Taganga, Medellin,Salento and Cali

Joel and I have just checked out of our hostel in Cali, and are waiting around in the sunshine to catch the long bus of 20 hours to Quito overnight, so I thought I would do a little update on what we have been getting upto in the last few weeks.

After the Jungle trek, we stayed in Taganga for about 4 nights to recover from our blisters, pulled muscles, exhaustion, and stomach problems from drinking the river water (actually we are both still suffering with that). Taganga is a very cute, very small fishing village with not much to do but relax in the heat, swim in the sea and drink the delicious watermelon juice...yum yum! So it was the perfect place for us to be after our week in the jungle. The sea there is probably the nicest sea I have ever been in, crystal clear, and warm as a bath. Apparently the sea here never goes any less than about 26 degrees. We would sit on the beach all day and read our books while people stroll around selling coconut cookies, and avacado (random mix) and trying to get you to go to their beach restaurant for lunch. We went to one one day, they look like tiny little shacks, and just cook on woodfires, they are not very aesthetically pleasing but serve amazing food. Joel went into the "kitchen" with the chef where she showed him about 6 different fish to choose from. He came back to our table with a very cheeky grin, saying he had chosen the biggest, most ugly, bright red and blue fish they had because it was funny. I was very worried, but thank goodness, it was delicious. They served it with rice and salad...everything pretty much comes with that here. Taganga is very funny as its not unsual to be sitting, relaxing enjoying a coffee while a very large heard of goats will just run down the street, or a donkey followed by 15 children trying to catch it...random but very amusing!

After Taganga, we headed to Medellin which is a very happening, cosmopoltian town. Unfortunately we didn´t do much going out here, as we both had very bad bugs (we think from the river water) so we spent almost all of our time there in bed. Thank goodness, we had a very nice hostel room, with a television and big bathroom- Phew!

Once we got over the most of our illness we went to Salento which has to be one of my favourite destinations so far. Being in Salento is like stepping into an old western movie. It is in the mountains and is part of the coffee region on Columbia. Old men sit in old style salloons playing cards and pool. Everyone goes quiet and stares at you when you walk in which is very funny. The only odd thing is they look like big men who should be drinking beer all day and throwing chairs around the saloon, instead they are all drinking the delicious Columbian coffee out of tiny english tea cups..haha! Being up in the Mountains it is a very mild temperature in the day, but sunny, and freeezing at night. On our second day I managed to get Joel to come on a 4 hour horse riding trek with me. He was petrified at first but soon started to love it. It was the hardest riding I have ever done, so I think he is a natural. We galloped up and down mountain paths, jumped rocks and logs and crossed rivers. We took the horses to a waterfall there, I don´t think I have ever seen such beautiful landscapes, its breathtaking. We had an amazing day and I couldn´t believe Joel loved it so much. He even wants to go again in Ecuador and now thinks he looks like Robin Hood on horse back!!!

So we are now in a city called Cali which is our last stop off before Ecuador. We visted the Zoo yestderday which was pretty cool, but they barely have anything between you and the animals here, which is a bit scary when you get to the bear part :S

So we are shortly getting on a very long bus ride...blerugh! But I am very excited about getting into a new country.