I have hardly been blogging.
My now-five-year-old, masked, because Covid locked our city down forever!
In the midst of a pandemic, photo sessions have been rare, and I’ve been immensely thankful for the clients I have! I have had the joy of capturing some lovely images, sans photo releases.
And we’ve been in quarantine. It felt like forever, and rumor has it, Bogota was one of the world’s longest quarantines. We couldn’t leave the city for over six months. About a month ago, my family went to a finca near Villeta overnight, but this past week, we went on a real vacation, for more than a day!
In September, we left Bogota for the first time since March.
Fall Break started after school on Friday, but we didn’t head out of town right away. First up was a marathon on Saturday. Since it was virtual, I ran on the streets of Bogota in the company of some great friends and running buddies. My nine year old paced my final mile, my Garmin didn’t sync, and I didn’t care.
Because the following day, we loaded up the kids and headed to Apulo!
I’d love to give suggestions there, but we literally sat by the pool, cooked and ate, made drinks and drank, laughed, and did one hike with a lot of whiney kids. We stayed at a perfect pandemic AirBnB, where each family had their own space and all common areas were outdoors. I ran a few times (slowly) and it felt good not to need a mask when I was alone outside!
A short walk from our AirBnB in Apulo.
After lots of kid laughter, catching toads and butterflies, grown up hang out time and marathon recovery (the 2.5 year old with us asked why my foot was “broken” due to all the blisters!), our family of four headed to Salento.
That pool toy contains a toad she found in the pool.
What a beautiful little town! We hiked. We rode horses. We hiked and rode horses some more.
The main square in Salento.
RIDING:
We went to Valle de Cocora and rode there. Some things were still closed (routes to cloud forest and hummingbird sanctuary) but we had a lovely time going to the first mirador and then along the river. We paid about $200.000 COP for the ride/entry to the park. The wax palms are completely stunning.
The wax palms are amazing. In the mountains, but with palm trees. Realllllly big ones.
Since the kids didn’t even want to try for tickets to the coffee themed amusement park, we knew they REALLY wanted to spend a second day on horseback. We were staying at an eco-lodge just outside of the town, and our host called his go-to guide. We took an hour trek up a mountain, saw a waterfall, and loved it. Less formal, super cheap, lovely horses, and amazing views. Our guide clearly knew his stuff.
View from our second ride.
Our new friends.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Since we wanted to do more than just ride horses (unlike our children, who honestly would have ridden all day, all four days), we decided to check out some other activities around town. We toured a coffee finca, which my husband and I enjoyed more than the kids, although they had fun as well. We picked coffee and learned the entire process from planting to roasting to brewing, we enjoyed some taste tests, and we enjoyed the beautiful setting. The tour we did was in Spanish, although I understand that many English options exist. The town felt like it was slowly re-opening, but I still heard far more English on the streets than I ever do in Bogota.
Coffee fruit and the beans from it.
We also hiked Cascada Santa Rita (Santa Rita Waterfall.) As “Willys,” or jeep cabs, were hard to find as the country reopened, we drove to the hacienda where the hike begins. The drive is… tough. Narrow and steep roads, but we arrived and found cars much bigger than our small SUV had braved it! Our kids started off whiney, but they rallied and it was worthwhile.
The kids thought the tunnel was the coolest.
We found good food and bad food (a burrito with BBQ and mustard?!), even with many restaurants still shuttered. El Cacharrito was the family winner, with good options for veggie lovers and meat eaters alike, plus a beer named “Happy Tucan” that Matt and I picked up.
Visit Salento. It’s beautiful and needs tourist dollars. And visit Apulo, because relaxation is important!
