Jardin - Days 60-63
Our few days in Guatape were adventurous, colorful, and vibrant. We absolutely loved it. But now we wanted some solid R&R, Colombian style. From what we've heard, Jardin would be perfect for that. Medelliner's (paisas, as they prefer to call themselves) go to Jardin if they want a relaxing weekend, but it's not yet part of the typical backpacker circuit. Seems excellent. The only issue would be getting there. Jardin is a super tiny town in the middle of the mountains. And its on the other side of Medellin from Guatape. So we had to bus 2 hrs along windy roads back to Medellin, transfer to another bus station (with a quick and very necessary potty break in between - Ben almost didn't make it), then bus 4 hrs to Jardin on even windier and bumpier roads. The thing about all of these bus rides is although they are long and uncomfortable, they sure are pretty.
It was late by the time we got into town and being a tiny town, most restaurants were already closed. A corner pizza/pasta joint seemed to be the only one open at the time and there was a line of people waiting to get a table. The group was told by the waitress that we'd get seated faster if we paired up with others to form groups of 4. So we awkwardly made eye contact with a couple about our age who looked like they might speak English. Success! A Dutch couple. We chatted for bit, they told us a few good hikes to go on, etc. Then the waitress comes and says they have a table for us. But just the two of us, Ben and I. Some friendships just aren't meant to last. Ben got the pizza (tasty) and I got some pasta (also tasty). Then back to our hostel (Sgt. Peppers, one of only 2 in town) because it didn't seem like anyone else in town was still awake.
End of D60 cribbage score: Ben 85 (13 skunks) – Meg 64 (14 skunks)
Today was all about relaxing and enjoying the lovely Jardin. Jardin means garden in English, which makes sense if you ever get the chance to see their beautiful main square. Full of trees and flowers and colorful chairs and benches. They say that Jardin is largely unchanged from when the town was founded almost 150 years ago. You see traditional Colombian cowboys stroll into town on their horses with their wide brimmed hats. You see older people sitting around the old colonial square, sipping tinto (Colombian's morning drink of choice. Like really watered down coffee with loads of sugar added.) and chitchatting about nothing all day long. Not a cell phone in site. It was wonderful. So we did as the locals do: got a seat at one of the colorful tables in the square, ordered two tintos (for a grand total of $0.60), and sat. We played a few games of cribbage but for the most part, just people watched, day dreamed, talked about random ideas. Quite the relaxing morning.
Again, there weren't too many options for lunch. We found a place with an okay quesadilla and a "Cuban" sandwich (Ben was quite angry that they called this a Cuban), but certainly not great and a bit pricey for what it we got. So we went shopping for some food we could make in the hostel for dinner. Going "grocery" shopping in little towns like this is interesting because there is no one-stop-shop for all of your food. Can't just go down the street to Metro Market and get all of your groceries. Instead, you have to go to the fruteria for your fruits and vegetables. Then head to the panderia for any bread you might want. Then find a butcher for your meats. Then finally head to the store for any non-perishables. If you want a bottle of wine, you often have to go to another store. It's quite the process, but each place is quaint and certainly local. I still don't know if I like this version of grocery shopping or the States version more. Anyway, after dropping off our groceries at our hostel, we went on a little hike over towards the river. There is a reserve just outside of Jardin where you can see super rare birds, gallitos de las rocas, that like to come out to play in the morning and in the early afternoon. Now that we have some awesome binocs from Dana and Paul, we feel like we've officially joined the birding community and therefore must check it out. But first, we got lost on the way to the
reserve (classic us). Then, the gate was locked but we saw a phone number we can call to be let in. Then, I had to have a phone conversation in Spanish, which was quite difficult. Then we finally got let into the reserve, only to be told that the birds haven't been coming out in the afternoons lately and it would be better for us to return tomorrow morning. 5am in the morning. We reluctantly agreed and sauntered back to the hostel.
The kitchen area of our hostel was absolutely packed when we get back. Everyone else must have also figured out that its better to cook meals than to find a place to eat out. We had to wait through 3 rounds of people cooking their dinner to finally be able to make our pasta. Ugh it was annoying. We ate and cleaned quick then went right to bed. We had to be up early for birding tomorrow! Alarm set for 4:30am.
End of D61 cribbage score: Ben 87 (13 skunks) – Meg 67 (15 skunks)
Yeahh we didn't make it to birding. Alarm went off, we rolled towards each other, grunted, and fell back asleep. Maybe we're not ready to be birders after all.
We got going eventually, packed our day packs, and set out on a hike north of town. Our original plan had been to take a tour of La Cueva del Esplendor (one of the main attractions of this area) but were told by the tour companies that it was recently closed to the public. We were bummed, it was one of the things we really wanted to see. But there were plenty of other waterfalls in the area so we set off on a trail to another one, Las Escaleras. One of the girls at our hostel said its a nice and easy hike all along one trail. Should be simple. But of course, we got lost. We're pretty good at getting lost. Finally
found it. The waterfall itself was just okay. But the scenery along the way was gorgeous. Rolling hills full of coffee and banana trees. We had packed some lunch for the hike (tuna sammies+ carrots+ bananas+Cheese Tris=our usual hiking lunch) but found a local truchera (trout farm) on the way back and felt compelled to stop for a freshly caught snack. The whole set up of how they catch trout was amazing. They somehow divert part of the river right through the center of their building with loads of trout caught swimming in circles below us. It was pretty neat. Trout was fantastic as well - we split one smothered in garlic butter mmmmm.
We spent the afternoon as the locals do - lounging on the square, sipping coffee. Just as relaxing and peaceful as yesterday. Once the sun goes down, everyone clears out and heads home. We follow suit. Not wanting to wait 3 hours to cook dinner again, we stop by one of the restaurants actually open (they seem to trade off which restaurants are open each night) and ate a very large pizza. But of course, we get back to the hostel and find the kitchen completely empty. We topped off the night by watching Dr. Strange on our laptop.
End of D62 cribbage score: Ben 88 (13 skunks) – Meg 68 (15 skunks)
Another hiking day! One of the hostel workers drew us an awesome map of his favorite hike in Jardin - La Lechuza. It involved a lot of "take a right after the first farm", "find a path on the left just before the second house", etc. But all of his directions were spot on
- we didn't get lost! It took us on a dirt path southeast of town then you turn off in between these two properties and follow along a path with coffee trees on your right and big banana trees on your left. Then you cross the river on a rickety bridge and then go up through more banana fields for awhile. The first stop was a great little area further up the river where there was a big ole pile of rocks to climb on. We sat for awhile, took some pics, ate lunch. Next stop was another waterfall/swimming hole called charco corazon. We became fast friends with a very adventurous doggo who followed us as we explored further down the river for awhile. He eventually returned to his owner but he sure was a good boy. We would've named him Dino (as in Jar-Dino). We looped back into town and both agreed that this hike was one of our favorites on the trip so far.
It started to rain as we got back into town so we went to a coffee shop on the square with a roofed seating area (also happened to be the only place in town with actual coffee) and watched the rain for awhile. The rain let up just enough for us to do a little bit of souvenir shopping (hammocks for the Luc clan!) and enjoy the sunset on the square one last time. It was a Friday night so there were many more people coming into town from Medellin and filling up the square. Could've been a fun night, had it not been for the big rainstorm and subsequent town-wide power outage. Completely dark. As you can imagine, small towns like this don't really have much for back up generators. So everything shut down for the night. We retreated back to the hostel, opened a bottle of wine, and made buttered noodles on the gas stove using candle light and our headlamps (from this point forward I will refer to them as "torches" because that is what Brits call them and its a great name). Was quite a romantic night until someone checked into the hostel with a baby. Let me repeat that: Someone checked into the HOSTEL with a BABY. Ridiculous. The late night and early morning cries tore right through the paper thin walls. Hopefully we'd be able to catch up on some sleep on the 4 bus rides to get to Salento tomorrow...
End of D63 cribbage score: Ben 90 (14 skunks) – Meg 68 (15 skunks)