Keeping active is something that benefits our mental and physical well-being backed by various scientific studies. Being active can range from going for a short walk, running a 10km marathon (or 6.2 miles for US readers) to rock climbing. Growing up I wasn’t much of an outdoor runner or outdoorsy exploring guy in that sense and I mean it’s understandable. In London, there isn’t that much of a landscape to explore and probably the closest thing to a hike-like experience is trying to meet up with someone at Bank underground station which is a heck of a task (it’s honestly something else).
In other areas of the UK however, are views that look like something out of a Microsoft XP home screen, with scenic hills and large greenery. Examples are, the Hadrians wall path in north England, Scafell Pike in Lake District and of course the famous Stonehenge in Wiltshire. Despite all these places to visit, I had lived my life being quite content without needing to explore the terrains of the earth… up until March last year.
Phone, Wallet, Keys…Hiking bag?
Last year, while living in South America, I got to experience my first real hiking experience with two of my former housemates Steven & Jason. I built a connection with them as we were of the same age, similar cultural experiences and of course gringos living in Colombia (“gringo” means foreigner). Every weekend, we took turns organising an activity for us to do together as a group. In early March, Jason messaged in the Whatsapp group, the activity for that week was visiting “Salto de Angel” which is a waterfall just outside Envigado in Medellin Colombia.
I got messaged the day before to bring along some items from both Jason and Steven who are from the US, so outdoor activities and living life on the edge is no stranger to them – in more ways than one. I had no idea what the day would entail and to be fair none of us quite did.
We set off early Sunday morning around 7:30 AM and getting to the starting point of our hike was a hike in itself… literally. Cab drivers were reluctant to go that far out of the city not only because of the distance but because of how high up the roads are. Eventually, we found a driver to take us after attempting to book several through the cab-hailing app ‘“Didi”.
The area we planned to begin our quest was at least a 30-minute uphill drive with sharp turnings and narrow roads. To call it anything but a hell of a bumpy ride would be the least. Once we got dropped off at the location, we tipped our driver extra money just for enduring with us and offering to take the job. We passed a short gated fence and quickly saw another group of people who were on a guided tour to visit La Catedral, which was Pablo Escobar’s own prison located close to the waterfall. We managed to piggyback the group and listen in on the history being told.
Here’s a video of the view from La Catedral and us just about to listen to the tour
View from above
Erm, where exactly are we?
After listening to the brief history of the Escobar prison we decided to continue with our goal of getting to the waterfall. From the back of the prison, there is a pathway that leads you through an area of the forest where you can reach the waterfall. The landscape looked like something out of a vampire horror movie fighting scene with widely spaced apart tall trees and clear ground.
Sidetrack — Why is it always in US vampire movies like Twilight, they always seem to fight in some forest-like area and never on main roads, restaurants or houses… I digress.
Anyway, after walking uphill about 40 minutes or so, we reached a signpost, that is supposed to direct you. Since we were in the middle of nowhere, our phones were useless for signals and we were in a bit of a dilemma on which way to go, as part of the signpost said to go up and another said to go a totally different direction.
Here’s a video of us stuck and discussing our next move
Eventually, we continued walking uphill, until low and behold we found it… the waterfall…well only from a distance. At this point of the hike, I had taken off almost every bit of clothing I had on, and if I could have removed my skin as they do in the Tom & Jerry cartoons I probably would have done so, because it was that hot. Due to the heat and my feet wanting a rest, I was ready to call it a day. Steven then tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Bro you see that waterfall right there? We going to the bottom of it”. I replied “Oh hell no!”. “Come on, it’s gonna be fun” they said.
Don’t look down
After taking several pictures and videos of the magnificent view from above, we continued on the journey which consisted of mostly climbing downhill. There was a clear pathway at this point, so we weren’t in any confusion on where to go. We steadily made our way down for about 25–30 mins and it was tricky, to say the least. I felt like Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider, jumping from rock to rock and using ropes to slide down hard to reach areas.
As we were quite high-up, parts of it were definitely dangerous and if you didn’t hold on tight or mistakenly slipped on a rock, you could fall down and I mean down-down like you can’t see the bottom down. Luckily, my grip is strong, so I held on to that rope-like my life depended on it… which it indeed did.
After another 15 minutes or so, we reached a mini-bridge and could hear the sound of the waterfall getting louder which was a hint that we were close-by. Once we crossed the wet and slippery bridge, we finally made it to the bottom of the Salto de Angel waterfall.
I will never forget the feeling at that point. It was so peaceful and all you could hear were birds flying above and the sound of the water crashing on the rocks. It was bliss.
To our surprise, we met a guy who was just sitting on a rock by himself, listening to Bob Marley via portable speakers while smoking a joint (“it’s” legal in Colombia for personal cultivation). I know this might sound strange, but there was some sort of energy you could feel just being there and soaking it all in. I can’t find the words to explain it but it felt rejuvenating. This is a photo of me feeling the power.
Feeling the energy
Us
We captured the moment on our phones and started making our way back uphill. After reaching back to the La Catedral area, we faced an even bigger problem… which was how we were going to get back to the city. There weren’t any noticeable buses parked near the entrance as the last group had come and gone at this point. While thinking of what to do, we bumped into a young guy and girl from Netherlands and Spain who were also trying to find their way back.
Together we planned how we would make it back to the city. Eventually, we decided to just walk as much as we possibly could downhill and hope for a bus or something to pass. Luckily, about 15 minutes into our walk a small car passed and an old couple stopped to ask if we would like a lift. There were five of us in total so the four of us guys somehow managed to squeeze in the back and in the front seat were the girl, the woman and her small dog.
This is the ride we took and us saying bye
We were so lucky to get that ride to the bottom of the hill which shaved at least a good 2 hours or so of us trying to walk it which would have been dangerous. We said a big thanks to the elderly couple, waved bye to the young travellers and the look on our faces was a mixture of tiredness and hunger. We managed to eat at a local food spot and tried out a traditional Colombian Bandeja paisa dish.
The restaurant owners were super welcoming and happy to know that we came from far and wide just to explore their city. With our bellies filled and only the reserves left in our energy tanks, we still managed to get a glimpse of the city by walking around for another hour or so before we finally headed to the metro station to make our way home.
Conclusion
One thing I learnt from the whole experience of hiking was just how much noise we are surrounded by in our day to day lives and the need to take a step out of it now and again can provide some form of solace. By noise, I mean more so the distractions and tasks we do daily.
The hike on a scale of 1–10 with 1 being easy and 10 being difficult, was a solid 6.5 in my opinion and most of the scoring is the journey even getting to where you start the hike and getting back home. Though of course, in a hiking article it did mention that there is a bus that comes along one of the paths I believe every 30 — 45 mins or so. Therefore bearing that in mind that would be something to plan better going next time.
One thing I can say for certain is, despite it being my first hiking experience it definitely won’t be my last from now on.
