from Dublin to........Mirissa, Sri Lanka: There's magic in them there fields! Salento, Colombia

Bigger than I expected given the permanent population of only 4,000 yet quite touristy, mainly with Colombian day-trippers. Lots of artisan shops of seemingly good quality stuff...similar to the market in Bogota.

From Bogota try and get a bus to Armenia then a shuttle to Salento rather than heading to Pereira like I had to. The road there is a nightmare.....massive traffic jams through the Andes mountain pass caused by the construction of a new double-lane highway that looks like it will be a while completing. So many of the major thoroughfares in the country are single-lane sources of frustration. Check the price of domestic flights before booking your bus ticket....they can be quite affordable at times.

Most people don't stay for seven days like myself but I didn't feel bored at any time. Plenty of things to do (many involve exercise):

A walk from town - 3h 15m walk down the hillside to Palestina, passed the beautiful homestead at Finca Don Elias, along the river to Boquia and then the 5km easy climb up the main road to Salento, where Arnaud and myself had the companionship of a lovely, but stupid, dog that walked with us all the way back to Salento and even to our hostel room. It was a stressful walk as the dog decided it was a good idea to walk up the middle of the busy road, constantly stopping traffic, forcing motorcyclists to change direction around blind corners. So many near misses and dirty looks from drivers assuming the dog was ours. We must have saved its life 100 times. Stupid dog. But we were its best friends for that hour. It somehow found us later that night at a bar in the town square, sat next to us for the entire evening and followed us back to the hostel again. Not seen again after that night.

Cocora Valley - Brunch with the French family and a Willy 4x4 taxi to Cocora. Supposedly a 5hr walk through some challenging terrain. The path along the river was quite technical, many rocks, puddles and horse traffic to contend with. Then we hit the forest and the trail became muddy and slippery. Not sure how Celina and Sofia managed to walk so fast in their inadequate footwear. We skipped the 2km return diversion to the hummingbird sanctuary as it was early afternoon and there are less birds around during the day (go in the morning) and we weren't really sure how long th walk was going to take and we had started hours after most people usually do. From the sanctuary turn-off its a sharp rise to the homestead where you can look over the canopy and watch the clouds swirls in the thermals.

We were making exceptional time. From the homestead it is a very leisurely stroll down a dirt road, through the wax palm forest (the tallest palm in the world....that's one more ff the bucket list). There are plenty of places to look over the valley - pack your lunch and eat it here. 3h20m in total excluding the diversion). Smashed it. Before we had even finished the hike, the girls were talking about the hamburgers they were going to get immediately after from Brunch Cafe. They're not too bad - big ad messy with real hand-cut chips, but the hype about them is slight OTT.

Mojiteria - new bar in town. Fanciest place around from what I could see. Headed here with Arnaud for a few beers whilst the girls watched a movie at Brunch (free private cinema in the cafe - go in any time and watch whatever you want in a cool home theatre setting). Not the cheapest place in town but very pleasant. Food looked great too (didn't try).

Horse-riding - 2.5hrs return to Las Cascadas. A steep decent down a muddy/rocky path to the river in the valley. The horses were slipping frequently. Once by the river the horses could open the throttle a bit. I was ahead of Dirk most of the time - my horse liked to lead and snapped at the other one when it tried to pass. Went for a quick dip in the very cold waterfall. COP40,000. There are moany different places you can choose to go to but ensure you get some horses in good condition - many aren't.

Trucha trucha trucha - Trout is served in almost every restaurant here. Try it. It's pretty good. Comes in many weird and wonderful ways.

Jesus Martin Cafe - The only cafe that appeared to have any idea how to make a coffee using a proper machine (other than the muddy water served up as cafe tinto). Jesus is an actual trained barrista (rare) who entered the 2010 World Barrista Championship in London. Not sure how he went but if he is working behind the machine you are sure to got a decent coffee.

Work on a coffee plantation - You can volunteer at a few fincas an earn your lunch. I did this one morning but unfortunately I was the only sucker who turned up that day so I as out in the field (on a 45 degree angle mind you) attending to the coffee plants. Tough work and exceptionally labour intensive. This particular finca wasn't in great shape - the trees seemed in poor condition, not fruiting as much as others. It wasn't glamorous work but gave me a new appreciation for how the beans end up in your cup - after a lot of work!

FYI - There is a hostel in Salento (not sure of the name) that is about a 20 min walk from the centre of town that is renown for having magic mushrooms growing in the front yard. Unsurprisingly this was a rather popular hostel.