The Spanish Chef

We had heard the rumor a few times before we got to Salento, Colombia.  "World class chef", "Michelin rated".  Sure, Elisabeth and I thought.  We will judge for ourselves when we get there.

Supposedly an iconic Spanish chef was staying at a hostel in Salento and preparing exquisite dishes for the backpackers that made their way through the town.  It sounded a little too good to be true, but when you are traveling you sometimes go down rabbit holes like this just to see what is at the bottom of it all.  We arrived in town at about 1:00 pm on Monday (September 20th).  After dropping off our bags and relaxing for a bit we decided to hike out to the hostel where the chef was staying, La Serrana Eco Farm, and discover for ourselves what the deal was.  The walk was only about 20 minutes, but in that time it turned from bright blue skies, to a torrential downpour.  By the time we got to the hostel we were completely soaked.

As we stumbled in the hostel there were two men sitting on a bench, chain smoking cigarettes, and chatting in Spanish.  Being the gringo I am, I muttered (in English, obviously) "we heard there is an amazing chef here, do you know anything about it".  Long story short, we were talking to the chef, and yes every evening he prepared a 10 course meal for anyone who had signed up by 4:00pm.  We had just missed the deadline for tonight, and in fact he hadn't met the 6 person minimum to do the meal, but we promptly signed up for the next nights meal.

Chef Joseph, Elisabeth and our new friend Sarah.

While we were signing up, we heard the story of the chef, Joseph.  Joseph was born in Barcelona and grew up around food his whole life.  He is the nephew of Ferran Aadria, head chef of the world's #1 restaurant, and his whole family is enamored with cooking.  Joseph started cooking at high end restaurants at a young age, but soon discovered that life wasn't for him.  He started traveling and cooking for backpackers about 16 years ago and hasn't stopped since. He prepares local, organic food that reflects the area he currently resides in.  He has been in Salento for about 1 year, and nearly every night he prepares a 10 course meal for 14,000 Pesos (8 US Dollars).

Yucca and carrot stew, served in half a gourd.

When we returned the next night a feast awaited us.  The cutlery was mis mashed, the plates were reused for every course, but the food was great!
Dish #1: korean noodles (homemade) with local spices and a citrus sauce.
Dish #2: pineapple/papaya/fresh cheese with a pineapple glaze.
Dish #3: beef tartar.
Dish #4: local yellow potato, stuffed with celery/peppers/onion/garlic with a sauce made from the potato water and a special seaweed used for thickening.
Dish #5: yucca and carrot stew.
Dish #6: green beans with seaweed gravy.
Dish #7: corn soup.
Dish #8: (wine kicks in, can't remember and no photographic evidence, likely delicious though).
Dish #9: a meatball served on a potato with gravy (the main course).
Dish #10: stewed tree tomato with a sauce made from coffee beans and local fruit.

Dish #2, the pineapple/papaya/cheese combination.

We of course returned for a second night, which was equally as good.  It is worth noting that Joseph had somewhat of a mixed reputation, our hostel owner (who we REALLY liked) described him as a liar and a cocaine addict.   That being said, regardless of what half truths he told us, the meals really were exquisite!

The menu from night #2. 

The Coast

So Matt let everyone know about la cuidad perdida which was an awesome and challenging trip. The rest of the time on the coast was almost completely lazy.

Like Matt mentioned we started the lost city trek from Taganga. Its a cute tourist town next to the larger, more boisterous Santa Marta that we frequented to get money (no
ATMs in Taganga) and ran errands (we call them scavenger hunts). The hostel we stayed at was Oso Perezoso (Lazy Bear) that had the cutest dog named Lola and a crochety old bird called Roberto who like to sit on a beam above the common area and take aim on people´s heads. The room included a breakfast of the most amazing fruit with ginger granola, crepe or french toast or scrambled eggs. This was probably the best breakfast we have had on this trip. There was a beautiful beach that was about a 20 minute walk around a hill. We finally started to get some good food here as well. There was a little place called cafe bonsai, owned by a Danish guy, that had awesome lemonade and sandwiches with garlic and curry sauces.

The next beach we hit was Tayrona national park. Upon embarking on this trip we believed it to be a short hour hike into the park and onto the beach. We joined two Canadians on this trip who brought their tent and sleeping bags. The hostel caretaker warned them against it and laughed at them. We started the hike in mud which was not a good sign. But we did see a monkey and grasshopper the size of my hand. There were these taunting signs the whole way saying the percentage of the hike we had accomplished. The hike turned into a 3 hour hike through a lot of mud in the blazing heat in middle of the day.
We finally arrived and the beach was beautiful with giant coconut trees and a surprising amount of people trying to crack coconuts open with their bare hands, rocks and sticks. One woman succeeded and shared her earnings with the rest of us on the beach. We stayed just one night and took the boat back which was quite a nice 45- minute ride back with a great view of the nearly uninhabited coast.

Our next stop was Cartagena de Indias, a lively coastal town with a fortress built around it to keep pirates out in the 17th century. It was quite hot there so we spend each mid-day napping in the hostel. We went to a mud volcano that was an interesting experience. The volcano is very small and three men are in the volcano helping people in and forcing massages upon you. The mud is so dense even when people attempted to sink deeper they bounced back up. After being sufficiently covered in mud for 15 minutes they help you out and sent you to the pond to wash off. There are very aggresive woman trying to take your top off and wash you down. We all somehow managed to get past them fully clothed and muddy to wash ourselves off.

Playa Blanca was our final stop on the coast. We took a one-day tour with many elderly Colombians from Cartagena to Rosario then to Playa Blanca. This is the best beach we have been to. The sand was white and the ocean we crystal clear. We got ourselves hammocks on the beach and hung around reading books and soaking up the sun (wearing sunscreen of course). There were many women trying to give massages and men selling jewelry who were very insistant. I ended up getting a massage just to get Anita to leave me alone. I must say it was a very nice massage. Matt woke up at 530am the next morning and I at 6am because of the rooster, the heat and the bright sun. We took a nice stroll along the beach with 2 dogs following behind trying to play and biting at Matts shorts. That is when we found the dead bloated rat on the shore who followed us back to our spot on the beach. Though our find took a little away from the paradise we were in, it provided a little amusement as well.

Ciudad Perdida

The Lost City.  44 km of jungle treking in the interior of Colombia involving 9 major river crossings, daily brushes with the army, passage through areas that only a few years ago were large coco fields, and afternoon monsoons that left everything we owned soaked to the core.

Elisabeth and I left for the trek on a Wednesday morning not truly knowing what we were getting ourselves into. Yeah, we knew it was 5 days and 4 nights of pretty intense stuff, but we (or atleast I) didn´t truly know what we were in for. On our way out there we jumped in a jeep (7 tourists, 4 guides a weeks worth of food and all of our packs).

Our Jeep break down!

Three hours after we set out, and many a dirt road later, we got to the base camp where we had some sandwiches and set off on the journey.  The first day was not a lot of hiking, but it was nearly straight up hill and started around 2:00.  We soon learned that hiking in the afternoon is not ideal, especially when thunderstorms are close by.  Sure enough, about half an hour into our hike  we hear the booming thunder. Next thing we know the trail is 8 inches deep in mud and we are soaked.  In all fairness, the rain is nice in the sense that it cools you down a lot, but our packs and our clothes would not dry for the duration of the hike.

The first night we slept in hammocks with mosquito netting.  The mosquito netting was definitely worth its weight in gold as we were bit quite a few times on the trip.  We rose at 7 am the next day, had a breakfast of fresh fruit and granola and hiked 4-5 hours in the early sun before the rain.  We got to camp number 2 just as the downpour started and were able to enjoy the rain from camp this time as opposed to being in it. 

The map at the launch point.

Typical trail conditions.

Day three we were in the grove: up at 6, breakfast at 6:30, on the trail by 7.  The length of the trip turned out not to be the problem as much as the constant heat and humidity.  Hiking early really helped avoid the worst of the heat. Throughout the length of the trip one is constantly passing armed military (with automatic weapons, rocket launchers, etc).  This area used to be a hotbed of paramilitary activity and is constantly patrolled  (probably to ensure the tourist dollars continue to flow).  As the trip progress and you are in the actual national park you encounter ever increasing numbers of the native people`s.  Some were very friendly, others were understandably not happy to see the ever increasing number of western peoples. 

Night 3 is spent at a base camp about one hour away from the actual Ciudad Perdida. Day 4 we are up early and at the Lost City by 8:00am.  It was a truly amazing experience and definitely worth the trek in. There were over 250 sites where houses once stood and in fact the city is still used for large meeting of shaman`s.  Pictures do it justice, not my words. 

One of the many ruins.

One of the myraid of trails.

Elisabeth sitting on the steps to the top.

The ruins!

The trek out was much faster -- only 2 days to cover what we did in 3 on the way in.  That being said, you are going downhill and have the help of a donkey carrying your pack part of the way.  All said, this was truly an amazing experience, and though the Ciudad Perdida was amazing, the hike is equally as enjoyable.

For a complete photo album of the trek and the Lost City try this link:  Lost City Photo Album.