Immersive Spanish - Immersive Spanish - Colombia Adventure - Episode 7 - Jungle Trekking

Episode Date: September 4, 2026

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Season 7, Episode 7. Hello, Viejeros. Welcome back to Mercer Spanish. I've just got out of the taxi here beside La Catebral. And guys, I'm really high up in the hills above Envigado. It took about 45 minutes to get here from El Poblado. And, wow, we're properly out in the countryside now. It's completely different from last night. No salsa, no margaris.

just mountains, trees, and can you hear that? The sounds of birds. So that building behind me is the famous, or should I say the infamous, cathedral. Now, la cateedral has a bit of a dark history to say the least. It was a prison built to Pablo Escobar's specifications back in the early 1990s. It's a pretty surreal place, to be honest and yeah it's got a dark history but apparently right behind it is where our nature hike begins now it's a pretty surreal place to begin our nature hike i can appreciate that but look somewhere below us hidden in that forest right there is none other than the salto del angel waterfall a quick practical note access conditions can change and parts of this route are extreme

extremely steep. Don't attempt it alone. Check locally that the trailer's open and go with an experienced guide who knows the area. That's why I've got Manuel. I met him last night in the park whilst I was getting some fresh air. It was quite weird, actually. There he was looking for frogs in the park. He told me he's a local guide and, well, he offered to take me down through the forest to Salto del Anhe.

And so, here we are. And he should be meeting me right here at the store. start of the trail. Ah, there he is. Manuel, good days. Caff, good days, brother. How are you? Very well, very well. A little cancadro, but well, you know. Baillaste

a much at night. I? No, no, no. Miguel and Georgina, yeah. Well, you're ready? Yeah, sure. Let's go. Trajist's water and food.

Uh, oh. Flipping. Eggman. The bottle of water, yes. The food, no.

No, you know my message. Ah, yes. Now, I'm

I'm agree. The I'm sorry I've had been a pair of

cupas when I heard and well. Ha ha ha. No doesn't

nothing, we're we're talking my food. In serio? Sure.

I've got some sandwiches, manzana, and durasno. Aye, perfecto. Muches graces. Te devo one. Tranquilo, let's. Completely forgot, guys. Really bad on my part. For goodness sake.

I mean, Manuel, he literally told me last night to bring food for lunch. But, yeah, unfortunately, I had a couple of drinks by the time I listened to his voice note. and, well, apparently that information didn't quite make it into my brain. But luckily, I did remember the water, so I won't dehydrate. Manuel asked me, Trajiste Agua and Comida? Did you bring water in food? Trajiste,

Agua and Comida. Now, the verb you should remember from this is Traer. Trair. meaning to bring, to physically bring. Traer. Then he asked, No, visste my message?

I knew he was annoyed. No. Viste my message. Did you not see my message? No, vised my message? With my tail in between my legs, I told him,

Now I'm a quarreau. Now, me, A qurido, meaning now I remember. It's a bit late now, isn't it? And so, I had to admit, I had to admit, I'd had a couple of drinks. Have I tomado

a pair of cupas. Thankfully, Manuel is an absolute legend, or a chimba because he told me you can share my food you can share my food you can share my food Compartir meaning to share

he hasn't exactly bought a picnic for two he's just offered to share whatever he has with me apparently he's got a few sandwiches apples and peaches in his bag A peach, by the way, is A durasno And an apple Being, an apple being

Una Manzana Una Manzana So, luckily for me, food disaster avoided Right, we're starting the trail now And, guys, I have to say, this place is absolutely stunning We're descending through a Yeah, it's a pine forest And the path is already getting rocky and muddy

I can hear running water somewhere below us Oh, that is steep There's a rope tied between the trees here Oh my goodness Manuel Manuel stopped and he's pointing straight down the slope Manuel For here?

Yes, we're going to Backer here Agarate the corda! De Verde? Is it's a very impinado Tranquilo Baja de space and look where you're gonna beas

And if I'm Caigua No you're gonna To get to look In me Ha ha Uh Uh

Well Okay So this is much steeper than I expected I've got both hands Wrapped around this rope And uh Well

I'm trying not to look too far down Manuel Meanwhile He's already about 20 meters ahead of me, obviously. Right. Let me quickly break down some of that.

Manuel said, We're going to Bahar by here. We're going to remember from that. It is Bahar. Bahar, meaning to go down or to descend, as I'm doing right now. He then told me,

Agarate de la cairda. Agarate. De, la, cuerda. Which means, hold on to the rope. Don't have to tell me twice. So a rope is one.

Querda. One. Quirda. And I pointed out the obvious. It's a very empinado. It's very steep. And Manuel replied, Baja despacio and mirra d'n where you pizas.

Baja, Despacio. And Mira Donde Pissas Which means go down slowly and watch where you step

Great Woo Back on solid ground Thank goodness for that Cool So we've been walking for about 20 minutes now And this is

absolutely stunning The pine trees have given way to Much Thicker forest And we're still heading downhill Towards the sound of the water The path is getting steeper as well. Manuel stopped again. He's reaching into his bag.

What do you have there? Ojas of coca. Ohas de coca? Yes, I always get a little when I'm going to the mountains. And you're going to come? Yes, the people of the Andes they've used during much time.

A me help when I'm when I'm in the mountains. Huh, interesting. Wait, why you're you're trying some of the soil? These are not

for me. Then, they're for the naturalness. Always take a little and I

a little. Like, a offrenda? Exactly, a offrenda. The natural does do

much, so that's also, also, I'm to do that

I like that that. Hey to respect the natural brother

brother I told you this guy was a nature boy he's just

taken some coca leaves out of his bag had some

himself and then left some in the forest as an offering

to nature he said son for nature so for nature.

Son for the natural so I asked him like

an offender Como Una Offrenda Like an offering An Offrenda Unta

Una Offenda Meaning an offering And I really like what he said next La Naturalesa

Nos Da Much Much La Naturales Nos Does

da, much and this means nature gives us a lot and he's right about that so we should also so we should give something also

that also there's there to give something back to so we should give something back too

and then I can respect the naturalisa There is There is Respecter La Naturalesa

Meaning you have to respect nature I think Respetar La Naturalesa I think I'm starting to understand Manuel a bit more now This isn't just a hike for him Is it? He seems

completely connected to this place The coca leaves The appreciation for nature the crazy hair Meanwhile, I'm still concentrating extremely hard on not slipping But him, he's right as rain Oh, hang on There are some dogs coming down the path towards us

And I think I can see horses behind them How on earth have horses got up here? Hang on, there's someone coming up the trail What? Look at this! So there's a horse coming towards us completely loaded with these huge sacks on its back Then there's a man riding another horse just behind it And a tiny little dog following them both

Like really Really really how on earth have they got up here This path, guys It's ridiculously steep What? What? Guys, I genuinely, genuinely don't understand how those horses have climbed up here. Some of the sections we've just clamped down are so steep and rocky that I've been struggling on two feet.

And that horse at the front is carrying these enormous sacks as well. And then you've got this tiny little dog bringing up the rear like it's nothing. Hang on, sorry, two dogs. Don't worry, I've been filming this on my phone, so if you want to see, I'll leave it on the episode transcript on Patreon. on. Now, if you didn't catch that, Manuel just asked the man how he was. He said he was doing well and was heading to the garden, El Hardin, wherever that is. Then they wished each other a good day. So, let's keep going. All right, guys, we've been walking for quite a while now. We've descended

through pine forests and jungle, crossed a couple of streams, and used rope to get down the steepest sections. But shh, listen. Can you hear that? Manuel, that is the cascada? Yes, brother. Yeah, we're almost we're getting us. What's the final? Unos five minutes. Wow.

Oh, wow, wow, wow, wow. Guys, we've made it. This is phenomenal. I know you can't see it, but I'm sure you can hear it. It's a massive waterfall coming down through the rocks into a pool surrounded by forest. I'm going to move away from it so you can hear me a bit better. That's better. Absolutely worth the walk that was.

You want to beignar? Ah? In the water? Yes, sure. Manuel, it seems congelada. Ha, ha, ha. It's a bria. But after a minute, you're accustomed to?

Hmm, I don't believe you. Let's gov. Oh, goodness, all right, fine. This isla-a. It's a very, but very friea. Ben. Oh my goodness. Okay, once you're actually in, this is amazing.

You've just spent over an hour descending through the forest, crossing streams and clinging to ropes. And now we're swimming in the pool beneath a waterfall in the Colombian mountains. I feel incredibly alive right now. Right, okay, well, there are a couple useful phrases there. I asked, Eza is la cascada?

Esa, is la cascada. Is that the waterfall? Esa is la cascada? A waterfall is... One cascada. One. Cascada. Then, Manuel said,

Ja-kasi-Jegamos. Yeah. Kasi-Gey-Gey-Gey-Germos. Meaning, we're almost there. Ja-kasi-Jegamos. That's a really useful phrase when you're traveling or walking somewhere. Yeah, cas-i-jegamos. All- bien.

And when I got into the water, I said, It's a elada. It's elada. Meaning, it's freezing. And trust me, it really is. Right, I'm getting out before my legs stop working. Ah, that's better.

Manuel's pointing at something growing above the waterfall. What is that plant? It's a borrachero. Porrachero? Yes, it's a plant very powerful. Of this plant comes the scopolamina.

Ah, scopolomina? I've heard of that's a lot of that. Yes, it's very dangerous. In Colombia,

there are criminals that are that they use to doga to people and then robes. In serious?

Yes, can't a person very confused and vulnerable? There is to have much

Oh, aye, aye, aye. And it's here naturally? Yes, there are many plants like this in Colombia. For that's always I always say that I'm to respect

the naturalness. It can be beautiful, but also very powerful. Yes, definitely. Okay, that's slightly eerie.

Manuel has just pointed out, A, listen to this, Borrachero, growing up the waterfall. So he's explained that it is associated with scopolamine. Now, if you didn't know, scopolamine is a powerful drug that's become notorious in Colombia, and it's because criminals have used it to drug and unfortunately rob people. He said,

have to be much of quite have to have much good

and this means you have to be very careful one needs to be very careful and I really

like what Manuel said afterwards I have to respect the natural

you have to respect nature there there have to respect

the natural It kind of sums this guy up. He absolutely loves nature. But he also has this sort of huge respect for how powerful it can be. Anyway, enough talking about dangerous plants, right? I'm absolutely starving. Manuel, what do you have to come? Now, if you're correct of the food. Yes, is that I've got mucheima ambr. Look, I have sandwiches of cheese, manzana, and brasnos.

Ooh, perfect. Toma, a sandwich for you. Ah, much thanks. Oh, my. What rich this is this sandwich. It's literally just a cheese sandwich. But you know what? After that steep descent through the forest and a swim in freezing cold water,

this tastes like the best sandwich I've ever eaten. Do you want a manzana? Yes, for favor. Today, I'm going to eat total your food. No, no problem, Herman.

Right, guys, I think we're going to sit here for a little while longer, finish this food, and, yeah, enjoy the waterfall before we head back.

Although, I've just realized something, we now have to climb all the way back up to La Cathedral. But what a day, though. Not bad for $20.

If you'd like to listen to Immersive Spanish completely ad-free, you can join us over on Patreon, where you'll also get access to full transcripts, vocabulary lists, bonus episodes and photos from my journey through Columbia. You can also subscribe to the Immersive Spanish YouTube channel, where you can actually watch me travelling through the Spanish-speaking world and interacting with locals. And if you want to take your Spanish even further, check out the Immersive Spanish Fluency Builder app, where you can practice the vocabulary and conversations from the podcast of interactive exercises, quizzes and speaking practice. Well, we better start climbing before it gets dark.

Much more gracias for escutcheer, and I'll see you on the next episode. Until the next episode.