Dream Trip Day 151-157: Passionate Armenia and Cali

Posted On 19/08/2014

Salento's super tall palm trees. They are so tall that they look so unreal! And the town itself is so colourful and tranquil with lovely views of the valley.

CS Host M in Armenia (Colombia) hosted a total of 4 CS guests at the same time. We are all honoured to be her last guests at the place because she's going to sell everything and go on a long trip in the continent soon! Despite being busy arranging her house and backpack and all the stuff, she took us to downtown for a stroll in the evening. We came across a food shop which the owner warmly welcomed us and gave us free empanadas and lulo juice! (more about the exotic fruits, including "lulo" later) So touched!!! Superb hospitality!

When we leave M's place, instead of saying goodbye, we say: See you in the continent!

My savior signage: One reason for me to love Colombia is the level of comfort I feel here. There's such a signage in the supermarket. Even if my Spanish is crap, I can still buy the correct meat to cook. I was so happy to see this and immediately photographed it for future reference!
(As for veggies? I usually ask the lady beside me to help: Hola, (point to the price tag and the veggie) esta es esta? no? oh, esta es esa! Muchas Gracias!)

Host A from Cali planned to do camping with his friends when I send him the request. But nothing could deter the superb hospitality by Colombians. So I was invited to their camping gathering! Enjoy the coolness on the hills and swimming in fresh waterfalls, having a campfire chatting (in Spanish) with new friends. This awesome experience is unique for me!

They also took me to the Petronio Alvarez Festival. Although I know nothing about music, the atmosphere in the venue was so good. I feel involved and the specialty food sold at the stalls outside was so tasty! The most popular drink was a special spirit called viche. I tried and yelled: no me gusta, haha!

Festival seemed to be the prologue only. Then we went to a random beer seller, and everyone grab a beer, sat down on the road side and start chatting and drinking.

After a beer or two, two of my new friends insisted me to teach them some Cantonese foul language... And then yelling that new learnt phrase at each other excitedly like saying 'Happy New Year!' =.="