Half way through Colombia

From the first day of being in Colombia, we met more kindness and hospitality than in all of Central America combined! Bus driver buying us a meal, vacationing family inviting us for a picnik, merchants refusing to accept the payment for a litre of youghourt, families inviting us to stay the night, people on the street starting up friendly conversations...
This friendly family took us up to a mountain stream, where they swam in the cold water and relaxed in the fresh air.
A descriptive name for a youghurt store, isn´t it?
If you show up sweaty and tired, they don´t charge you for what you ask, but instead give sweet treats and wish happy trails.
As we were walking out of Pereira, a couple stopped and invited us to their home to rest for the night. John and Carolina have a small baby, a big dog and a beautiful garden.As soon as we entered their home, the skies opened up and the water came down for a good half hour. We would have been soaked to the bone.
As we parted, they told us to go to Salento, a beautiful town in the mountains nearby. As it was pretty close (20 minutes driving), we decided to walk there. And indeed, we walked most of the way, but as we were about 5 kms outside of town, a car stopped in front of us and the back door was magically flung open...
In Salento, we met Tom, with whom we crossed the San Blas. He told us about a beautful trek nearby, and we all went for a long walk (we estimated that it was about 30 kms in total) the next day. On the way out of town our group was joined by a street dog Mateo, who stayed with us throughout the whole hike.