After spending a few weeks in the mountains we were ready to get back to the hot weather, so we headed to San Cipriano for a few days. San Cipriano is a small village in the humid, subtropical forest about four hours from Cali, Colombia.

The drive there was ridiculous! It was just like the Sea to Sky Highway with mountains on one side and a drop into a river on the other. They were also doing construction to widen the road so there was a lot going on. I had to make myself fall asleep because our van driver decided to pass on all parts of the road including in TUNNELS! It was so scary. They have their own set of traffic rules here that involve a lot of honking and veering. Also, there are tons of motorcycles (which are actually more like dirt bikes) with two plus passengers weaving in and out of traffic constantly. I didn´t think we were going to make it, but we arrived safe and sound in Cordoba.

After we hopped off the van, a guy was there to greet us and took us to the railroad tracks. He even carried my big bag! The only way into San Cipriano is by railroad, but there are no trains. Instead, the people created makeshift vehicles using dirtbikes and planks of wood. We settled on one of the makeshift railcars with our bags and headed into the forest. The ride was surprisingly fast and fun! It only took about 15 minutes for us to arrive at the village.

A young boy helped us off the motorcycle and lead us to one of the few places to stay in the village. Our room was tiny with an open roof and mosquito netting covering the beds. It was so incredibly hot and humid we changed into bathing suits and headed to the river. We hiked for about ten minutes to reach the river. It was so nice to swim in fresh water again! Tubing down the river is one of San Cipriano´s main tourist attractions, but we were there in the middle of the week and there weren´t many other tourists around. There wasn´t much to do once the sun went down, so we had an early night playing cards. There were only two places to eat, since it was off season, so if you don´t like fish, rice and salad you´re outta luck.

In the morning, our young friend offered his guidance to find two waterfalls, at a price of course. We walked with him and two other tourists through the forest (which I would consider more jungle than forest) for about an hour, climbing steep hills, wading through rivers and walking shin deep in mud. Then we arrived at a small, but beautiful waterfall. There´s something about waterfalls that instantly make you feel peaceful and put a smile on your face. After a few pictures we ventured back through the forest for another half hour before reaching the next waterfall. This waterfall was much bigger and had a decent sized pool for swimming. We all jumped in to cool down. There were tons of little fish in the pool that had a taste for the guy´s nipples. They didn´t like that very much.. We hiked back to the river after and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and relaxing. The next few days were spent hiking the forest, swimming in the river and going for runs. It´s incredibly hard to run in 35 degree humidity! (Marcene & Ang be proud!!!)

Our two and a half days in San Cipriano were a nice and relaxing way to say goodbye to Colombia and get ready for a long bus ride into Ecuador.