We're all going to the zoo!

Cali's zoo is renound for being the best in Colombia and when we found out that one of the girls in the hostel used to work there and offered to be our guide we decided this would be a fun day out!

No, that's not me after a long night of Salsa dancing ... although I forgive you for being confused!!

Amazing Anteater!

Super cute!

I'm a Meerkat ... Simples!

Finding my hips in Cali

After Salento, we have gone for a total change of scenery.  Cali, the home of Salsa dancing is where we are now.  What better way to experience Colombia than by understanding their dancing!  And what better sort of night out than one where you dance until the early hours of the morning.

Our hostel, http://www.jovitashostel.com/ is also a Salsa school, so since I've been here I've been rediscovering my hips and trying to pick up a few moves; and when my hips have swivelled a bit too much there's yoga too!

Every bar or club that you go to is all about Salsa dancing.  The dance floors are always packed with the most amazing dancers but what is really charming is that everyone is welcome.  If you can't dance, someone will want to teach you, so that you too can dance the night away.  Weekends start on Thursday nights and you dance solidly through to Sunday morning.  The daytimes are for sleeping!

Apart from the Salsa obsession, Cali is a normal city with a pretty old town.  It isn't at all touristy so everything we do is either with local people or we're discovering it for ourselves. 

And when the city and the dancing become too much, there's some beautiful countryside to relax in ... rivers, waterfalls and sunshine, what more could you ask for.

Seeing Salento

There is more to the coffee region than coffee, although it took me a while to be convinced!

It is a beautiful area, huge green hills and a small, local town.  It's a great place, not too many gringos so you actually feel like you're properly exploring the area.

The Plaza

The 'bus' stop

A sunny day in Salento

We spent a 'quiet' Sunday doing what the locals do ... blowing up dynamite with a lead weight!  The game is called Tejo, you throw a lead weight at a sandpit with small amounts of dynamite hidden in it, when you hit the dynamite and hear the almighty bang you get points!

Outside of Salento is the Valle de Cocora, a beautiful area with hummingbirds and amazing wax palm trees.

Valle de Cocora with it's mighty was palm trees.

In amongst the trees ... and the fog!  That's what happens when you visit in rainy season.

Watching the hummingbirds in the Valley

Indulging in my coffee passion!

 Having spent 3 years working in the coffee industry I now have an unhealthy obsession with coffee. I am a self confessed coffee snob and love everything about coffee from the aroma, the taste, the romance, the sociability of going for a coffee and the quiet moments of gathering your thoughts over a coffee.  Yep, I need to get a hobby!

So, coming to the coffee region in Colombia was always going to be really special for me.  Despite knowing a lot about coffee production and having visited coffee factories, I didn't ever get to experience the coffee bean growing process.  I knew the theory, but have always wanted to see it personally.

Less than 24 hours in Salento in the coffee region, and I was on a coffee plantation! 

At Finca Don Eduardo http://www.theplantationhousesalento.com/ we were shown their small plantation, from growing the plants, to harvesting the beans, to drying them,  to roasting, grinding and finally serving the coffee.  It was great to see the whole process in one place and completed with a hand made, artisan touch.

The Coffee Plantation

Cultivating the coffee plants

Coffee cherries ripening

The don't just grow coffee!

Coffee cherries harvested and ready for their skins to be removed.

 The hand powered machine which removes the skins of the cherries to reveal the beans.  After this they are washed to remove any remaining skin.

Afterwards the beans are put out to dry

Then for some grinding to remove the hard shell before they get roasted.

The most straight forward bean roasting I have ever seen!





Now, that's what I call Bean to Cup!

Calling Colombia!

Colombia!  Famed for it's coffee bean production, as well as other stimulants!  We decided to come straight to Colombia from Cuzco and the quickest way to do that was to fly.  We hadn't been having the best of luck with transport recently ... it took us 3 days to leave Santa Cruz in Bolivia by plane and we were taken off our flight from Rurrenebaque because we hadn't confirmed our flights! ... so we were determined to make this flight work!  And it did work!  Well, it almost didn't ...

Because we are budget backpackers we bought a flight to Medellin which was actually 3 flights and took 16hours! We made it successfully to Lima and Bogota but when we came to take our flight our 6am flight to Medellin after a quick snooze in the terminal that's when the problems started.  Firstly, we weren't flying with the airline we thought we were so had to queue a few times at various desks.  Then when we found the correct desk they told us we were in the wrong terminal!  At this time we had less than an hour to check, go through security and get to our gate ... in a different terminal!  Cue panic!  Luckily the two ladies at the desk understood our concerns and checked our bags in for us ... we then had to find a cash point in order to get a taxi to the other terminal.  After some crazy Benny Hill style antics and a lot of Spanglish we got to our terminal, raced through security and thanked our lucky stars once we got to the gate.  It was a close call ... far too close for 6 in the morning.

Finally we arrived in Medellin ... with most of our bags ... a miracle we got any of our bags considering the terminal nightmare!  And headed to our hostel to commence a weekend of celebrating our arrival in a new country!

Medellin from on high

After a long weekend of experiencing Medellin nightlife, we left to explore the near by region and went to Guatape, a pretty lake side town. 

After some peace and quiet admiring the views from our lake side hostel we headed to Salento in the coffee region.

Magical Machu Picchu!

Visiting Machu Picchu was a big deal for me.  I don't know why, but whenever I've seen the pictures I've always thought that it looks like a mystical place, with the clouds hanging around in and being flanked by enormous mountains and I've just wanted to experience it.

As we weren't going to do the Inca Trail (a lot of planning required and a lot of expense!) we decided to take a Jungle Trek.  4 days of biking, hiking, rafting and zip lining; sounded like way more fun than just trekking!  Bag packed we began our trip.

Our first day was mountain biking.  Nothing too tricky - it was downhill all the way!  We started up high in the cloud forest and biked for three hours down into the rain forest ... apparently travelling through at least 26 different eco systems!  (the bio diversity of Peru is amazing and I think underrated!)  The scenery (when not covered in clouds ... and when I could bear to take my eyes off the winding road!) was beautiful and you could feel the climate change as you went from cloud forest to rainforest, slowly getting warmer and more humid. 

The Biking Team!

The afternoon was spent white water rafting ... a pretty wet event and therefore no pics!

Day 2 was the walking day, not just any walking but hiking part of the Inca Trail.  It was pretty steep, up and down and a hot day, so we had to get into the Inca mind set with face painting!

Eventually we got on to a flat bit and walked the last few hours by the river.  And we experienced some novel river crossing techniques ... jump in a platform and get pulled across by the strongest small man ever!

After a long days walking, we had a treat in store ... thermal baths!  Just what our weary muscles needed ... that and a beer! 

Day 3 was the bit that no one really wanted to talk about ... zip lining.  It sounds like the kind of thing that I would love ... but there's a small problem with being 100m in the air and South American health and safety!  After climbing to the first of six lines I was beginning to feel my nerves, but was sure that after the first one I'd really enjoy it.  Once I was pushed off the edge and flying further away from solid ground my nerves didn't leave me ... so I closed my eyes and didn't open them again until the other side!

I did start to enjoy the lines and kept my eyes open for some of them, but the feeling of impending doom didn't leave and I was very glad when it was over.

There I am ... flying through the air!  Looking much happier than I thought I was ... or is that the grin of hysteria?

After being reckless with our lives we got back to walking.  This part was along the train tracks to Agua Calientes.

Machu Picchu in the distance.

We finally went to Machu Picchu on Day 4.  To beat the masses of other tourists we started walking at 4.30am in order to be at the gates before the opened and before the buses arrived.


Starting the walk in the dark.



Finally at Machu Picchu by 6.15am, after a hard, steep walk ... but we did beat the buses and for a short time could admire the complex without tourists.

As the sun came up over the mountains.

In amongst the ruins

Those llamas get everywhere!

Machu Picchu was amazing!  I spent most of my day there sitting on the terraces just taking it all in.  It is such a spectacular complex, but the setting amongst the clouds and mountains makes it a really magical experience.