Hotel Guatape was the highlight acomodation so far on this tour. Comfortable rooms, plenty of hot water, a beautiful setting and fabulous food. It was run by a Colombian woman who was just getting started with the hotel. All the staff were gracious and lovely.

I didn’t expect high quality food to be such a feature of this trip but it has been amazing. Every lunch stop and night stop have been places run by local people with home cooked food. We’ve not had a bad meal (or one where we wanted greater quantities). Often simple but always delicious and to top it off super healthy – lots of rice and beans, oodles of fruit, vegetables and salad, simple chicken and fish with tasty dressings.

So after another tasty breakfast (omelette and cheesy empanadas) we had a later start, as we needed to wait for vehicles to drop off other groups.  Urritrek have 4 groups on the road at the moment doing 8, 14 and 16 days treks, all along broadly the same route (but covering different distances each day). It must take a large spreadsheet to track where everyone is, where they should be stopping for lunch and where they are staying, especially as all the groups have different numbers of guests. It mostly worked swimmingly – like a swan – but there must be lots of paddling going on underneath.

This morning’s departure was a little less “swanlike” but we finally set off in 2 cars to be driven to where we were to start the walk.  But halfway up the first hill, the car we were in got a flat tyre.  Everyone out and after a bit of scratching of heads Martin, our swiss farmer, strode forward and took charge.  He soon had the car jacked up, the wheel off and the new tyre on (and probably could have milked a few cows at the same time as well). As well as being fantastically practical, Martin is also an excellent photographer and has a highly infectious laugh.  One of the great things about this trip has been the amount of laughing; with everyone joining in and contributing the the wise cracks, even us – although the wierd British sense of humour means there can be a slight gap before the others get the joke.

So on our way again we got to the top of the hill and turned onto the Panamerican highway. The road went up and up until we turned off the main road at the continental divide – we were now officially on the pacific side. Shortly after, we piled out of the cars and started the day’s hike (at a village with a hurch, school and football field). The first part was on a ridge with fantastic views on either side.  We then curved round Cerro La Roca and descended through steep sided coffee plantations. The weather was still on our side with bright sunshine and blue skies, the heat tempered by a cool breeze (we started at 2100m elevation).

The last section was on tarmac and then on a fairly busy road. The temperature had risen but at least we were tramping downhill. The wisecracks had dried up as we plodded through the heat but after 20 minutes or so we turned off the road and into the Hotel Palenque.  Not as picturesque as last night but large rooms and a huge inviting pool.

After lunch some of the group went on a coffee tour, but as we had done this before (in India or Cuba I think) we elected to rest up and lounged around and enjoyed the pool (cold – but refreshing once you got in).