Big Sur

Only two days out of Medellín, we were invited to stay in Jardín, Antioquia. Nestled in the mountains and a bit further than planned, it made our second day of riding tougher than I'd have liked but worth the effort.

Having made friends with Carlos, a fellow bicycle tourist who organises the Fiestas de la Bici in Medellín, he all but insisted that we pass by his pretty home town on our way south and who were we to refuse?

Relaxing with Carlos and his family was just too enjoyable. We arrived late on a Friday night with plans to spend the day in Jardín on Saturday and then leave….we were there until Tuesday.

First on Carlos' introduction tour to his home town was a trip up to a lookout over the town, where we lazily drank beer in the midday sun and James and Carlos talked endlessly of “urban bike strategy” and converting the potential of cyclists in Medellín into a reality.

Carlos' brother Alvaro – who just happens to be the mayor of Jardín – then invited us to join him in the countryside for sancocho. A dish that is the pride of Colombia and containing yucca, corn, potatoes, pork and plantains it's a cyclists' carbohydrate filled dream.

It was evidently becoming hard to tear us away from our favourite department in Colombia; the food, the culture and the hospitality of Antioqueños is going to be hard to forget.

We've been eating a lot of “panela”, dried sugar cane juice, with our morning porridge, so we were keen to see it being made. Carlos took us to a “trapiche” the mill where the cane is gathered…

…crushed in a medieval looking press…

…boiled over an intensely hot furnace and poured into mixing troughs…

…scraped, turned and manipulated…

…scooped into moulds and then finally stamped with the mark of the mill from where it was made.

Carlos was an incredible host and treated us like royalty. We flinched a little when he suggested a night on tequila but before you could say “salt and lemon” we were doing shots in the town square.

The following morning was thankfully hangover free. We had an an early start and found ourselves swapping the comfort of our trusty bikes for the less predictable saddles of local horses, for a trek into the mountains. It's more than ten years since either of us have ridden a horse so we were a little nervous…

…but thanks to some authentic Colombian headwear to put us in the mood and a pair of trusty and docile steeds, we soon got into the swing of it.

The ride took us to the pretty waterfalls at Cuevas del Esplendor, where we dutifully posed for a photo to show off our splendid, borrowed, hats.

And then another unplanned night of shots – this time it was tasty Colombian rum, with Carlos' dad, Don Eduardo in a little bar on the town square…this photo was taken after the second of three bottles.

Finally we tore ourselves away from Jardín, graciously declining the generous offer of the Carvajal family to terminate our travelling plans and live indefinitely with them in Antioquia. We were delighted to find our bikes had been decorated with various souvenirs of Jardín while we were sleeping…

…a reminder of our time with wonderfully generous Paisas. This souvenir represents a typical Paisa campesino from this area – with his trademark hat, coffee been, machete, Colombian flag and carriel satchel.

Carlos and his friend Clara accompanied us on their bikes along the beautiful but misty dirt road towards Río Sucio and we said cheerio on an incongruous bend shrouded in drizzle…we hope it's not a permanent goodbye and we'll have a chance to ride bikes or horses again with Carlos one day.

Linking us from Jardín to the next beautiful spot was the Eje Cafetero, Colombia's coffee growing region. First down the dusty hill, past the fluffy chicken to Río Sucio…

…next past Jorge's home town of Guatica…

…on to San José, a tiny village in the heart of coffee land where a chance meeting with Gloria on her motorbike led to the offer of an emtpy house where we could camp for the night…

…from there, past the second biggest (and somewhat out of proportion) Christ statue in South America at Belalcázar…

…a brief overnight stop and breakfast in front of an ancient fire engine, with the hospitable firemen at Alcalá…

…brought us to an unexpected half rest day in the pretty and relaxed town of Filandia…

…before the 10km slog from Salento up to the Valle de Cocora. Acting on another recommendation – this time thanks to our other cycle touring buddies Raul and Marta – we made the trip into a valley of incredibly tall and beautiful wax palms and we didn't regret it.

We had to dust off the cobwebs and try to remember how to put up the tent for the first time in nearly four months…a live action version of the tent raising can be seen here.

…before treating ourselves to some of the yummy food at Valle Hebron, the spot we had chosen to camp:

Enormous, delicious, crispy patacones with piping hot hogado (tomato and onion sauce)…

…followed by a dreamy camp spot under a full moon.

We spent a day trekking up the valley, through the majestic fields of palms. We realised that part of the reason they seem so striking is because the rest of the land has been cleared for grazing cattle, making the trees (over 200 years old and more than 60 metres) seem even more impressive.

Up into the woods, to a hummingbird sanctuary where there were hundreds of these incredible little birds…

…feeding, flying and fighting.

Onwards and upwards to the highest spot of our walk, La Montaña – at 2,680m it kind of puts stumpy old Ben Nevis into perspective!

We wandered back down to admire the palms again before heading back to our comfy campsite.

Luz, the owner of Hebron had gone home for the day and we had the place to ourselves but before she left, she invited us to delve into her organic garden, so with the last of the light, we raided the lettuce patch…

…and Peter Rabbit would have been proud of Juancho's haul of pilfered carrots.

With the sun setting on Cocora we munched on delicious fresh organic veg and breathed in the incredible view…a perfect end to a couple of magical rest days.