Today's adventure is from a couple of days spent in the town of Jardín. Having left Guatapé earlier that day we were waiting in the Medellin terminal for a bus we had booked to show up. Despite paying attention to departure times, keeping a lookout for the bus and all we could really do, the bus departure time came and went and no bus had shown up. Or so we thought. After a while we checked at the ticket desk what was going on and lo and behold the bus had left. We had been watching the stand it was supposed to arrive at, no bus came, there were no announcements, it was a bit annoying, they refused to refund us. But oh well! We talked the bus company next door, they gave us a ticket and we got on a bus almost immediately. Such is life, but it meant that what should have been a 20 minute wait and 2 hour journey turned into a whole afternoon. So we arrived at night and after a spot of dinner went to bed.
Finally some adventure! The following day we rose early and went for a wander to find some waterfalls. Looking at Google maps Jardín looked full of them. We eventually made to the Cascada de Escalera, a stunning waterfall! After admiring for a wee bit we got chatting with a local who recommended we walk a bit further to another little pool/falls/river something. Setting off in that direction we were guided by a doggo! We assumed it might belong to the local. This doggo proved essential to find our way to the wee falls as it patiently led us to them. As we arrived the clouds seemed to roll over and the heavens opened. Getting completely soaked we trekked back to town to find a munch. There the plans for the next day were laid out and beers were drunk.
Our hostel was up a hill and on the way back I discovered there was a cable car that would cut about 30 minutes of walking out. This turned out to be a tiniest cable car I had ever seen, quite basic, but functional. It was a novel experience being in a tiny box suspended by two wires high over the jungle. All was well of course and reaching the top we were treated to a nice view!
The next morning was an early start to meet up with a some people and our ride to get us to the start of a hike to Cueva Del Esplendor, arguably the poster child of Jardín. After a fun, relatively smooth ride up a hill we set off on our hike. It was slightly steep to start but soon levelled out and we were up in the clouds with a some stunning views down the valley back towards the town.
We reached the end of the trail on the road and entered the trail to head back down to get to the waterfall. This trail was bit more technical, a narrow path descending into the jungle alongside the river. We eventually made it to the Cueva Del Esplendor and were treated to the stunning waterfall that crashed into it. Having made it that far I just had to get in the water and oh my it was cold! I'm not sure if it was the temperature difference or something, but heck it was freezing or... refreshing, I guess. It was awesome to be so close to the raging falls, totally worth it.
Upon arriving back in Jardín, not satisfied with one hike for the day I decided to walk up to the Mirador Cristo Rey. This was a short, sweat pumping hike to a viewpoint, with a beer at the end and an awesome view back over Jardín and the surrounding mountains. I hope you enjoy the video, hope you're having a great day!
