Thursday 26 September 2013

Salento

Only a short ride up from Armenia we had no idea what we were getting into, we had an invitation for accommodation in a smaller town that is partly touristy and party normal.

In and around the area there is a lot to see and do so we made the most of it, for the most of it we were assigned great weather which includes of course the thunder and lightning.

While based at Salento we also took in the Parque Del Cafe which is a huge amusement park with a coffee theme.

This is the cable car to get down to the main area



Guess who is about to get drowned on the water ride 



The place is beautifully kept and very well done, a bridge in the middle



Our tranquil train ride ... or so we thought, at least it started tha way 





A heart stopping and stressful moment was had at Parque Del Cafe when we were on the train, only a couple of minutes into the ride a lady with a baby next to us starts sounding anxious, it was then we saw a motionless baby with eyes rolled back to whites so it was not looking good, then the tears erupted.

Right there and right then something had to happen and very fast, as it would happen we were approaching a medical unit so I pointed it out to the lady and it was all my might to yell out to stop the train, I climbed onto the side front of the carriage yelling as hard as a could in spinglish at the people in the carriages forward of us, even tho the language was not good the message was received loud and clear.

With help from those up front of us in the carriages we managed to get the trained stopped pretty quickly (although it seemed like forever), in between times with the huge commotion we were making one of the medics realized something was not right and came running arriving when the train was slowing down to a standstill and rushed the baby into the medical unit....followed by a very upset mum and family members.

The train then started again after all clear had been given and continued to the next station where we got off and walked back to the medical unit, they had the baby stabilized and breathing which was a huge relief with the mother and family being very appreciative towards us for our effort to stop the train and get help, we waved the foreigners flag high!!!.

DEFINITELY coffee time and don’t be shy with the Baileys to help calm me down, followed by a cold coffee ice-cream ....enough of that kind of excitement for the day!!! 



Moving on to brighter and cheerful stuff the entire park is like a small Disneyworld with rides and attractions everywhere and all included in your admission fee.

We only did a couple of rides because the lines were very long .... and it was a week day, would hate to see it on a weekend!!

The coffee show which was on our list we thought was going to be a semi documentary kinda thing, well it couldn’t have been more different being an incredible very full on theatrical, now for those of you who know how shallow I am with boobs, bikes, booze being best I was taken back with the level of professionalism and outstanding performance.

To be fair I was blown away and we sat right on the front row so we were right on the edge of it.

Of course coffee being the park theme you can buy anything so I managed to find some chocolate coated coffee beans to I can do stupid shit much quicker and feel 20 while doing it .... 

This is the main lookout structure which is pretty high.



On leaving the park I managed to snipe off a picture of the bricks in the main area which are nicely shaped and coloured .... all from our moving cable car......paparazandi 



Back in sleepy Salento we had met some kiwis travelling in South America too, they were normal people not on motos, we kept bumping into them everywhere, so cool to hear the Kiwi twang again so sitting in the main square we gobbed icecreams and swapped travel stories, best for your travels guys, great meeting you.

While chatting to them at a local restaurant we were spotted by Raul and Elida
cos we were wearing out Horizons Unlimited Tee shirts, we ended up chatting with them, turns out he has a 990 Adventure R ... (lucky) bastid so they came and visited us and checked out Maya. 

Seeing them in the parque the next day we organised to head out for tea and have the famous trout and plantain that Salento is known for, ouwh, trout, mushrooms, mushroom sauce, plantain, rice and salad .... what a feed, world famous, sorry for the crap pic the waiter took with the big post in the middle of Ellen (although she is used to that) 



The trout over plantain ..... n i c e 



Salento has some cool surprises like this little red bridge with freezing cold water under it, no deterrent for the craziasian tho 



Also some dreadful graffiti that I was disgusted with, were is the orange paint when ya need it 



Salento town square at night not long after a big downpour



We loved this bar door



To finish, the colourful main street of Salento with the stairs to the lookout



Next up, our assault of Manizales to Murillo at 4234 meters but something first to sacre ALL Kiwi blokes .... mates there is no pair of gumboots big enough for this task, this is the one that DEFINITELY got away 

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