21/05/2019 – Travel day, Medellin to Salento, Colombia

We got up and had a bowl of cereal and chatted with some other hostel guests before packing our room up and checking out. We ordered an Uber to take us to the bus station. I am not sure whether Uber is legal here but I know it is used (hostel owners etc say it is o.k. to use) but you have to be a bit careful. Recently in Colombia there was conflict between an Uber driver and a Taxi driver and a Policewoman shot the Uber driver in the head (whilst the passenger was in the car next to him!) When we got in the car Josh was asked to sit in the front rather than the back to make it look less like a taxi, and when we were dropped off at the bus station we had to go around the corner away from the police van and other taxis before getting out. At every traffic light there are Venezualen refugees approaching the vehicles, selling sweets, doing acrobatics, washing windscreens, we have seen someone doing circus silks down from the tree, and people juggling fire sticks. It is a sad situation, and there are often babies and children sitting on the side of the road too. We also saw two policemen on a motorbike with the siren flashing go past, the policeman on the back had his pistol handgun poised, finger on trigger! It was a little unnerving!

We arrived at the terminal and got some cash out and then went to the ticket booth station and bought our bus tickets. We went with a bus company called flota occidental, which I had read about on a few peoples blogs. We got a bandeja pollo lunch (rice, chicken, beans, salad, juice) in the food hall before waiting in the bus terminal, our luggage went through an x-ray machine even just for the bus! We boarded our minibus (Josh and I in the front passenger seats next to the driver!) and drove through some beautiful green mountainous areas! It was another comfortable air-con and wifi bus, not a bad way to travel and cheap too. By 18:30 it was dark and we stopped at a service station for 20 minutes for food and toilets, and then back on the road. There were a lot of roadworks so the journey was slower than it should be, about 8 hours in total. The bus pulled into Salento at around 22:15 and we gathered our stuff together then walked across town to our hostel (using the mappsme app, so helpful!). The town had a quiet and calm vibe, and it felt reasonably safe to be walking in the dark. We were greeted at our hostel by a young guy with great English, his mother, and their pet dog which was really cute and friendly! We got settled into our room (we have had a free upgrade, it is a beautiful room, there is a Juliet balcony and apparently we will get a nice view of the mountains in the morning!) We unpacked and showered before settling into bed. I am looking forward to seeing the town in the daylight tomorrow!