In search of Jaun Valdez
Trip Start
May 11, 2005
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Ongoing
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Salento/ Zona Cafeteria, Colombia
Friday, August 17, 2007
Our first day here Dan, Mattius and I went for a beautiful hike in the mountains to see the worlds tallest palms tree and a humming bird sanctuary. The hike was about 4 hours and the views were amazing.
I got a cheaper deal in the hostel here because I opted to sleep in the attic. Although this was cheaper I was only separated from the bathroom by a thin sheet. The fun part about this was that I could hear every sound that came from the bathroom. I was often jolted awake by serious ass thunder from all the other backpackers and most often the girls beat the guys.
I also went on a tour of an organic coffee plantation. The views again were spectacular and even though I don't care much about plants the colors often amazed me. Colombia is famous for its coffee but they export all their best stuff so that leaves the country drinking second rate java.
The rest of my time I spent eating cheap fresh fruits and reading in the hammocks that of course offered nice green views.
Now I must digress and share a story that is not mine but one that happened to ¨The Jew¨ Yurone.... This guy is a great guy but a traveling night mare, to give you idea of his traveling ineptitude..........he booked a flight from New York to San Jose, Ca. He thought this was San Jose, Costa Rica and thought the Ca stood for Central America.....Thinking he was very lucky to get such a cheap price he thanked his Jewish lucky stars and got on the plane. While flying he stuck up a conversation with the woman next to here and ask why she was on her way to Costa Rica...... only then did he realize that he was headed to California.....now that the stage is set here is what happened to him the day I left.....
He went out on the hike to the humming bird place today with a group of other people from the hostel. To cut a long story short they went the wrong way. They didn´t get lost exactly they just took the wrong path and after about 8km they didn´t get to their destination and realized they were going to have to go back the way they came. They knew the route back but it was afternoon and they knew it was going to get dark before they got back to the start point again. They didn´t have much water on them and no food but the would have survived as it was probably about a 3 hour walk back. They also had 2 flashlights which would probably have been sufficient. Anyway sounds like they panicked a bit. None of them spoke very good Spanish. One girl spoke a bit so she wrote a note asking for help..... which Yarone volunteered to run ahead and deliver to someone in the town where they were heading.
They figured that they might be able to send horses for them or something so that they might be able to get back to the town before dark... anyway so Yarone ran ahead with this note. But the way the note was worded was like ¨we need help. we´re lost in the jungle. we have no food or water. please send help for us´..... so Yarone ran ahead and took it to the town where they started... and of course this alerted a full on emergency response! They had police, army and even fire brigade... the stupid thing is that whole group made it back not long after Yarone anyway! The local services are so angry that they´re threatening not to let any foreigners back to the there without appointed guides which is going to cost the park a huge amount in administration and manpower! The owner of the hostel was desperately trying to contain his despair with the group!!! Others were desperately trying to contain their amusement.... Yarone came back to the hostel with an escort 30 deep!
This is why we must throw the Jew down the well.......
But I still love him....
Comments
It's SALENTO not Silantro
Hi Ben. I don't know how you got it wrong. The town is called SALENTO. Cilantro (with c) means in english coriander.
I'd like to add That Salento is located in the Quindio region whose capital is Armenia (7 hours by bus from Bogota, 3 and half from Cali and 5 from Medellin).It's in the center of Colombia and has always been very peaceful (no problems with guerrillas).It has become the second turist destination in Colombia after the Atlantic zone.
Near by is EL PARQUE DEL CAFE in Montenegro (you have to pass thx Armenia). and PANACA another theme park with animals , a litle farther in Quimbaya.
Another small city CALARCA (after you descend from the mountains.It's good for paragliding).