Adventures in the Wilderness with a Trusty Shower Curtain

Whilst gathering supplies for a few days in Los Nevados National Park, Chris and I decided that the most sensible (or only available) solution to my non-waterproof tent conundrum was a giant £5 shower curtain. There weren't that many shops in Salento that sell anything other than pretty artisan accessories. 

We set off from El Valle de Cocora, hiking through lush green farmlands and the tallest palm trees in the world. I had a spring in my step! Albeit temporarily stifled by a pounding electric shock. It thumped through me when I clutched a metal fence in an attempt to manoeuvre past a large muddy puddle. I initially thought that Chris had whacked me in the back in some insane spout of sibling aggression, with a hand that had somehow made it through my huge rucksack and rib cage, to my heart chambers. That current certainly rattled me!

The day was a difficult slog uphill, through the jungle. The mud and altitude made our advancement slow and so we ended up camping in a small clearing where we soon realised, hundreds of midges called home. It became a race to construct our shelter without getting everything soaked or our hands and faces bitten raw. It was a challenge of patience, creativity and resourcefulness. The finished masterpiece consisted of the shower curtain strung up between the trees, some scraps of elastic and poorly improvised knots securing the four corners. The tent was slightly to large for the clearing and so we had to sleep twisted around a huge tree root that stuck up through the ground beneath. One wall of the tent was covered in a giant silver emergency blanket that I had been carrying around forever, and another was covered by an open bin liner. The set up was rather hilarious, but somehow kept us relatively dry... ish. 

In a bid to escape the midges, who were evil enough to find their cunning way into the tent, we hunkered down into our sleeping bags. It was 3.30 pm.

The following day was another haul upwards through the jungle until we reached the páramo. This high up, the vegetation is totally different: short, grassy, mossy and plenty of these small trees that look like something between a cactus and a palm tree.

After a lunch of peanut butter and raisin wraps (of which we devoured many), we had a short flat march to El Refugio de La Playa. Here we could sleep in bunk beds inside a wooden cabin attached the farm, escape the rain and enjoy hot hearty meals. 

The following day our pace picked up significantly as the trail was relatively flat. With fingers and toes numb from the wet and cold, we were ecstatic to reach some hot springs! Submerged in the hot water, we watched the white clouds drift over the landscape, between the peaks and dips of the mountains.

The rest of our time in the park was wonderful, if a bit cold and wet. We even managed to escape the nerve-wracking advances of twenty bulls who's field we had to cross. They tailed us until we hopped over a small river which, thankfully, they couldn't be bothered to cross.

925 Rides 

Crossing the creek in the lower lying jungle