Salento – Day 1 : rest and shawarmas

This morning, we left our totally uninteresting Ibagué hotel and got to a Panaderia for breakfast. For the first time, we experienced milk-juices instead of water and we were well inspired !

Followed a boring bus-trip featuring several changes and a classic Almuerzo. It’s funny how, the more buses and bus stations we come across, the more we become experts on “Standard menu” and we enjoy the small things, like perfumed rice of free juice-refills.

Finally, we arrived at Salento in the middle of the afternoon, a small touristic hilltop town, quiet and sunny, with a nice view on the surrounding coffee plantations. There is a lot less pollution than most previous cities we visited, but also a lot more more gringos in the streets. We feel surrounded by our peers but it’s cool and uncool at the same time…

Anyway, the city is very pretty, very steep, and very alive. The house are painted with bright colors (I feel like I’m repeating myself, but here, it’s even more !) with patterns and strong contrasts. There are many souvenirs and coffee shops, all kinds of restaurants, and the whole is very neat and tidy. We feel more and more that we are leaving poor and isolated regions and entering places that have attracted tourists for many years, both national and foreign : every hotel has hot water, the kitchens (those we saw anyway) are clean and organized, there are a lot less stray dogs and shady nasty shops. On the other hands, prices are going up too and LG is organizing a great show on the main square, displaying brand new washing machines. Success comes with a price…

We ended up eating in a square surrounded with food-trucks of every possible theme : lebanese, mexican, venezuelian… Again, a lot of tourists at the tables, but everything was delicious. Never will a burrito be served so elegantly in France, but we refused to take pictures since we didn’t want to look even more like touristy-tourists !

The plan is now to rest here for a few days after so much fast travel. We already did some laundry, which wasn’t an option anymore, and some shopping, so tomorrow we will eat a royal breakfast at our hostel (aaaaand… the mini-butter-stick from the grocery store is salty !)

Have a nice day ! X

4 Replies to “Salento – Day 1 : rest and shawarmas”

  1. Je commence ma lecture et la première page me donne vraiment envie de continuer!
    Bonne continuation! Je vous embrasse et suis ravie de vous accompagner par la pensée. Merci.
    Martine ( Stroh-pailès cousine de Geneviève M.)

  2. Ah ! Me voila rassurêe, Alice , tu as du beurre salé, ouf , te voila requinquêe pour le reste du voyage.
    Tu ne te repètes pas et tu peux continuer à te rêpêter en photos, elles sont superbes ces façades que tu as photographiées.
    Nous aussi, on coyage avec vous en pensêe et ln fait de beaux rêves. Bisous

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