YOU GUYS!!! This had to have been one of my favorite experiences of all time! I cannot make this stuff up. All of our time on the road, the last five years (yes, I’m very far behind on keeping up this blog since we are now solidly in year 6), has brought us so many unexpected and wonderful surprises. The experiences we’ve had have been nothing short of spectacular and quite literally filled with once in a lifetime opportunities (Seriously. All of them have been).
This experience was no different. We had traveled from Cauca Viejo, expecting to stay in Jericó overnight before making our way down to Manizales. We really didn’t have any expectations of going anywhere else, we knew where we wanted to end up. But, as is life, we looked up the map and decided to take the road less traveled down to a town called Jardín. It’s nestled up in the Andes mountains at 5800 ft elevation. We knew we wanted to get out of the heat of Cauca Viejo and Jericó seemed like the place we wanted to go and when we got there, though it seemed like a pretty neat little town, we just didn’t FEEL like it was the right place for us to stay. Instead, we ate some lunch, toured the town and bought a couple of items at a local leather shop… For really cheap- like, REALLY cheap. In the USA, what I bought would easily have cost over $200. I was able to pick it up for $35. It’s high quality and built to last. To say the least, I’m very happy with the purchase.
After lunch, shopping and tooling around town, we continued down the beat up, muddy road that connects Jericó to Jardín. Of course we took the hard way, because, why not? Have you met us? We could have gone back out from Jericó to Cauca Viejo and taken the main highway, but what’s the fun in that?
The road connecting Jardín and Jericó is first and foremost, mud (during the wet season anyway). It’s rutted with deep potholes and tons of landslides that had recently been cleared. If you travel along this road, you’ll be blessed with views of the surrounding Andes Mountain Range, huge cascading waterfalls and tiny villages nestled throughout along the way. If you’re like me, you’ll probably end up car-sick as well, don’t say I didn’t warn you. The journey only takes about 3 hours, but it’s likely to feel like the longest 3 hours of your life… Until you arrive on pavement and head into town.
When we arrived, we looked for a couple of camping spots, one was closed and looked like tent camping only, another we looked at, but they were super expensive. We finally decided to check out Hostal Las Flores. We were greeted by Dora, one of the owners. She quickly began asking her sister whether they had a room for us, but I quickly advised her that we were looking to camp. She was more than accommodating. We set up camp for the evening and then began talking to her and her husband, Gerardo. They asked us a bunch of questions and through the course of the evening, asked us if we wanted to share a meal the following evening before heading out. Of course we didn’t pass up the opportunity.
The following day, we explored a little of the town mainly the Cueva de Murcielagos, or Bat Cave. We walked a short 20 minutes and came across a few waterfalls along the way. The largest and most exposed being the Cascada de Amor. The legend of this waterfall is that if the couple that is in love kisses in front of the waterfall, their love will last forever. Of course we couldn’t pass up that opportunity either. When in Rome…
We arrived at the bat cave and talked to Don Mario and funny enough, met up with some people that had stopped by earlier that morning to gawk at our camping setup (of course we gave them a tour, we’re not barbarians 😆). They decided to go into the bat cave with us. For $10 USD for 4 people, we took a short guided tour through a privately owned cave that snakes along the river, filled with color and bats and ends at a beautiful hidden waterfall. The owner is looking at making it a little cafe… I hope he doesn’t, but I know it would be financially beneficial for him and his family.
We finished our little tour and walked back to town where we picked up a bunch of cheeses and fruit so we could make Fondue to share at dinner with Dora and Gerardo. We had such a wonderful evening. Filled with great conversation, wine and food the evening was coming to an end, when Dora asked us if we liked to ride horses. From there she started making phone calls to her entire family. She ended up setting us up with a private tour on horseback out to Cascada de Los Chorros Blancos for the next morning.
When Hernan showed up the next day, he had the Campesino boots (Wellies/galoshes/rubber boots) and showed up in his Jeep Willy’s ready to go. We all hopped in the back and set out to his farm where the horses were being saddled up and would be waiting for us to arrive.
We drove an hour up the narrow, windy , pothole ridden, dirt road in the circa 1950 Jeep Willy’s with no suspension and a serious gas vapor leak, to reach the farm where the horses as expected, were saddled and ready for us.
As per the usual, I ended up with the bipolar horse that was the biggest of all of the horses. I’m also the smallest of the entire group. My horse just wanted to gallop. Then stop to eat, then be the leader. Honestly it couldn’t figure out what it wanted to do, so most of the time he just trotted. Good thing I’m not afraid of horses, but I’m also not really that experienced in riding. So, there’s that.
We rode an hour by horseback along a single track trail that was deep with mud and slippery rocks, crossing numerous tiny little waterfalls along steep and rocky terrain, often cliffside. The views were magnificent and all I kept thinking was “I can’t believe I’m so fortunate to be able to have this incredible experience.” That just kept running through my head. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing” was the other thought.
When we finally reached the hitching area for the horses, we were advised that we had to climb up the side of the mountain (think mountain goat kind of climbing) to get to the trail to the waterfall, which was a 20 minute hike. When we got to the trail, we walked a short way and we could hear the waterfall, but couldn’t see it, and the trail ended very abruptly at a tree… Hernan then climbed into a hole that snaked under the tree and said “you have to go through this tunnel to get to the waterfall.” WHAT??? How freaking cool is that???? A tree tunnel to get to the waterfall? Yes please!!!
The tunnel is short, maybe 5 meters and spits you out behind the cascade. There is a very short trail down to the bottom of the waterfall, but it’s steep and slippery wet. There are ropes for you to hold onto to climb up and down and a couple of sketchy areas that the ground is pretty soft and ready to give way.
We only spent a few minutes at the waterfall, it was way too cold to actually get in, and Adriana was told by Hernan that she shouldn’t attempt it because it would likely be too hard for her to get in and out of, but we could go if we wanted. I opted not to, because I know what water feels like at 6,000 feet, and para mi, no gracias. I don’t like the shock of cold water. I may not live as long as some, but I’ll enjoy every minute of not freezing to death. That’s not to say I won’t do the Polar plunge in Antarctica when we get there, but that’s only because it’s a once in a lifetime thing and I’ll be securely tied to a rope with an entire crew to pull me out of the freezing water before I die.
We hiked back through the tree tunnel to the horses and began the hour ride back to the farm, where my horse galloped the last 3 or 4 minutes back, leaving the group behind and effortlessly scaring the shit out of me, but I handled it. I didn’t die and I didn’t fall of the horse, phew.
We were getting ready to load back up in the Jeep, when Hernan discovered we had a flat tire. He and Bronson changed the tire in a matter of 5 minutes and we were back on our way to another farm where we were having lunch.
This farm has a huge vegetable and fruit garden. They also cultivate their own coffee and we were offered fresh cow’s milk, which had been milked just a few hours prior and refrigerated. We had a wonderful, delicious lunch made with fresh ingredients from the farm complete with a fresh glass of milk, which still had the cream on the top. I’ve had raw milk plenty of times, but this was spectacular. The richness of the flavor and the creamy texture was like having a creamy dessert swishing around in my mouth without all the sugar.
After lunch, we toured the property and had a sample of the coffee that is roasted onsite. It was amazing. We were told about 9 different styles of coffee making that Jaime does. He also told us that he sells his coffee in his daughter’s cafe located in town near the central park. So naturally, we made it a point to visit the cafe.
After lunch and the property tour, Hernan dropped us off back at Dora’s hostel and of course we started talking about our travels and lifestyle. He was so inquisitive about it and repeatedly used the word “Chevere” which means “awesome.”
After such an amazing day, we were beat. We decided that the following day we’d have some breakfast and head out of town to Riosucio so we weren’t trying to do a 5 hour trip on pothole ridden, muddy roads riddled with landslides.
We woke up early the next morning and were so sore we could barely move. Yesterday was much harder on us than we had thought. The price of getting older… One of the locals had told us that we barely even scratched the surface of things to do around Jardín. I have no doubt that we’ll be back, but we have a lot of other things to see and take advantage of while Adriana is with us, we only have another month before she has to return to her real life.
I do have to say, out of all of the places we’ve been around the world, Jardín is probably our favorite, so far. Just the right mix of locals and foreigners, the prices are great, the people are friendly and I love the Spanish Colonial architecture of old cities. If the world were ending and we had to choose a place to settle, Jardín tops our list.
If you want to see first hand what it was like, check out our video of this amazing experience!