops!
Im only 20 minutes into the first evening of my weekend and already on the third paragraph....this could be a long one....
After the incident with the police, the man did not slow down, and definitely did not stop passing other vehicles, not even on dangerous curves. One of my coworkers was about the stick her head out of the window a couple of times on the trip. FYI, most roads in Colombia are very windy. The countryside is full of mountains. The Andes mountain range branches into three smaller ranges here, so the entire country is separated by mountains. Anyone with a weak stomach would have trouble traveling around in buses here. Luckily, years of bouncing around in tractors and swathers over prairie dog ridden fields, I am not one of the those people.
Anyway, we did finally get to Manizales after 2.5 hours and took a cable car right up to our hostal, Base Camp (http://www.basecampcolombia.com/). We immediately went upstairs on the balcony for beers and made friends with the new manager, Rose. Rose is from Denver, but had been living in Guatamala working at the Base Camp there for the last 2 years. We invited her to come with us to the hot springs later that evening.
Around 7 or 8pm the four of us (Rose in tow) got in a cab to go to the Tierra Viva hot springs. There are actually quite a few locations around Manizales with natural hot springs, ranging from trashy to day spas with massages and facials and everything else. Tierra Viva is a nice hot spring, not too expensive, and (most importantly) has a good bar with mojitos, margaritas, and caipirinhas. It was a hilarious time, with many different characters in the pool with us. A couple drunken older men, who wanted to come speak broken English with us (even though we could have understood their Spanish better). A young man was falling asleep in the warm water, and a few minutes later using the tube of sulfurous water to spray his friends, and also a little on us. (After a few caipirinhas, I was not going to let that slide and told him and his friends that it needed to stop.) Shortly after that we saw a young woman crying in the corner. First we speculated about why she might be crying, but then decided we needed to know. I went and asked her. It turns out that her boyfriend was the one who had fallen asleep earlier and then sprayed sulfurous water in our eyes. She wanted to go home and he wouldnt´take her. I gave her the rest of my drink and invited her to join us. At first she was hesitant, but definitely glad she did later. He was jealous that she was having so much fun with us, and wanted to leave only a few minutes after we started chatting.
Besides the crazy characters in the pool, it was also great to spend quality time with two of my friends who I have worked with for two years and wonder when I might see again. The hot springs were supposed to close at midnight, and we were the last ones in the pool. The owner had to come ask us to leave. We asked if it was already midnight, and were told it was almost 1am. We had to get out of the warm water and into the cool mountain air to get dressed and go back to the hostel to sleep.
Saturday: The next day we explored the city of Manizales a little on foot, and then took a bus back to Armenia. I quickly went home, switched the clothes in my bag for some fresh ones, and got a bus to Salento.
Salento is where I was living for 8 months this year. It is only a 40 minute trip from the north part of Armenia, where I live and work. I had to take the bus every day both ways, but it was worth it to live in this little Colombian town, frozen in time. Salento is a little cold, and almost always rainy. It might not sound like paradise, but it is set on top of mountains that have more shades of green than my own imagination could create. If you walk in any direction you face a gorgeous view, usually of the valley below and the rocky river that runs through it. It is a place I visited frequently my first year, and after making some friends decided to move there for my second year. I ended up moving back to Armenia for the last 3 months of my stay in Colombia, but still visit a lot.
This weekend I had planned to visit my friend Dave, who has recently bought a house in Salento and is turning the place into a hostal/bar with the help of the two Dans, his brother and his friend. The hostal is still not quite up and running, but they are getting close. We had a very successful fundraiser the weekend before. I was the bartender of the party, which I enjoyed immensely. All my friends from work came for burgers, drinks, and a sunset bonfire.
This weekend, it was Dan´s (the friend) last weekend, so I came up to celebrate. On Saturday night we had a few "Jar Rums" as we watched an electrical storm light up the night sky. It wasn´t raining at all, just making a display of white light across a cloudy sky. After we had thrown back a few, we headed to the plaza. Salento was packed full of tourists, Colombian and foreign. The soldiers were putting on a musical performance on a stage, and we even found a tent giving away free beers. A pretty lucky night! We walked up to the mirador, met up with Andres and some local friends, and danced in the plaza until the bars closed.
One of my favorite parts about Salento is drinking in the plaza. Salento is a small town, about 3000 people. I am from a town about the same size, but the night life doesnt even compare. In Salento, the whole town goes out on the weekends. From 18 (or a little younger if they can get away with it) to 75 years old, everyone goes to the plaza. There are about 4 bars and people can jump from bar to bar, or stay on the benches in the park. The people are very generous with their drinks too. In the states we get very upset at anyone who comes out and doesn´t bring enough money to buy their own drinks. In Colombia, you buy a bottle to share it. If you go out in Salento and don´t get offered a shot of Aguardiente by someone, I would be shocked.
After the bars close, as per usual, we grab some street food and head for bed. Night´s over, and a total success. :)
Sunday: The next day I awoke to the boys telling my that breakfast was ready. Probably the company I keep is the number one reason to love Salento. After a nice breakfast I was feeling pretty good. Hot springs, a night on the town, and I still had two days left of my weekend :) I started helping Dave transplant some vegetables from the green house to the garden, and did a little weeding. Then we decided to finish painting what will soon be the kitchen. I was pretty impressed with myself for having partied until the bars closed and still having the energy to garden and paint the next day. Our friend Hemmo stopped by to visit us in the late afternoon. He owns a hostal in Salento, TraLaLa, a place I have helped him watch a couple of weekends. http://www.hosteltralalasalento.com/ Turns out, Rose, from Manizales, is coming to visit us in Salento for a couple of days!! She decided to stay at TraLaLa, as per my recommendation.
That evening the boys cooked a delicious pasta and the neighbors brought over a nice "picada", grilled beef, tomatoes, sweet plantains, etc... The Colombian neighbors had come to let Dave know that they really care about them, and if Dave or Dan ever need anything they would love to help. Another example of Colombian hospitality. After the feast and a couple "Jar Rums", I went out to meet Rose. I had to get up early for a hike the next day, so I went home after only a beer or two.
Monday: When I went to get Rose the next morning, she had stayed out dancing until the bars closed the night before, and had taken advantage of the Salento hospitality with multiple shots of Aguardiente. But the brave girl got up and went on the 5 hour hike with us anyways! A few friends from school came up to Salento and we took a "Willies" jeep to Cocora Valley!
Cocora Valley is a national park in Colombia that I have been to multiple times now. My favorite hike (and the one we did Monday) is to Acaime. Acaime is little house on the top of a mountain that has a lot of hummingbird feeders, and thus, a lot of hummingbirds. In the last 2 years I have seen a massive growth in tourism in Cocora and Salento both. When I first came to Acaime the only thing they served was agua panela or hot chocolate. (Agua panela is like a tea made of panela, which is kind of like brown sugar.) They were building a hostel there. Now it has a complete hostel, and even serves chorizos and arepas! It is a 5 hr hike, if you go at an easy pace. The funnest/most dangerous part of the hike is crossing the river...on a log. I´ve gotten comfortable with it now, but I have crawled it before.
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