After a very cold overnight bus we arrived in Salento 2 hours ahead of schedule which we were delighted with so we made our way to the hostel to see if they’d let us have early check in (it was 6am at this point and check in wasn’t until 3pm so we weren’t too hopeful). Of course the answer was no so we dumped our bags, brushed our teeth and after a quick change we decided we’d go straight to Cocora Valley to see the tallest palm trees in the world.

We set off to the centre of town to jump on a willy (they call their jeeps willies- unsure why but that’s what we were told to ask for so we did).

We decided to do the long route through the national park which took 4 hours and ended the hike walking down through the wax palms which stood at over 60 metres tall. I don’t think either of us were prepared for how tall they’d actually be… they were very cool!!

Gregor was wearing his Donegal top that day and on our way back down to jump on another willy he was spotted a mile off by an Irish couple, after we got chatting we swapped numbers and said we’d meet later that night for some drinks – evening sorted!

For 3/4 of the walk we seen hardly anyone and thought we had hit the jackpot basically having the place to ourselves but as soon as we got into the thick of the palm trees it was clear that basically the whole of Salento was visiting that day! The last part of the walk was spent dodging past people and queueing to get pictures before we left haha

We were absolutely gubbed when we got back to the hostel due to the lack of sleep from the overnight bus and then the walk in the heat but our room was so nice and the shower was even better. We decided to treat ourselves that night and went to the nearest supermarket and bought some pasta, tomato sauce and veggies and cooked our dinner in the hostel kitchen. I wish we’d actually checked to see the state of the kitchen before we made this decision as we ended up boiling pasta in a half clean pan and having to eat with a spoon but all in all it satisfied our cravings for a ‘normal dinner’.

Dishes washed and we went to the main square to meet the Irish guys for a wee drink. One thing led to another and after 4 jugs of sangria we all decided we should probably call it a night haha

G&L xx