The bus left Villavicencio at 5 and by 9 I was at the bus station in Bogota where I was to meet with my travel companion Dennis, who I met during the first two weeks of orientation at the beginning of January.Quickly we found ourselves on the terminal and we began the search for the bus tickets to Armenia.
Every vacation time, of this type, in Colombia means significant intensification of the number of travelers. Because of that it wasn't an easy task to buy tickets for a trip from a good travel company. At the terminal there are lots window stands representing various bus companies that offer trips to different cities.
After consulting with some people about recommended bus agencies I knew which belonged to the more comfortable, and better organized ones.Nevertheless, the selling point to those ones either had a long line of people waiting, or had sold all the tickets already. We found another agency, which was displaying our destination. We bought the tickets without any problems.We didn't have to wait long for our bus to leave, and meanwhile we went to eat some hot soup in one of the terminal's restaurants.
The bus didn't belong to the best of companies, and had quite a lot of time in service. It's spatiality wasn't assuring the possibility of falling asleep. We left the bus terminal at 10.30 p.m. and, as the driver said, we should arrive to Armenia around 6-7 a.m.
The travel was passed calmly, but uncomfortably, so the sleep wasn't coming. At 2 a,m. in the middle of the night we stopped on the road surrounded by woods. One could hear a sound of the driver trying to shift the gear and some cracking noises. He took some tools and started trying to fix it. After lying for some time under the bus he got back to his seat and achieved running the bus on the first gear with the speed of 10 km/h. This way we moved to the first shop next to the road, where we stopped again. We were in a distance of 5 km to the terminal in Ibague. Most of the angry passengers started calling their families, informing them about the occurrence, Transport Police, or the bus company we were using.
The time was passing and it seemed that all the calls made didn't change anything. Luckily, at least there was a shop. We sat at the tables , some of us bought a beer in a can, others empanadas, and we were just sitting like this, trying to talk calmly without thinking about our unfortunate situation. It observed that the bus agency didn't really feel responsible for their bus breakdown, and wasn't thinking about helping us with this problem. Someone said that they will send another bus from Bogota. This solution wouldn't help much, because it would take hours to get to us.
Around 9 a.m, exhausted, frustrated (someone said that "esto es el colmo!!!) with the lack of possible solutions couple of passengers went to talk with police, to try get some help. Police officers proved to be helpful. We came to the conclusion that, if we are so close to the bus station in Ibague, we should try to get there by talking with the representatives of the bus company. The police officers started to stop some busses that were going to the terminal and we were getting on those busses in small groups. We arrived to the bus station around 10 a.m.. On the terminal the passengers started to explain the situation to the lady from the bus agency. She didn't seem really helpful so we talked to the police again. It was established that the company was going to have to organize a new bus for us, that will take us to Armenia. While waiting for the bus we were signing the list of the passengers and we even received some Coca Cola to drink, but some of us expected a breakfast or even refund of the ticket. After some time finally our new bus arrived and we could continue our trip.
Eventually, after nearly 2 hours of travel I arrived to Armenia. This long and exhausting trip gave us a chance to get to know some people in the bus. Some of them were really nice and it was interesting to talk with them. For example with Jose, who is an airplane pilot for the governmental agency similar to the FBI in Colombia.
We were quite weary and in this moment we were only dreaming of finding some cheap accommodations and going to sleep. We went to the center of the city by taxi and entered to the first hotel that we met. It was a typical Colombian hotel of rather low standard. I asked for a two-bed room, and the price was lower than expected, thus we decided to stay in this place. We had a room with two big beds, bathroom and tv.We went only to grab something to eat and for a short walk around the center, and afterwards we came back to the hotel and went straight to bed.
In the evening I received a message from Sarah, a girl, that is also working in the program and I met her during the orientation in Bogota. She was also traveling to the coffee region and she was planning to go to Salento the following day. Salento is located nearby the Valle de Cocora which is famous for the highest palm trees in the world. Obviously, I wanted to visit those places as well, so we decided to meet in Salento on the next day.
Next day in the morning we ate a breakfast on the bus station and immediately after we caught a bus to Salento.
Nowadays Salento is a really popular tourist spot. It is known as the oldest town in the department Quindio. It is located between the mountains that cover the Coffee Region. The town's population oscillates around 5 000 people, but during the vacations 90% of people on the streets are tourists. The place looks quite vivid because of that and all of the hostels and hotels are full. While walking on the streets of Salento one can see a lot of colorful balconies and windows in the style of Spanish colonization architecture. It's a very pleasant place, but because of the influx of tourists it losses a bit of it's charm.
El Mirador (The Vievpoint) is one of the attractions of the city. We could admire the impressive landscapes surrounding Salento.
The most important aspect of Salento is it's proximity to the Cocora Valley. Salento is a starting out point to the trekking paths in the valley, where one can also marvel the highest palm trees in the world, which can reach up to 60 meters.
The best way to get to Cocora Valley from Salento is a Willy Jeep. Similarly as with busses, the driver waits till he gets enough people to fill the car, including the standing places at the back of a jeep. Those places are the best and they provide the best views and the biggest fun on the way. I had a chance to travel like this a couple of times, not only in Salento.
The jeep took us to the point in the valley where the trekking begins. There are various paths to choose and I guess that we chose the most difficult, and the longest. After walking on densely forested and pretty narrow paths for around an 1 and a half hours we realized that something's not right. Some girls we met had exhausted their trekking energy and decided to go back. Together with Dennis we were continuing our hike on harder and steeper path. At some moment we met other tourists with whom we tried to settle where this path is leading us. Although, some of them said that the following path is even more difficult than up to this point, and to get to the viewpoint we had to go at least another hour. Nevertheless, I didn't want to give up and I decided to carry on.
Dennis was staying a bit behind me and when I got to the highest point I had to wait a moment for him. The view wasn't that clear because of the trees, but behind them one could see picturesque landscape of the valley.
Next we got to grassy meadow where we took a break to rest and contemplate the scenery.
From this point the path was downhill, which was a relief for us. While descending we met other tourists that were heading to the Cocora Valley where one can admire enormous palm trees. On the way there was another nice viewpoint over the valley, where tourists of various nationalities had a chance to take photos.
After another while of walking downhill finally we arrived to the place, which I saw before only in pictures. Grassy valleys with scattered impressive palm trees that almost touched the sky, covered in clouds, with mountains in the background. It was breathtaking. We laid out on the soft grass to contemplate the beautiful landscape.
Afterwards we went to the exit of the park and took some jeep to Salento. We met a nice girl form Holland that was traveling around South America for some time already, and we took some photos together while having a ride on the back of the jeep.
Although, we were told that in Salento there were no free rooms left, we found a room in the first hotel we asked. There was one drawback of this room, it had one big bed. However, we decided to stay there and endure this night in one bed.
In the evening we bought a bottle of brandy and we were sitting on the main square while drinking it. At one moment a group of musicians appeared and started to play cumbia, and other colombian rhythms. After some time police arrived and they informed the musicians that they are not allowed to play on the square because they were making too much noise. It was an absurd decree for me, as the bars around the square were playing music from loudspeakers a lot louder than this band.
Fortunately the musicians informed the small audience that they are moving to one coffee shop nearby and they are inviting everyone to join them there. On the way to this place we met two girls going there too. One of them from Israel and the other one from Argentina. They were traveling around Latin America, and they had met at some point.
On the next day my goal was to visit one of the coffee farms, that are located near Salento. Before the trip I found on the web information about one organic coffee farm, and the girls we met the night before had been there, and they strongly recommended it.
After a tasty breakfast we set off on the way leading to coffee plantations. We had to walk around an hour on rocky roads to get there. The tiredness after the hike from the day before made me wear flip-flops, and it turned out not to be the best idea.
During this long walk we could appreciate some nice views on the way.
At last we reached our destination - "Finca Don Elías". It's a small fully organic coffee farm where no chemicals, or fertilizers are used. Everything is done naturally and with care to coffee traditions.
On the farm we met two girls (German, and Swiss) who were waiting for a tour of the farm.We were guided by the son of the founder of the farm - Johnny.
We started the tour at the plantation, where Johnny showed us the coffee trees and was explaining the cycle of the cultivation and different types of coffee. Subsequently he was talking about the periods of coffee collection etc. and was also presenting different plants. He was always highlighting that on this coffee farm nothing is wasted and everything is used for some purpose.
After the visit on the plantation Johnny showed us what the process of coffee production is like step by step.
After the tour he served us a strong black coffee and that was the crowning of this visit.
We came back to Salento on the back of the jeep again:)
Our visit to Salento was getting to an end and we wanted to continue our trip. The next planned stop was Filandia.
It wasn't an easy task to get there. There were no buses from Salento to Filandia. We were told, that we should go to some other nearby city, or get off the bus on some bypass road where busses heading to Filandia were passing. We decided to try the latter option.
We got off on the busy bypass road, and we found a bus stop there. However, it didn't mean that all the buses stop there. To stop any bus it was essential to wave your hand in a visible enough manner, as a sign that you want to get on this bus. We were waiting quite a while and most of the buses that were passing by were going to other destinations. Finally I saw on the front of one bus the card saying that it was heading to Filandia, and although I was waving my hand pretty intensively, it didn't stop. The situation repeated half an hour later.
It was getting dark and we didn't want to wait any longer for our bus, so we got on a bus to Pereira, which wasn't a part of my plan.
Generally, that's the best thing about traveling independently with a backpack. You don't have any fixed schedule or a plan, but you are just traveling freely and you can make spontaneous decisions according to the situation.
After arriving to Pereira we received some information about a hostel in the bus station information counter. After just arriving and taking a quick shower, we left to the city to eat something and get to know the atmosphere of the city. While we were walking in uncertain direction one street vendor stuck to us. He said he can guide us to the main square. I wasn't so trustful at the beginning but he didn't seem dangerous so we followed him. During the walk he was telling us a lot of stories from his life and about some problems he made. He was living for 12 years in United States, but because of those "problems" he was deported, and simultaneously had to leave his Mexican wife and kids there. He was lamenting a bit about this outcome, and he highlighted that he has never fallen so low to sell chewing gums on the street. He was trying to show us some bars in the center, but most of them were pretty dead so we just got a beer in one of them and later went back to the hostel.
We didn't really have a specified plan for the next day. As we previously saw in Armenia, the bigger cities in this region don't have much to offer, and most of the attractions are outside of the city in the small towns. I talked with the receptionist from the hostel about some worth-visiting places, and it was clear that the Santa Rosa de Cabal Therms (about which I read before) is a right direction.
To get there, first, we had to get to Santa Rosa and then find some other transport to the therms. To our delight we found some Willy jeep that could take us there. We did the 30 minute trip on the back of the jeep, of course.
We checked the waterfall and spent some time in boiling therms.
Completely relaxed and healed from the muscle soreness after a demanding hike in Valle de Cocora we headed back to Santa Rosa, where we were quite lucky and caught the bus to Armenia instantly after getting off the bus.
In Armenia we ate a soup on the bus station, and we were ready to move to another place.
We got to Filandia late in the afternoon and immediately after entering the streets of Filandia we could see that most of the doors and windows were in various colors. It was also easy to notice that there were a lot of tourists and that it may be difficult to find a place to stay for a night. After asking in two hostels, where they didn't have any free beds, we got to another one where they had two beds available, but in different rooms. We decided to split the cost, cause the beds had different price, and sleep in separate rooms. The hostel was very nice, and the owner really kind. In the evening we went to the main square with Hector from Bogota, that we meet in the hostel.We sat in some bar, talked and drank beer, just chillin...
I was happy when we found a restaurant that served fish and seafood:)
On the next day we didn't have any plans. I felt pleased and happy with all the places I visited, and even more when counting Santa Rosa Therms that wasn't a part of my initial plan. In Filandia practically 90% of all window shutters, doors, or balconies were painted. It was really pleasant to walk on those picturesque streets. We also had a chance to watch a footbal game between Colombia and Bolivia. Each game of the national team is a holiday here, which is very visible on the streets because most of the people wear Colombia’s national team t-shirt.
The game itself was great and exciting. It ended 3-2 for Colombia, and the decisive goal was scored in the last minute of the game.
After the game we went to the hostel to pick our bags and then we headed to the bus stop to start our trip back home. In Armenia we didn’t have problems with buying bus tickets in a good bus company. The bus arrived to Bogota earlier than I thought. It was 2 a.m. in the middle of the night, and at that time there are no buses to Villavicencio. I had to wait till 6 a.m. for the first bus, and I got to my "home" just before 10 a.m.
I wanted to come back on Friday to be able to celebrate the Easter properly. Easter is not especially celebrated in Colombia. Yes, there are processions orgenized by churches, but when it comes to the traditions, there aren't any. People treat this time more as a vacation. Those who have money travel somewhere, those who don't have many, stay at home and relax. I was missing the way we celebrate Easter in Poland, with a lot of small customs, and a big breakfast with family members on Sunday. To have at least some element of polish Easter I prepared a vegetables with eggs and mayonnaise classic salad and couple of boiled eggs with mayonnaise.
It's not easy to return to the daily work routine after an intense week of travelling.
Other news:
-At school we celebrated the day of a Girl and of a Boy. For the day of a Boy some dancing group came to show their skills, and a "singer" that was interpreting covers of the most popular songs around here. I was suprised when after the "concert" kids were asking him for autographs.
Z innych informacji:
-Once, during the mass a huge grasshopper was jumping inside the church. It landed on a shoulder of a man standing in front of me. He shook it off his shoulder and the insect fell next to the foot of a guy standing next to me.He stepped on it heavily and crushed him.
-I am not extending the contract with the program fill November. If I did so, I would have have to stay in this same city and school, and I don't want to do this. At the beginning of the program I was told that if I want to extend it, I will be able to change the placement. It seems that some regulations were changed, and it's not like this anymore.
I am staying here till the final of June for sure, when the first semester finishes and vacations start. I will try to find some other job before the end of the semester. So far nothing is for sure, and I'm weighting the options. Hopefully everything's going to be fine.
Time will tell:)
Greeting from Colombia:)
Adam Sz. (el poloco)
