Salento is a small village nestled in the highlands of Colombia's coffee region. Our trip there was entertaining to say the least. A 320km bus trip that took us through a winding seemingly endless valley - real Lord of the Rings type country. The steep snaking road, littered with dogs, horses and crazy Colombian drivers meant the trip stretched into an 8 hour marathon!
The views however, were stunning and worth the crazy driving - we are however very happy to be flying to Cartegena!
Our accommodation in Salento was a noisy, yet fun, little family run backpackers. We were well looked after and have been impressed with the general friendliness of the Colombian people. We were adopted by Alvaro Fernando Caravajah Fox de Cardora (aka Nandos) and taken on a ''local" coffee hop - far too much coffee was drunk and we were entertained by Nando's stories in broken English about the old days of Salento.
The Spanish Colonial village is famous for its coffee, wax palms and hummingbirds. Fred also enjoyed the fact that there are trout in the streams of the valleys! We explored the Vallei de Cocora and were absolutely fascinated by the sheer height of the wax palms - most certainly the tallest palms we have ever seen!
We have relaxed, hiked, drank coffee and absorded the Colombian culture.
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| Bon and Nando |
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| Jugo served with every meal |
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| Typical Columbian Soup |
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| Coffee beans ripe for the picking. |
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| Bon in the coffee plantation. |
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| Harvested coffee beans, ready to be husked. |
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| Husked coffee beans. |
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| Cafe de Ocaso |
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| Hummingbirds at Acieme - a camp in the Los Nevados Nacionale Park. |
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| A rather tall wax palm - thats Fred waaaay at the bottom of the trunk! |
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| Vallei de Cocora |
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| Transport to and from Cocora, nuch to Fred's delight, was in old Willy's jeeps. |
Awesome guys! Is that a little fly rod I see in the 2nd to last photo? Keep the posts coming!
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