Minca, Columbia

We had our first major oops of the trip. At the end of a five hour bus ride Andreas shook me awake and said, “Whitney, where’s your passport...” it turns out we left my passport at our previous hostel! They always make a copy of your passport when you arrive but the receptionist never handed it back and we got distracted. Luckily two girls from the hostel happened to be heading our way later that night and they got it back to us. Hooray, crisis averted!

In the mountain town of Minca, electricity only works about 50% of the time. There is not much to do but hike. We hiked three hours in the mud to the famous Casa Elemento. Once there we enjoyed the sounds of the jungle while sipping Columbian coffee. I braved the giant hammocks that jutted out over the valley. We were feeling lazy so we opted to take moto-taxis on the way down. This turned out the be a crazy adventure in itself as it had been raining all day and it was muddy and slippery. We put our trust in our drivers and made it down alive!Read more