Thanksgiving in San Vicente

As I mentioned before, one of the perks of teaching at a bilingual school is that we get off for Colombian holidays, as well as a select few American holidays like Thanksgiving.  This gave us a four day weekend at the end of November.  Now having already had two Thanksgiving celebrations, most teachers head out of town for a long weekend.  A big group of our friends were planning a trip to an island in the Caribbean, San Andres, and while warm(er) weather and beaches and all you can eat and drink was appealing, my over-my-head in debt self decided a smaller (and cheaper) excursion was a bit more financially responsible.  I also think I was looking for something a little quieter, and there were a couple places in the coffee region, not too far from Cali that we were interested in visiting.  With not many plans made, David and I set off Thursday morning with two other primary & pre-primary teachers, Lauren and Carlos.  We all shared a cab to the the bus terminal where we got a bus to Pereira for $22.000 (about $11 USD) where we could then get a bus to Santa Rosa.  We were planning on going to the natural hot springs (termales) in Santa Rosa where some friends had spent some time during Semana de Receso.  From Santa Rosa we found a jeep that was advertising his services to the termales.  When we got in Carlos asked our driver his opinion on the two different locations with termales and after going back and forth a couple times, we decided to change our original plans and actually head to San Vicente to spent the day and night, the same place our 8th graders go for their field trip.

The ride was a little scary to start, with the repairs of recent mudslides and other construction along the way, but that was over quickly and then we spent the 45 minutes ride taking in the beautiful views of the Zona Cafetera from the back of the jeep.

After a somewhat chilly and rainy (but gorgeous nonetheless) ride up, we wasted little time deciding which room we were going to stay in, put some food in our bellys and made our way to the thermal pools. After the initial feeling that I may have just willing given myself third degree burns by stepping into scorching water, it felt wonderful; it was the prefect combination of cool air and cozy warm water. As is now normal here, there were little Colombian children asking us to speak English and responding with the few phrases they know like "How are you?" and "I love you". Weird. We explored some of the other pools (there were five in total), some of which were only for people who were staying, as opposed to those who come just for the day. This allowed us the relaxing solitude I think we were all hoping for on our mini vacation.

 



We hung out in the thermal pools and the natural saunas until after the sun went down, when we finally decided it was time to go to dinner.  After some delicious trout, we had them light the chimney in our room, in hopes that it would warm our now shivering selves.  It didn't.  And so we all fell asleep curled under our blankets and in sweatshirts pretty early.  But this allowed us to get up early and enjoy the wonderful sun and made for great opportunity to take some morning pictures.

View from the back patio on our cabana

Our Cabana: Siete Cuervos

After breakfast we decided to go canopying (zip lining) with our guides David and Felipe.  Turns out, I was the only one in our group of four that had ever gone before.  There were only two towers on this canopy.  One of our guides set off in front of us to the first stop so he could be there waiting for us and went flying without holding on hanging upside down.  The rest of us followed, in the normal seated position and made it safely across.  On the second leg of it, they informed us we could go sailing across "como un murcielago" (like a bat) too.  David and Carlos promptly declined the offer and Lauren went zipping across upside down.  I tried the position out before I went across and although my brain was perfectly willing to let me fly across with no fear, we body just wouldn't trust it enough to kick my legs up and drop my upper body to the position I needed, so I went across the normal way again too. 

The afternoon left more time for warming up in the termales and some appointments with the spa.  David and I decide to try out the Baño Peeling first, a hot sand (arena) peeling near one of the natural pools and sauna.

Then we had time for another massage, deciding on the honey and oatmeal (miel y avena) treatment.  Sounds weird, felt a little weird but also very relaxing and after these two, my skin felt great.  We rinsed off in a thermal pool, showered, packed up, got one last meal and were headed back to Santa Rosa with our jeep driver, with a little setback on the way. 

Churrasco

Bandeja Paisa

Fixing our flat tire

When we got the bus back to Pereira Carlos stayed there the spend time with his family, Lauren was headed back to Cali to teach her Body Combat class and David and I were off to our next stop of the trip in Salento.