Valle de Cocora

We had a cold morning and actually turned on the furnace for the first time on this trip, but the cold disappeared once the sun came out. We went to hike a steep trail to see the wax palms. I don't know anything about them but they are the tallest and no longer a cash crop for wax.

We paid $18 to enter a groomed trail with instagramable set pieces and to avoid the horse poop trail.

The kids raced up the trails and we slowly made our way up. The view was fantastic. We could look down the valley.

Ellie got cold when she cooled down and wanted to leave so then the kids barrelled down the trail. We went to look into horse riding and hired four horses for a short 30 minute ride for $35. Ellie's horse was a bit skittish and she did not enjoy the ride. Dd didn't like it at first but at the end he loved it. I loved it.

We had some snacks and went off to milk some cows at an eco hotel Christine had contacted. There is a reason we buy milk from a grocery store. It takes forever to milk a cow. Fortunately they poured some milk from a clean container for us. Ellie was very good at milking now that it was her second time.

We thought we might stay at the eco hotel but they said no so we headed to the town of Salento only a few minutes away. This area inspired parts of the Disney movie Encanto and the kids watched it again last night to confirm this. The Cocora Valley and the building styles are in the movie. We parked at a restaurant Meraki because the owner allows overlanders to park. He immediately flagged us down when we drove by seeing the parking lot was full but he insisted there was room and moved his car. It was inches to spare.

We walked around the cute town before it rained. The area around the plaza is very cute. There were a lot of tourist shops, coffee shops, and pizza places.

Dd wanted a Pikachu hat with ears that moved so we bought it for his birthday in a week and a half. We ate at Meraki, the restaurant we had parked at right before it started raining and had some pasta, hot chocolate and panela, arepa, and fajita ($33).

Hector, the owner checked out our RV and showed us his. It rained hard and we stayed in the RV for the rest of the night.