Salento Day 1

Today we got up and had fruit and granola for breakfast. Such a welcome change to eggs and bread! After a couple quick errands we made our way to the main square to buy return tickets for our day in the Cocora Valley for a hike amongst the biggest palm trees in the world: the wax palm tree🌴.
We originally were going for a round trip 12km hike through the valley and along the river, but we were presented with a more challenging hike up Cerro Morrogacho, 13km up and back with just over 1,100m of elevation gained. The hike was challenging. There were some sections slick with mud, and others with rocks or steep hills. We frequently stopped. It seems that elevation may be affecting Allan more than me, but he is more in shape so maybe this evened the playing field a little bit! We both were counting down the meters of elevation, and the meters of distance until the top. The last small section, through the jungle, was by far the hardest. Very muddy, steep and trees to climb over and under. However, we pushed through (Allan always encouraging) and made it to the top for a view over the valley. The top of the mountain did offer some stunning views into the valley below as well as of the surrounding mountains. There was also a mountain in the distance still topped with snow.
After a small rest, and some interesting conversation, at the top we began the treacherous journey back down. It definitely took far less time going down through the jungle than up...we were both a little surprised because it seemed so much steeper going up! It took another couple hours down the mountain ending our hike at 5 and a half hours.
We quickly raced through the ticket area and towards the 'touristy' section of the Valley of Palms. It was just after 1700 so we only had an hour and a half before the last willy (jeep) left for Salento. We got to the ticket gate, saw the $20,000 cop price and counted our money to enter, only $24,000 after the fees for the other hike and willy transport. Luckily, the boy at the ticket office was kind (or took pity) and let us both in. I was devastated to learn, that all the viewpoints were up more hills, a further 1km uphill more precisely. We powered through, and made it to a couple viewpoints. Allan of course overachieving and went a little bit higher to the next one. The palm trees are seriously tall. Some of them have thick trunks that sway less in the breeze, but some have super skinny trunks that have grown so tall it's a wonder they don't blow over! And because we did that last, on our way back to the willy lot, we managed to catch the sun going down behind the palm trees and mountains. It was beautiful.
This was a tough day, but also rewarding for not only some spectacular views, but also for accomplishing that mountain 🌴🌄.

Hospedaje Vista Hermosa Salento
9/10
Facilities: 😀
Comfort: 🙂
Location: 🙂
Cleanliness: 😀
Value for money: 😀
Staff: 😀

Summary: Quiet location on other side of square, more like hotel than hostel, great value for money

Good: Location. A 5-minute walk over/past the main square from the bus station, which this meant it was quiet (from external noise) yet convenient. Breakfast. Good breakfast with several base items (hot drink, fruit drink, fruit) plus a choice of eggs or cereal and yogurt. Decent standard of rooms with good-quality TV. This was our first relatively early/non-night bus night in almost two weeks, so we took advantage of catching up on a series on Amazon Prime!

Bad: Noise. The internal-facing rooms seemed to be noisy despite the lack of guests staying around that area of the property. While the property was quiet in general (away from the main plaza), the noise from doors, shutters, guests, etc. seemed to be very loud. I’d recommend a mountain-facing room on a higher floor for a few more dollars to reduce such noise.Read more