COLOURS OF THE COFFEE COUNTRY
After a very intense period squeezing the most possible into our last week in Peru, we were very much looking forward to getting some well-deserved rest. Based on what the fellow travellers we had met en-route said, the ideal place for this was the tranquil little village of Salento, in the middle of the Colombian coffee region. Colombia is a nice change from the previous countries in that there are plenty of low-cost airlines flying to regional airports all around the country for barely more than what the bus ticket would have cost (flights were quite a bit more expensive in Peru and mostly non-existent in Bolivia).
Salento
After a quick 35-minute flight to Pereira (this would have easily been an 8-hour bus ride otherwise), we found out that we had just missed the bus connection to Salento. Luckily our guidebook told us that we could also take one of the more frequent buses to the next big city, tell the driver to leave us on the side of the road halfway there and flag another bus heading in our direction – which worked as planned!
The first two things we noticed is how friendly people are in Colombia! Not that they were unfriendly in Peru or Bolivia, but here people you ask for directions on the street go out of their way to be helpful and volunteer additional information! The other thing though, is that the Colombian accent seems to be incredibly hard to understand, even after having spent more than a week here, I still frequently miss entire sentences where I can’t follow a word that is being said!
Within Salento we decided to stay on the edge of the village (still only 5 minutes from the main square), at a relaxing backpacker place with hammocks in the garden and a coffee plantation attached too. The village is completely geared towards backpackers, but is unique that it hasn’t lost its historical character and charm either.
We took some quiet walks in the beautiful scenery in the valleys below the village, we could see all the way to Armenia (the next city, rather than the country)!
View from the coffee plantation that belongs to our hostel, Plantation House
Spectacular birds around the village
One afternoon, we gave horseback riding a try as well – it was much more interesting that they didn’t waste too much time with instructions or with riding the horse around in circles – just get on the horse and off you go (with the guide) on the 2-hour ride to the waterfall! The guide let us try multiple horses during the trip, and as a first-time rider, I found it amazing how much difference the various types of horses make: a beginner’s horse has an incredibly soft step, while a more advanced horse is much bouncier, but better for galloping.
Trip to the Cocora Valley
We also went on a full-day hike to the Cocora valley through pristine cloud forest and crossing back-and-forth the same river multiple times, always on very unstable bridges. At the halfway-point we saw a beautiful hummingbird sanctuary – hummingbirds beat their wings hundreds of times each second (it is incredible how loud it is!) and can thereby stay suspended in mid-air, drinking nectar from the tree blossoms. Besides the hummingbirds, we also saw a raccoon-like creature that sleeps in trees.
We took a different route on the way back so we could see the rolling green hills, climbing up a rather large hill. We felt like we could have been in Switzerland with all the cows grazing among the beautifully kept grass – only the enormous palm trees were out of place! These palm trees grow to more than 60 meters and have a very small canopy compared to the lengthy trunk. It`s considered as the national plant of Colombia!
On our resting-day, we treated ourselves to a meal at the famous Brunch restaurant
(people were saying this is a can’t miss halfway across the country). They served humongous portions of really good (if not always 100% healthy) food, but they’re particularly known for their home-made peanut butter, and their delicious peanut-butter brownies are to die for! I can also strongly recommend the pancake breakfast (with maple syrup, chocolate sauce and peanut butter…) and the Holy Guacamole Burger. It’s well known that I have a soft spot for brownies, but Renata was impressed by their peanut butter too – and neither of us are particularly crazy about it normally.
Luxury in Santa Rosa Thermal Spa
After kicking back our heels for a couple days in Salento, we made a day-trip to the thermal spa near Santa Rosa. Having experienced how low the standards of hygiene can get, not to mention the dodgy Santa Rosa city centre (where the bars were full of drunk and passed-out people by 11:00am) and the very colourful chicken bus to the spa (literally with chickens, sacks of potato and fighting dogs), we had set our expectations for an authentic experience...
However, we were very pleasantly surprised. It consists of 4 nice hot-water pools, to the backdrop of an absolutely stunning 25m waterfall. The place is apparently off the usual tourist trail but is well known within the country, so we were almost the only foreigners there despite the relatively expensive (by local standards) £7 entrance fee. We even treated ourselves to a quite decent massage - never mind the fact that the masseuse managed to be 30 minutes late to a 30-minute massage!
Having experienced the tranquillity of the coffee region, we were now ready to head to the bustle (and decidedly warmer temperatures) of the Caribbean coast, starting with a short flight to Cartagena!