After our visit to Bogotá, the capital of Colombia in the centre of the country, we flew west to Salento, a 'campesino' (coffee farming) town on the edge of the Valle de Cocora. Salento is known as the coffee capital of Colombia and is a vital part of Colombia's coffee triangle.
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| Marg in the pretty town of Salento (UNESCO), Colombia |
The pretty town of Salento is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its contribution to the “Coffee Cultural Landscape”. The town is very attractive with brightly painted buildings and cobblestone streets, set in the lush green plateau above Colombia’s Quindo River valley.
Our short flight from Bogotá landed at the
rather small airport at Pereira where we grabbed a taxi to the local bus
terminal. We got there just in time to catch a rather battered minivan to
Salento.
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| The bus station in a local street, Salento (UNESCO), Colombia |
Around 2.5 hours later, we arrived at a bus stop in a local Salento street to find,
uncharacteristically, that there were no taxi's lurking. But then we discovered
that our accommodation, Casa Olier Hotel, was only a hundred meters up the
road.
Casa Olier was an absolute gem. The hotel is a family home that was an original old traditional house, that has been enlarged and remodelled in keeping with its heritage.
The Olier family were the most delightful hosts. Every night before bedtime, they popped two hot water bottles in our bed to ward off the chilly nights – lovely!
The two sons spoke good English which made it easier for us, and they helped to make breakfast and the Casa's speciality jams and preserves. We purchased a jar of their coffee marmalade to take home with us.
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| Salento (UNESCO), Colombia |
The next morning, we walked the short distance into Salento. It's a gorgeous little town with a population of around 8,000. Founded in 1842, it is one of the most traditional paisa towns in the area.
A Paisa is someone from a region in the northwest of Colombia. Paisa architecture is a traditional 16th century building practice employed by the indigenous people using cane and mud. The house style contains a large entrance, rooms surrounding an interior courtyard, and baked clay tile roofs.
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| Salento (UNESCO), Colombia |
Our first day there was a Sunday and it was
very busy with visitors enjoying themselves; and we joined them! We wandered around the shops, most of them
selling local handicrafts and art, and admired the various shop colour schemes, each one different to the other.
Unsurprisingly, there was a coffee shop on almost every corner. We sampled a lot of local coffee.......and it was good!
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| Marg at the Alto de la Cruz lookout, Salento (UNESCO), Colombia |
At one end of the town, we climbed 250 coloured steps marked with the fourteen Stations of the Cross at various points, to reach the Alto de la Cruz lookout. At the top, we were rewarded with spectacular views over Salento and the surrounding valley and mountains, including the Valle de Cocora.
Back down in town later, we discovered a very cute restaurant down a little side street. We ended up eating dinner there every night we were in Salento, as the food and service were so good.
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| A Willys taxi in Salento (UNESCO), Colombia |
The American 4x4 vehicles left over from World War Two called Willys Jeep or Willys MB, found their way to Colombia where they became popular because of their ability to manage Colombia’s mountainous and rough terrain. We’ve seen them everywhere around Colombia, used for everything from people to goods to livestock.
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| Coffee plantations around Salento (UNESCO), Columbia |
So, travelling along in our Willys, we headed out of town to Finca El Ocaso, a local organic coffee farm. It
was a long, winding, bumpy and rough road to get there, and we passed lots and lots
of coffee plants growing across the hills.
We did the coffee tour at Finca El Ocaso and it was really
interesting. We found out about the whole process from
planting to harvesting to brewing a good cup.
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| Leigh up a cane ladder picking coffee beans, Salento (UNESCO), Colombia |
We got to pick some ripe coffee berries and taste
them (they are sweet and taste nothing like coffee). Leigh climbed up a traditional ladder made of one piece of cane with notches cut in it, to pick her coffee beans.
All the crops at Finca El Ocaso are harvested by hand because
of the steep terrain. El Ocaso claims their beans are better because they are
individually picked as opposed to being mass picked by machines, as in Argentina.
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| Coffee beans draying in traditional method at El Ocaso coffee farm, Salento (UNESCO) |
It is a very labour-intensive system, and the
workers didn't seem to get paid a huge amount for what looked like hard work.
Next, we learned about the processing methods to end up with premium beans ready to roast. Most of their premium beans are exported, while the lower grade beans get sold locally because they are cheaper for local people to buy.
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| Coffee tasting preparation, Salento (UNESCO), Colombia |
At the end of the tour, our guide prepared samples of their roasted coffee varieties for us to taste. While we thought them to be a little too bitter, they were all refreshing. Others on the tour loved it. Overall, we really enjoyed this tour.
While at Finca El Ocaso, we spotted some beautiful coloured birds. Colombia is the second most biodiverse country in the world after Brazil, and Salento has its fair share of that biodiversity in its lush forests. So we were not surprised to see lots of birds flitting through the coffee plantation.
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| A Red Summer Tanager at Finca El Ocaso, Salento (UNESCO) |
They were especially attracted to the red berries of the coffee plant. They were also attracted to the sweet bananas that the finca staff had left out for them.
We saw several varieties of birds, but particularly enjoyed seeing Red Summer and Blue-grey Tanagers, and Black-capped Hemispingus up close as they posed for photos for us. We also saw woodpecker and wren varieties, as well as others that we could not find a name for. They were all colourful.
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| Another crowded Willys going back into Salento (UNESCO), Colombia |
At the end of our tour, we got a Willys back into town. As with all Jeep Willys trips in Colombia, the vehicle was extremely crowded.
These vehicles are not for the faint hearted. People stand on the back, sit on the roof, and squash up inside hip to hip and knee to knee. We have seen upwards of 20 people in a Jeep Willys that has seating for 8. Fortunately for us, most of the women get to sit inside rather than hanging off the back.
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| Quindo Wax Palms in the Valle de Cocora National Park, Colombia |
The next day, we caught another Willys to visit
the Valle de Cocora National Park, to see the amazing Quindío wax palms. The Wax Palm is the tallest palm tree in the
world, growing to about 60 metres. They can live for up to 120 years, and are Colombia's national tree.
We travelled along a narrow winding road up
into the mountains, where we were able to see these amazingly tall and graceful
palms dotting the surrounding hills.
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| Passing locals on our walk into Valle de Cocora, Colombia |
There are several walks through the Valle de Cocora, so we did a walk up through the palms to get a closer look at them. Passing locals with their horse transport, other walkers, palm trees and many birds, we carried on upwards.
After an hour or so, we couldn't see where the hike would end, so we headed back to the Willys drop-off point and decided that, having seen the palms and the lush scenery, we were satisfied. So, we decided to get back to Salento.
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| Our crowded Willys back to Salento (UNESCO), Colombia |
We caught a different Willys back down the
mountain, and managed to get seats in the front near the driver. The drivers all seem to think there is one
speed - fast! We were rather relieved to get back to town in one piece and
return to relax at our hotel.
While there, our hosts gave us several lovely mementos of Salento, while we donated to a charity they have set up. Its purpose is to enable local children, who would not otherwise be able to afford it, to learn music.
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| Nightscape from our hotel, Salento (UNESCO), Colombia |
After enjoying another lovely sunset from our hotel room, we sadly said farewell to our delightful hosts, as it was time to move on.
The next morning, we walked back down to the bus stop and caught a much newer and nicer minivan than the one we arrived in. We were headed to Medellin, the second largest city in Colombia, and gateway to the lakes district.
This is part of a blog series about our travels through the north-eastern countries of South America. The first blog in this series is called “In and around Santiago”.