Bound For The Land of Colombian Coffee

Reluctantly we left the timeshare at Club El Puente where we read and sat in the sun for a whole week, how time flew by!
By bus we traveled west for two hours to Ibaque which is known as the Musical City of Colombia because of a conservatory of music located there.
Our hotel room was adequate but seemed run down and slummy after the wonderful suite we had in Girardot, however the town was much nicer!
We took a walk and tasted empanadas along a busy pedestrian walkway.
>Stopping to watch the skateboarders in front of the conservatory we were approached by the hottest boarder among the group who welcomed us to his country. He was anxious to practice his English skills and laughed at me when I looked scared of the police as they searched some of his friends within a few feet of where we were standing, even having them strip off their jackets and shirts for a thorough pat-down. No one was hauled away so I guess all checked out okay.

This morning we took a longer, intensely steep and serpentine bus ride to Armenia. I had read that this road was very dangerous because of the cloud forest and foggy conditions at the top of the summit. There was a great deal of traffic and I chose the time of day when the bus would be the largest as suggested by some information on-line. Our bus was comfortable but even with the help of Dramamine poor Keith was green from the get-go. He held it together but his body was full of motion sickness symptoms, the three pills that I gave him over the four hours of travel are just wearing off now, he's napping it off.


We transferred to a small collectivo in Armenia and are now in a most pleasant coffee growing area, green, cool and very scenic.

Our plan is to stay here in Salento for two or three nights, we'll do a day trip to Valle del Cocora where the national plant- a Wax Tree grows to impressive heights.