I took a bus from Medellin to Armenia. The city has been destroyed by many earthquakes. I got in late and wasnt able to catch the bus to Salento. I stayed the night in a dingy motel. I awoke the next morning and took a bus to Salento. Salento is in Zona Cafaterra, the most popular coffee region in all of Colombia. Picture vegetataion of all kinds: pine trees, palm trees, coffee groves, and rugged mountains, all squashed together in one region. Thats Zona Cafaterra for ya. I met a Chilean dude name Ricardo. He has been traveling fro 5 months down from Mexico City. We decided to head to Ecuador together. We met 2 spanish guys in their early 30″s. They were bald, had wacky facial hair, wacky personalities, were quite the intellectuals, and were quite the party animals. They liked to rumba and travel to world. We all went to a coffee Plantation in the morning and saw the whole coffee production process. We then picked our own coffee beans and tried the freshed coffee these here taste buds have ever been exposed to. Later in the day we took 10 guys in a jeep and headed up some mountains to the Cocora Valley for some adventure hiking. We saw lush mountains, waterfalls, and sexy palm trees. Ricardo and I rode on the roof of the jeep for about 20 kilometers…nuts!
We said goodbye to the Spanish dudes and headed to Cali for the night. We took a car that offered the same price as the bus. We danced for 1 night in Cali (it is the salsa capital of the world). We then decided to pack up and head to Popayan. We are now in Popayan after a near death experience in a bus, through winding roads of COlombian back-country. We have been getting along great. Hes adventerous and is incredibly spontaneous like me. Tomorrow we will head to San Augustine, then Ecuador.