Salento - the making of Belgian cowboys

On our way to Salento in Columbia, we had a discussion about what elements would make for an unforgettable experience during our world trip. One of the inevitable answers was the risk-reward paradigm: the more risky the activity, the higher the adrenaline rush, the longer we will remember and talk about it afterwards. We decided to put this theory to the test in Salento.

The first day we decided to engage in horseback riding through the beautiful landscapes. Despite the fact that we had mentioned that we had no experience whatsoever, the guide assigned a restless horse to Graham. Sure enough, the horse didn't seem to understand Flemish and most likely had a history as a rodeo-horse trying to throw its rider of its back (danger level 6/10). The guide appeared reasonable when he eventually agreed to give Graham a calmer horse. However, ten minutes later he started whipping the behind of Dimitri's horse, yelling something that sounded like "Vamos vamos! Mas rapido!" Before Dimitri knew what was going on, his horse was galloping at an estimated speed of 200 miles per hour (danger level 7/10). On the upside, next time anyone asks, we can tell them we have loads of experience.

Belgian cowboys

Next on the schedule was a visit to a local eco coffee plantation. After picking our own coffee beans we admired the process of extracting the beans, as well as the fermentation and drying process. Despite the fact that it was explained to us that all healthy beans are kept for export, and all the remaining beans are used for Columbian coffee, we gladly drank a cup of Columbian coffee at the end of the tour (danger level 2/10).

Our coffee guide

Today we decided to head towards the Valle de Cocora. Since all seats in the jeep were taken, we jumped onto the back ledge of the jeep, holding on to the metal bar on the roof (danger level 5/10). At first the five hour trek reminded us of some of the situations we encountered at the Lost City trek: mud, rivers, mountains and exhaustion. Just when, near the end of the trek, we started wondering why we had taken on this endeavor, we stumbled onto a magnificent valley filled with palm trees 60 meters high, the largest in the world. A truly unique sight, once again. Oh Colombia Colombia, que lindo pais!

Enormous palm trees!