San Cipriano

CLICK HERE: TODAY'S PHOTO ALBUM

Finally got caught in the rain and it was a downpour.  Fortunately, we were involved in a water sport at the time.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

Shared a lovely meal last night at a restaurant down the street.  The decor again was artsy and antiques.  Very good and very comfortable.  Back in the room and lights out by 10pm - salsa will have to wait.

We grabbed a coffee and just a piece of toast knowing that this trip includes breakfast. There was some sort of motorcycle demonstration in the streets so we were off to a little later start waiting for the chaos to clear.  Valentina, our guide and Sebastian, our driver came to get us at around 9:15.  We have officially now met the whole Valley Adventours team.  Can't say enough good things about these guys.  Karina and Andres, the owners, went out of their way yesterday to make sure that we had a good time and that we had a nice room to come back to.  All the guides are informative, attentive, and friendly whether we speak the same language or not. I recommend them highly if you are ever in Cali.

I digress again -- San Cipriano is on the way to the Pacific coast, so we had to go over the mountains.  The sun was out and the ride was beautiful.  Stopped for breakfast at this wonderful place about halfway.  After driving through twisting roads and several tunnels we finally arrived at a long rope bridge that took across the river to the brujitas, motorcycle powered makeshift rail carts. This ride is a must to experience. Cruising through jungle at around 25 mph.  

After disembarking, we hiked a while to a hotel/restaurant where we stached our stuff and grabbed some tubes  and starting hiking to the river. There was absolutely no one else here except for a group of guys behind us -- one wearing a Bike Boston t-shirt. Are you kidding me??!!  They were all from the Boston area. This was a bachelor party for one of them who was getting marrying a Calian woman.  Very small world.

We parted ways when we diverted to enjoy the waterfalls.  The water felt amazing after the sweaty humid hike.  There are three all together and we swam in two of them. The San Cipriano River is one of the cleanest rivers in the world. It started to rain but it was of no matter to us.  We eventually got ourselves into the river and took off.  Having never done tubing before, I really got a kick out of it.  It was like a Disney ride, especially when you hit something and it spins you around -- wheeeee..... Fortunately, there seemed to be sufficient water.  I did manage to get stuck once and Valentina had to come rescue me.  Geoff got stuck also and got rescued by some locals swimming in the river. It continued to rain -- change that to pour down on us.  It was quite amusing and may have been better than the blistering sun.

After about 2 1/2 miles, we manged to put in by the restaurant where we started.  Dried up and changed, it was time for lunch.  Fish, rice and plaintains -- basically what we have been eating since we came -- only prepared different each time.  It was all very good.  Finished up, collected our stuff and reversed course back to the car. The rain was kind enough to stop as we made our way way back to the car. Raining on and off all the way home.  

The ride home was pretty quick. Sebastian made one stop for the local rice pudding.  This is a very popular place. People come up here from down in the city just for the pudding.  So of course we had to get some -- absolutely fabulous!!

Got back to the hotel around 5 pm.  Said our goodbyes to our new friends.  The owner of the hotel was at the desk when we arrived.  Speaks very good English. When Geoff told him I am writing a blog, he said to make sure I let everyone know that Casa Alegre is the best hotel in all of Cali -- so I just did that!!

There was talk of trying to go to a salsa club tonight.  The problem with that is they don't start dancing until 10pm. UGH!!  I'm not saying no, but honestly right now it is almost 8 and things don't look promising.  It was an exhausting day. Not even sure we will make it for dinner.  Maybe when we get to the island, we can practice our dance steps.

We leave Cali tomorrow morning.  This city does not get a lot of whatever tourism there is in Colombia.  However, I hope more people give it a chance.  There is much to see and do.  It is filled with art and culture and of course music. And most definitely the people are wonderful.  Again, we want to thank all of you who made us welcome in your city.

Next time .... On to Medellin