Colombia’s Coffee Triangle

Day 83 (September 19, 2018) – Salento, Colombia

We left Salento too early. Like most places in Colombia, whatever time we set aside to be somewhere, it never seems to be enough. We always want more.

The colorful streets of Salento.

Our travel to Salento started like most, with a long bus ride. The 7-hour bus ride from Medellín to Salento turned into 9 hours due to ongoing construction along the main highway. But the trip was worth it. Salento is a beautiful town sitting on the rolling hills in the middle of Colombia’s coffee triangle, a relatively small area of Colombia where most of the country’s high-quality coffee is grown. Salento is touristic, but for good reason. The town is quaint, with streets of brightly painted buildings, a town square filled with people every night, a constant climate of mid-70s and sun, and the always visible surrounding hillsides. Lying in bed at night in our hotel (for a very affordable $24 per night), we more often heard the click-clacking sound of horses being led down the street than car engines.

I don't know who comes up with these color schemes, but they're certainly bright and cheery.

The hills surrounding Salento, where world-class coffee is grown.

We had three nights in Salento, giving us two full days to explore the town and nearby attractions. Our first destination was a visit to the surrounding coffee farms, where it is claimed the best coffee in the world is gown. Most people catch a short ride in a jeep to get to them, but we elected to walk. Although we got a little wet from the rain, the walk was enjoyable and quite picturesque. We had a lot of opportunities to pause, enjoy the scenery, and take some pictures.

Walking to the coffee farms. We got a little wet, but it wasn't so bad, and eventually let up.

Overlooking the hills of coffee farms.

Our first stop was Finca El Ocaso. We headed to their coffee shop, on a balcony overlooking the valley, to have a couple macchiatos while we waited for our tour to begin. Although we had taken a coffee tour in Guatemala, we still learned new things on this tour. It was really well run, and Travis was excited that we got to wade through the coffee plants and pick our own fruits. Naturally, the tour ended with a coffee tasting. I was volunteered to help prepare the coffee.

Finca El Ocaso.

Travis' bounty of coffee fruits. He's going to need quite a few more before he can make a decent cup of coffee.

Preparing a pot of coffee, the Colombian way.

We eventually continued onward from Finca El Ocaso and started walking back towards town, but not without first stopping at Finca Las Acacias to try out their coffee. While smaller than the first farm, the views were just as wonderful, and the coffee just as delicious.

More views of the surrounding hills on our way back to town after the rain let up.

Yet another cup of coffee at Finca Las Acacias. We had to try them all!

On our second day in Salento, we got up early to hop in a jeep that took us to the Cocora Valley. Our goal was to complete a 5-6 hour hike up mountains and through a valley where Colombia’s national tree, the wax palm, grows in great number. The wax palm is famous for being the highest growing palm tree in the world, with many being as high as a 15-story building. The rain from the previous day was no where to be seen and the weather during the hike was as close to perfect as you could ask for.

The jeep to and back from the Cocora Valley.

Our first views of the Cocora Valley and the enormous wax palms.

It's hard to capture just how tall they really are.

We hiked through the valley, past hundreds of wax palms, and continued on up, higher and higher. We eventually reached the peak of the hike at Finca la Montaña. Although the guide book told us that we should be able to purchase a hot drink and snack from the farm, like most places in Colombia, they decided that they weren’t in the mood to be open that day, so we moved on after taking a short rest and a few pictures.

The view back down the Cocora Valley.

Finca la Montaña, where we took a short break, but were unable to get a cup of coffee.

The wax palms were far away from us at this point as we hiked through a cloud forest that looked very much like a tropical forest that Indiana Jones might have been running through. We walked across six or seven rickety suspension bridges, crisscrossing a mountain river, on our way back down to the valley floor. 

Hiking through the forest.

One of the many suspension bridges. Not the most sturdy ever built...

Hummingbirds at the Acaime Hummingbird Sanctuary. We were also finally able to get some hot beverages.

On the way down, we made a stop at a the Acaime Hummingbird Sanctuary, where in addition to seeing dozens of hummingbirds, we were also able to finally get the drinks that we had been wanting so much. Travis had a coffee and I had an agua panela, the same hot sugary drink that helped us recover from our more intense hikes back in El Cocuy. We eventually made it out of the forest and back into pastures filled with cows, horses, and more of the towering wax palms.  

Pastures and wax palms on our way out of the valley.

Back in Salento, the locals were gearing up for a big celebration that weekend. We still don’t know what it was for, but every day that we were there the town square was being set up with new tents and stages. They were playing music and giving kids dancing lessons on the first night, and on our last day there was a band on stage and a show with a man and his trained horse. It was clear that they were ramping things up for the weekend and I wish we could have stayed longer to experience it, but we had to move onto our next destination. Our time in Colombia is running short, but Salento is one of the many places that will stand out in my mind long after we leave.

Enjoying a traditional meal of Bandeja Paisa, a plate of beans, rice, egg, avocado, plantain, chorizo, chicharrón, and other things.

The last show of the festival that we saw before having to leave for our next destination. I would have loved to stay the weekend, but it wasn't worth cancelling our plans.