Salento

This morning, we woke up at 5am, as we planned to catch the 5:30 Jeep to the trailhead. We are going to be hiking about 7 hours through a national park, and the main attraction is the Cocoa Valley. This valley is home to extremely tall palm trees that look otherworldly. The rest of the hike is mostly through a cloud forest, with a small section in an alpine region. Hayden researched the hike, and we’ve seen pictures, and we’re all super excited to go! An added bonus, Hayden says it’s mostly flat! Sweet!

We get to the center of Salento by 5:30ish, where the jeeps leave, and there are no jeeps and no people around. A pack of dogs comes straight for us, apparently wanting all the attention and cuddles. We waited around for quite a while, thinking about how we could’ve slept longer, hehe. Part of us being up so early was to beat the incoming rain and thunderstorms headed for Salento in the afternoon, but also to be one of the first groups to the hike, to avoid people in our pictures. 

Finally, two jeeps arrive, and I go to ask one of the drivers what time we can leave for Cocoa. He tells me not until 6:30! Hehe. Ok, better early than late, lol. Dana and I are itching for a coffee, so we spot a corner cafe just opening, and we make our way over there. We wait a minute for the machine to get warmed up and have a delicious americano while walking back towards the Jeeps. We notice a little stand, and it has the prices listed for the Jeeps. Excellent! No haggling today! It was such a smooth system, and once the ticket booth opened, we were able to pay for round trip tickets. Easy! 

We hop into an orange Jeep, and it’s full, so two other passengers hold onto the back while standing on the ledge. It only takes about 30 minutes to get there, and soon we’re scrambling out of the Jeep and taking a look at the all trails app to see where to begin. In most of our research, the best suggestions were to go counter-clockwise on the trail, saving the best part, the tall palm trees, for last. But, the hike is expected to take 5 hours, and with the weather being iffy, we decided to go clockwise. We were the first Jeep there, and we figured if we started right away, we wouldn’t run into too many other people. 

As we orient ourselves with the map and begin our hike, a pack of dogs comes to hang out with us. We named them… Scrappy, as his hair was wiry and looked like a scrappy dog, Lord Henry Charles Wadsworth Buckenheimer III Jr, as he looked like a German Shepard and English bloodhound mix, complete with the hound howl, Sirius/Padfoot, a mostly black doggo, which obviously reminded me of Harry Potter. 🙂 And last, but not least, Ms. Marble, as her coat was a brown and black marbling. These guys followed us through most of the hike, but we did eventually lose them all. 🥲 

Walking through the farmland and where the tall Cocora trees are located was so peaceful and beautiful! I couldn’t get over how tall these trees were! We took tons of pictures and were keeping our eye out for lookout points to snag the most scenic photos we could. We make our way to one lookout point and spend a little extra time there, having a few snacks, and Dana gave some clean water to Charles (his short hand name, lol). As we were finishing up, we noticed how quickly the clouds began moving into the valley. It was amazing to watch! The clouds filled in everywhere we could see, hiding most of the farmland, palm trees, and the big mountain peak in the distance. I’m glad we got our pictures when we did! Hehe. And so glad we started with the palm trees first, as we would’ve risked not seeing them at all. 

We wonder for a brief moment, if it’s best to just turn around and go back. We didn’t really want to get caught in the rain, but we were prepared with rain jackets, ponchos, and waterproof backpack covers. We decided to push on. 

This trail is anything but flat and is actually more like a continuous incline for the first 3 miles, lol. Thanks, Hayden! He then admits he based the “flat trail” assumption off of the pictures we saw online, which were of the tall palm trees, which comprises only a small section of the hike, haha. 

We come across a place that looks like we may need to pay an entry fee. We had read online that we’d have to pay twice, as the trail traversed private property. We did pay 10k pesos before we began, and this was the total amount we expected to pay. So maybe they combined the entry fees into one? There was nobody at this place, so we just walked past and kept going. 

We kept our eyes out for birds, as a sign showed us the varieties that were in the area. Two small and colorful types of toucans, the Andean condor, among other beautiful birds. I really wanted to see a condor, but ultimately, I was not rewarded with a sighting. 

We continue on our path upwards and eventually enter what appears to be an alpine zone, with some pine trees and a much cooler breeze. We arrive at a wooden gate and have to check on the all trails map which way to go. Through one side of the gate is what looks like a house, and a little boy is outside riding his bike around. The other part of the gate goes down what looks like a make-shift muddy trail, barely wide enough for a single person to walk down. It’s situated on a hill and it’s very steep. The all trails app says to go the skinny muddy route. Ok, here we go! Dana is in the lead, trying to get a snippet of video for TikTok when she slips in the mud! Thankfully, she missed all the poop that was nearby and caught herself with one of her hands. Her phone was safe, and she didn’t injure herself more than a bit of a scraped hand, thankfully. We’re now cracking up and saying that no, this trail is not flat at all, but it’s actually flat on your ass trail. Haha. 

We carefully make our way down this slippery slope, and we enter a cloud forest area. It’s beautiful and dense and humid, and with all of that comes a ton of mud. More mud than we’ve seen yet on the trail, and this is a step downhill path. Good luck to us! Haha. The dogs are still with us, Marble and Henry, and they bolt pass us as we’re trying to maintain our balance without falling, nearly knocking us off our feet. If only we also had 4 legs and were closer to the ground, maybe we’d be just as fast as them, hehe. 

We come to a part of the trail that is literally walking through a babbling brook. Are we sure we’re going in the right direction?!? Hehe. We are, and we do our best to keep our sneakers and socks dry. It’s not too long before we have our first real fall. Dana slips and slides down the trail, getting sufficiently muddy, She’s a champ and gets up, but not without some bruises and scrapes. This is definitely a “flat on your ass” trail. 😂.

Now more carefully than ever, we make our way down the trail, guided by our furry friends, and motivated by the sound of rushing water of a nearby waterfall. 

We come across some fellow hikers, going in the other direction, and one poor guy was afraid of dogs, and there were plenty around, barking, and playing rough with each other. Hope he makes it okay! We assured him the dogs we came across were very kind and wouldn’t bother him, besides wanting a few loving belly rubs. 

We found the water and it’s gorgeous! Not qutite a waterfall where we are, but its rushing pretty fast and adding a calm serenity to our hike. Now our trail crisscrosses the river, and there are small wooden suspension bridges that look like they may or may not take the weight of the three of us, let alone one of us. Yikes! I guess we’ll give it a go, lol. We cross over just fine, and it becomes quite fun, bouncing around on the bridge. There must have been 5 or 6 of these bridges, and one was unfortunately defunct. The solution to crossing was a very narrow bridge, 3 or 4 bamboo stalks in width, with a tiny wire to hold onto for support. This is crazy! And so much fun! Hehe. 

We’re coming across more and more hikers, and we realize we’re not too far from the end of the trail. We’re getting ready for a solid lunch, and hopeful we’ll miss the rain that is allegedly on its way. 

We grab a jeep back to town, and the first order of business is to walk up to the town lookout. As if we didn’t hike enough already today, we decided to hike 6 or 7 flights of stairs, haha. It was tough, but when we got up there, it was a nice view of the small town of Salento. All the tile roofs were nestled between the rolling hills, and the clouds were sneaking their way in, giving the town a cozy, dreamy look. 

On our way back down we get attacked by these little black flies, and they bite! There were people weed whacking and must’ve disturbed a nest or something, because these guys were all over us! We take off our hats and try our best to swat them away, but we are not match for their speed and dexterity. We come flailing down the stairs, smacking ourselves with our hats, and swinging our other arms all around in an attempt to prevent some of the bites and discomfort. We get to the bottom of the stairs, and Hayden is a block away, taking off his long sleeve layer, trying to get the rest of the little bugs off of him. Dana and I are helping each other, again, utilizing the hat swatting method. We manage to get most of them off, but as we walk towards our lunch spot, I find one down my shirt, and Dana had one on the back of her shirt, still trying to hitch a ride. What the heck are these things?! 

Flustered as can be, we walk into a nice restaurant and pick a table to chow down. Our hike was a brief 8 miles, and was topped off with the stair climb, and our grand finale of the black fly swarm, we were ready to sit and relax. We had some amazing hamburgers and fries, and we headed back to the hotel.

Dana and I had our sights on a massage, offered by the spa in our hotel. We checked the prices, and they had a couples special, “because we deserve it,” Naturally, after the day we had, I’d say we earned it and then some hehe. We shower and get ready for our relaxing afternoon, and head to our massage. We got a basic facial and then the full body massage began. It was so relaxing! After the massage part was over, we got to spend an hour in a jacuzzi with a cocktail! Amazing! And all of this for just $37. Totally worth it, and we loved every minute. Once we walked back to our room, we were so tired and relaxed, we tried to get some work done, but ended up falling asleep pretty early, hehe. I guess we were more exhausted than we thought hehe.