We had a day to chill before we headed off on our trek in the Los Nevados National park. We decided to walk to the two Miradors to enjoy the view and get in some altitude ‘training’ :). The walk to the view took all of 10 minutes but it certainly was impressive. It really is a beautiful part of the world. Apparently Salento was a bit of ghost town 15 years ago due to the number of FARC guerillas in the area; it is now a bustling tourist destination (local and overseas). We certainly would not be doing our trek. We had a local coffee – Salento is also known for its coffee with a lot of Arabic coffee grown in the area.
We headed off to the Paremo Trek office at 4 for our trek debrief. Fortunately for us, another trekker had just turned up which meant we could now do the 4 day trek for the price of our planned 3 day – as there was originally only 2 of trekking we had to pay for all guide ourselves, adding a third meant his costs were now shared 3 ways. She was Katrin from Switzerland. We were told to be back at the office at 7am the following morning.
We met our guide Freddy (aka Chuko – means Jesus) the next morning and got given some snacks for the 4 days as well as our lunch for the day. A bit of a challenge to find some space in our fully laden backpacks (we took our little ones – leaving the big packs back at the hotel). We then headed off for a hearty feed at a local cafe before loading ourselves into one of the many Colombian ‘Willis’ jeeps for a hour drive to the start of the trek in the Cocora Valley (2390m). It was here that we were meant to encounter lots of the famous Quindío palms – they can grow up to 300ft tall. While we certainly saw plenty of them, we didn’t walk amongst them as expected. It was a bit chilly at the start of the trek but it soon warmed up as we climbed, and climbed and climbed some more. Once we got above 2800m the trees thinned and we started to encounter the paramo de frailejones – weird looking cactuses out of a Dr Seuss book. It was here that Chuko gave us some of his cocoa & baking powder mix to provide energy. It was akin to sucking on chewing tobacco but it worked.
We finally made it to our “finka” for the night around 3pm – La Argentina at an altitude of 3400m – it had taken us nearly 6 hours to cover the 13km but in that we had climbed an incredible 1461m!. To say the hut was basic was an understatement but it had served the family living there for many generations so it was certainly good enough for us. There were plenty of animals around – cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, dogs – including a couple of shivering Chihuahuas!!. The family’s main revenue used to come from cheese making but now it was from hosting tourists. They built a room alongside the house to sleep up to 14 tourists in double bed bunks – thankfully there were only 7 of us to we got to have a double bunk each. There was no lights in the room – head torches were a must. The shower was magic if somewhat cramped.
When not in the sleepout, the time was spent sitting on a raised bench above the wood fired stove and kitchen bench to enjoy the warmth. It was certainly cosy with all of us in there. We all got given a bowl of lovely potato soup before settling in to watch the quarter final of COPA America. I snuck off for an hour kip before the Colombia v Chile game at 615. It was very pleasant watching the game and our hyper-busy hostess preparing dinner. The old owner popped in from a day out on the farm for dinner and to say hello. Dinner consisted of more potato soup and then a plate of beans, avocado, fried plantain(banana) and rice. Lovely. We gave up on the soccer at half time (Chile ending up winning on penalties) and headed to be at 730. It had been a tough day – Deryn had found it particularly so but had soldiered on like the trooper she is.
It was a restless night sleep with the wind howling, dogs barking, cows mooing and roosters crowing. I was also a bit dehydrated which did not help. We were told breakfast was at 630 so get up at 6. I was in the kitchen waiting for brekkie at 6.20 but only got anything at 650. Colombian time! Breakfast was potato soup (of course), rice, scrambled egg and a cracker. Plus a cop of cocoa tea followed by a coffee. It was past 8 before we got away for another tough day of climbing.
We basically climbed for the first 4 km to nearly 4200m – 800m in 2 hours. Brutal. We had a brief stop at the farm called Buenos Aires – no idea why these weird names – before continuing our climb. It was pretty cold and cloudy so we did not get to see the Paramillo del Quindío (4,750 meters) volcano but thankfully that was it for the climbing which meant we could start to enjoy the splendour of our remote landscape. Chuko was great at pointing out some of the stunning plants in the area as well as the odd bird. We were going to walk to base of the volcano but after climbing the hill on part of the journey, all decided to flag it. The cold wind combined with the distance put us all off. Plus we had a long day tomorrow.
It was a gradual decline until to Buenos Aires finka at 3800m – it was visible about an hour out – it was a long hour given how tired we were from the 2 days of climbing. I was also continually piddling as I was drinking so much water to avoid the dehydration from the previous day. I stopped 7 times during the day!
The farmhouse was situated in a beautiful valley with a lot more flat paddocks around it. The kitchen was a lot smaller than Argentina but a lot neater, the toilet even had a lid!. We all enjoyed the shower again, knowing there was no shower the following day. The kitchen was a bit small so we all ended up having a bit of a kip (and read) in the dorm before dinner. It also gave us an opportunity to try out the beds and to add another 3 blankets on top of the mattress to soften it. So for me it was 3 blankets below and 3 on top – Deryn had 4 on top – it really did get that cold overnight. We walked 11.4km climbing 888m in just over 6 hours.
Dinner was some lentil soup, followed by some fried chicken, avocado, fried plantain, some beetroot & onion mix and rice. Delicious. We were all in bed by 7 reading and asleep soon after. It wasn’t as cold as the previous night but we had the pleasure of the roosters deciding 430am was a decent time to start crowing. Including the rooster who lived on the roof above my bunk. Breakfast of course included a hearty potato soup. We managed to get away by 7.45 am with another climb of 250m to start the day. We now entered the National Park proper after our first 2 days of walking through privately owned farms. The trekking was a little easier then previous days as a lot of our gear was being transported to our next stop on a mule. It meant that Deryn and I only had 1 light bag between us – which I carried of course being the perfect gentlemen. After the 90 minutes of the climb, it flattened out and we really started to enjoy ourselves. The views were incredible and many of the paramo were in flower – the flowers showed why they are the same family as the sunflower. The varied landscapes made us all very glad that we had opted for the 4 day hike over the 3.
We finally made it to Laguna Otun (a lake) around 1. Chuko gave us each a bar of chocolate to celebrate the achievement and then cooked us lunch over a little gas stove. Powdered mash potato and vegetables – just add water and cheese. It was lovely. As was the coffee.
Our descent to El Jordan was brilliant. Chuko took us on his many shortcuts, some of them involving traversing incredibly steep banks, climbing over fences and crossing many streams. We also got to walk through some cloud forests with its NZ like palms and ferns. It really was magic and made all the hard work of the last 2 and a half days well worth it. We also got to share some of NZ’s favourite past time with Chuko. After 19.5km and over 9 hours, we made it to El Jordan. While we had only climbed 752m that day, we were shattered. I had won the days piddling contest with Katrin – 13 to 12. The farmhouse was lovely – although the owners were certainly a lot less friendly than our previous hosts. The views were incredible. The lack of a shower was compensated by some beers and spectacular views. Dinner was awful. Boiled spud, dry chicken and some rice.
Our descent to El Jordan was brilliant. Chuko took us on his many shortcuts, some of them involving traversing incredibly steep banks, climbing over fences and crossing many streams. We also got to walk through some cloud forests with its NZ like palms and ferns. It really was magic and made all the hard work of the last 2 and a half days well worth it. We also got to share some of NZ’s favourite past time with Chuko. After 19.5km and over 9 hours, we made it to El Jordan. While we had only climbed 752m that day, we were shattered. I had won the days piddling contest with Katrin – 13 to 12. The farmhouse was lovely – although the owners were certainly a lot less friendly than our previous hosts. The views were incredible. The lack of a shower was compensated by some beers and spectacular views. Dinner was awful. Boiled spud, dry chicken and some rice.
It was a much milder night with fewer disruptions so we all had a better nights sleep. Jeez, I can’t wait to sleep in a decent bed again! We got away our earliest yet at 7.20am – I guess Chuko wanted to finish early. Again it was a very pleasant walk (no hills to climb!!) and it wasn’t long before we started to encounter other trekkers – initially heading down – but soon more and more doing a day hike out o El Cedral. It was a long weekend in Colombia so it was busier that normal. It took us 3 hours to reach the Otún Quimbaya Fauna and Flora Sanctuary with its large, and busy, campground. We had a brief stop before pushing on to finish the last 6km. A lot of it was walking down a riverbed which thankfully was not too wet which meant it was comparatively easy. Certainly the walking poles came into their own in terms of providing balance. We made it to El Cedral by 12.10 – we covered the 14.3km in just under 5 hours. A bit too quick as our car had not yet arrived. He showed up at 12.30 at which point we agreed to pay 100k pesos ($50) between the 3 of us to get him to drive us straight back to Salento rather than the Pereira bus stop. The public holiday meant the bus station would have been a nightmare.
As it turned out the drive was brilliant. It involved navigating some pretty narrow and steep mountain roads – at one stage the 4 wheel drive car could not get traction on a particularly steep bit of road and had to back up and try again. We drove though some very fertile areas with plenty of onions and avocados being grown. We arrived back in Salento by 3 and went straight to Brunch for some incredible burgers. We said our fond farewells to both Chuko and Katrin before heading back to our hotel for a long shower and a change of clothes. After catching up with the world we headed down to the one Indian restaurant in town for a disappointing curry. The airy room and a soft bed was brilliant. Over the 4 days we walked 59km, climbed an incredible 3200m over 29 hours. Deryn and I both agreed its was the toughest tramp we had ever done.
