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Published: December 10th 2010
We were both really excited about Salento. It is often raved about for its beauty and all of the things you can do here. However, our enthusiasm was somewhat dampened in transit by the unseasonal rain and the fact that Steve fell spectacularly ill on the bus journey. He is fine now but let´s just say that Ellie was pleased that she didn´t need to hold his hair back! Despite this ropey start, it turned out to be a great stop. The weather cleared up for our last two days here, which we felt smug about as the heavens opened while we waited at the bus stop to leave!
While we were here we visted a local coffee farm, where we were educated in all things coffee. We saw it being grown and dried. We also tried many varieties... See it isn´t only alcoholic drinks that enthuse us!
On our last day in Salento we did the Valle de Cocora hike. We met the jeep in the main square at 7:30am to travel the 30 mins to the start of the trail. We were a little bemused to find that our ´seats´ turned out to be a standing platform
on the back (cue bartering as Ellie tried to negotiate a discount and failed). The journey was fine and we were soon joined on the back by a man of about 70 years old. Clearly this was just the norm.
We really enjoyed the hike, the views are breathtaking, especially seeing the incredibly tall wax palms that adorn the back of the 50.000,00 peso note, towering over the valley floor (not to mention all the other foliage). Another highlight was the hummingbird reserve we passed through. We counted 5 different species, at times they were buzzing around our heads. It´s an amazing sight but sadly a hard one to photograph!
After our day´s hiking we returned to Salento to enjoy (excellent) coffee and cake... Well, it the heart of La Zona Cafetera it would be rude not to!
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The baron
Pablo says he's happy you're enjoying his home land and will make sure no harm comes to you.