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Published: February 20th 2015
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The Cafetera region
The heart of the coffee country is in the foothills of the Cordillera Central. Leaving Medellín heading south we climbed steadily for about an hour, the vegetation changing constantly with altitude. It was all very tropical and lush, but there were subtle changes. The roadside fruit stands started displaying fat bunches of bright red berries called corsos, but we did not stop to try any. Maybe on the way back.
About noon, we reached the top of the Cordillera Central at a little place called La Pintada, at about 8000 feet, and we stopped for lunch. Beyond La Pintada the road followed the crest of the Cordillera for about 50 miles, with fantastically steep scenery on both sides of the road. We passed through two linear villages, where there was room beside the road for one thin line of buildings on each side- all with amazing views of a deep green valley and distant mountains from their back porches, which were held up by long columns or multistory buildings footed far below.
Finally, the road branched, one leading on and one starting down into the gorge of the Rio
Cauca. We descended for an hour before we saw the river itself, which is fast and broad and brown, getting ever bigger as it approaches its Caribbean mouth. We were heading down with us into the Zona Cafetera. Finally there were long-eared zebu cattle and Spanish moss on the trees, and neatly planted rows of coffee bushes alternating with banana farms, more and more as we drove on. A warning sign on the road said " Zorro ! ". Not what you might think- "zorro" means "fox" and they were warning about foxes crossing the road.
Traffic was heavy, as this is the main road from the Pacific port of Buenaventura to Bogota and Medellin. It was just a two-lane road cut into the side of a precipice, winding according to the mountain. Our driver Diego had an uncanny sense of when he could pass and when he could not, and we never really felt we had had a close call. But there was never ever time for a quick sneeze. Just roughly, I would say the traffic was 40% heavy trucks, 20% motorcyles, 30% cars and light trucks, and 10% horses, donkeys, bicycles, pedestrians, and stray
cattle. Photo 90 shows a huge truck with three guys clinging to the back, totally unknown to the truck driver, I'm sure. We were close behind them for a good ten minutes, until an opportunity to pass opened up. They had good footing and good handholds, but it must have been exhausting.
Once in the coffee country, there are many coffee farms that do a sideline business of guest houses in carefully landscaped and gardened surroundings, with perfect swimming pools. If you ever need to disappear, this is the place. They are well off the main road, hard to find even if you have good directions, and lavishly beautiful. And they don't ask for your passport, either. There are very many of them, but Diego took us straight to one of the best, owned by a an elegant multilingual widow, and beautifully designed by her architect son, who works in Bogota. She took us straight to the pool (photo 91), with very comfortable wicker furniture to just relax in, her own paintings on the wall, and many exotic cut flowers. She served us a welcoming cup of coffee from her farm (photo 92) , truly the best
cup I ever had: wonderfully aromatic, without a trace of acid or bitterness. It is never this good when you buy it, even at Mr. Peet's in Berkeley. You can just see the bedrooms in photo 93. We bought as much as we could carry home (photo 94). The pool just before sunset is photo 94.
There was a kitchen that made eggs in the morning and wonderful coffee drinks and sandwiches in the evening. Every night, just after sunset, there was a woodpecker concert that went on for a good half hour- we never saw the woodpeckers, but they were amazingly loud and musical in the early dark. I don't know if they were just trying to find grubs or maybe communicating among themselves- the latter, I think, because there was a lot of calling and answering using tree limbs that vibrated like xylophones.
Next day we went to to a real coffee production area and learned everything you have to do to make a cup of coffee. Next time.
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Steve Engel
non-member comment
Truly envying the excellent coffee and the lovely accommodations. Are you going uphill toward Bogota or downhill toward the Caribbean? Sandy and I enjoy this journey with you so much, Cousins--including the part where we don't get Road Wearier.