Minca – Jungle Expedition

The night in the hostel has been just amazing. the climate is so much more pleasant than down at the coast. Also, there is really not much to do here after sunset, so you get a lot of healthy sleep (there are no party hostels in Minca).

After a little chill out in the garden I met some other backpackers from Hamburg that suggested a hike to an Eco Resort called Casa Elementa. Since the path was 80% identical with my plans we decided to go together.

After walking along a street for about one hour we arrived in a little Swiss owned restaurant with beautiful jungle gardens. They gave us some nice tips about or further way (and some really nice coffee). Soon later we arrived at a little waterfall that was just too beautiful to not use if for a quick cool down.

Then the path split from the road and went uphill strait through the rainforest. I am not sure if I have ever sweat so much in my life. It took us 3h to climb the mountain. Several times the path would bifurcate without further signs. And one sign on the top of the maintain would just turn with the wind (very funny idea). A local guy showed us a path through the coffee fields that would eventually lead us to the Casa Elementa.

Ok, this is a purely western tourist Eco-loge (of cause with plenty of German speakers), but it was just the best place to relax anywhere in Colombia that I encountered so far. You could sleep there in the hammocks, the food was absolutely amazing, the beer cheep and everybody just hang out in the pool or on the cliff hammocks and had a good time. We quickly decided to spend the rest of the day at this amazing place.

There is actually a road leading down from the Eco-lodge (2-3h downhill). Instead of walking we decided to pay a jeep to take us down. It still took us more than 1.5h to Minca. But that was a drive. The road was so bad that the car bounced back and forth from pothole to pothole. I thought it would eventually tear the whole vehicle apart. You had to hold tight to one of the handles inside, so you wouldn't hurt yourself by crashing against the doors or ceiling. One of our passengers got so sick that we had to stop a couple of times. To me it was just the most fun :D