Advertisement
Published: November 15th 2022
Edit Blog Post
Colorful Butterflies of Colombia
They have more varieties of butterflies than anywhere in the world. In Search of Juan Valdez After the hustle and bustle of Bogota, it was time for something completely different…a trip to the countryside to embrace the flora, fauna and famous coffee of Columbia. This beautiful nation offers an endless supply of birds, butterflies, flowers and trees. In Colombia, you will see things you cannot see other places as this is one of the most diverse countries out there. Think we might be exaggerating just a bit…well…try these statistics on for size. For a nation about the size of Portugal, Spain and France combined, Colombia has over 1800 species of birds, 470 species of mammals, 520 species of reptiles and more than 750 species of amphibians. And to boot, 10 percent of the world’s plant species grow here as well. That….is impressive.
And then of course, there is the coffee. Colombian coffee has a reputation around the world as one of the best. The United States is a nation of coffee lovers. Growing up we saw many television commercials featuring the fictional character Juan Valdez (the actor was apparently Cuban) and his delicious coffee beans and so now we are in the heart of coffee country in search of a
coffee experience… and in search of Juan Valdez.
From Bogota we flew 40 minutes and landed in Pereira and then drove north of the airport about an hour and twenty minutes to an organic coffee plantation named Bosque del Saman. Driving in Colombia is an exercise in patience for Americans as the roads curve incessantly due to the landscape and the driving habits of the locals. The roads in this region twist around the vivid green hillsides as we passed many fields of bamboo, bananas and coffee. It is very scenic. As expected, the roads are in disrepair but didn’t cause us any issues in the when we first arrived.
Our stay at Bosque del Saman was quiet, pleasant and we enjoyed the serenity. Far from the noises of the big city, our mornings we were greeted with a rooster crowing in the distance around 330am. It didn’t disturb sleep, it was more like background noise. As 445am rolled around the light was coming through our window and by 530am we would chuckle as an anxious dairy cow began to moo for milking. Once we were up and around, the deck of our room provided a grand view
Merry Jo picking some beans
Who said it is not a competition? of the rolling hills nearby. The lovely morning sky was filled with blue sky hanging over the valley followed by a layer of white billowy clouds and another layer of blue sky…. Beautiful colors were offered in the evenings.
We had read about the coffee triangle which we believe is made up of Caldas, Risaralda and Quindio. Many working farms in this region have embraced tourism as the one we are staying on. Our experience on the plantation was quite nice. As we prepared for our day on the coffee plantation, we donned our colorful aprons, wore brilliantly orange-colored scarves around our necks, adorned wide brimmed hats, belted on our woven picking baskets, and we were ready to learn the coffee making process. They began by demonstrating how to plant the beans while providing information on the types of beans, the size of their plantation, the process for replanting and described what we would see in the fields. As we moved onto the grounds of the plantation we learned more about the age, growth cycle of these plants and which beans were ripe enough to pick. (Leave the green ones and pick red, orange and yellow).
This being
Possibly a Goldfinch
We are not birders…. Yet. an organic farm we learned they use water and hot sauce to keep the plants bug free. From there we moved to the antique separating machine. We poured our beans into the community basket when MJ was complimented on the number of beans, she collected… even though Dave says it’s not a competition! The machine separates’ the bean from the shell, then another layer or skin is separated from the bean and finally a small membrane. After this multi-layered process it is time to roast the beans, but you must make sure the membranes are not in the pan as they could catch fire and ruin the beans. The process is labor intensive. They don’t have much left of a kilo of fresh beans once they move through this process. Yes, finally it was time to grind the beans and go back to the kitchen to make coffee and enjoy the spoils of our labor. Colombia is ranked third in the world in coffee production behind Brazil and Vietnam.
It is recommended to visit during harvest time of April & May or October to December when the farms are a hive of activity. The tropical conditions lend themselves to
twice a year harvest of the famed beans.
Filandia, Solento and the Cocora Valley We are told that the rainy season usually ends toward the end of October. This year the rain continues into November and the countryside is verdant green. We had booked an all-day tour into the UNESCO area of Cocora Valley. When we arrived at our meeting place, we learned our driver would be about an hour late due to a rainy night causing a landslide. It would be necessary for him to back track and take different roads to pick us up.
Once we were on our way, we discovered we needed to take the “fire roads” for the first part of the trip. The bad news is the fire roads are glorified tracks weaving into the fields and they are two-way paths which gave us a chuckle. We had an excellent driver and didn’t get stuck or get a flat tire for which we were grateful. The adventure continues! ….. this always adds to the travel stories. The good news was we would get to explore the village of Filandia which turned out to be one of our favorites. If you get
to this section of the country attempt to visit this colorful town on the weekend as all the vendors, come out with their wares and the town has a festive feel about it. These small towns are obsessed with old Willy’s jeeps. They provide cheap transportation for the town folk and are often crammed with riders, who pay little for the service. This has particular interest to Dave as the jeeps were originally made in his hometown of Toledo. His grandfather worked there back in the day.
As we continued on to the main event for the day, we became excited as the topography began to change a bit and the wax palms began to show themselves. The wax palm is a national treasure, lives sixty years and grows 200 feet tall. It is amazing to see them covering a rolling hillside. UNESCO has protected this area and so we were surprised when we arrived in the valley and found a “Gatlinburg” like atmosphere. For those of you who are not from the U.S. Gatlinburg is a town in the Smokey Mountains flooded with tourists, outlets, and trinket shops. The village surrounding this amazing valley has a circus atmosphere.
Jeeps filled with passengers are driving up and down the road. Horses are available to rent if you don’t want to hike. Shops and carts selling t-shirts, hats, general souvenirs, and food are available. The traffic was at a standstill, so we got out and walked to the park area. Once we were in the park things became far more civilized. It is lovely. There are four or five different directions you can head to hike. The horses take one route, and the people take the others. It was quiet and serene. The Cocora Valley is in a cloud forest, so it was no surprise when it began to rain. Fortunately, we were well equipped. The rain was not heavy and didn’t last too long so it didn’t interfere with our happiness. It experienced and embraced the cloud forest.
Our final stop was in the UNESCO village of Solento. Once again, the architecture is lovely and the vibrant colors provide a sense of pride to the town. UNESCO is applauded for the support and care they provide to continue to protect the beauty and heritage of these towns. Solento is larger than Filandia and had many more tourists. The
shops offer similar items. We had lunch at La Fonda De Los Arriros Restaurant and had the traditional Bandeja Paisa. This meal is a generous portion of red beans cooked with pork, white rice, ground meat, a fried egg, plantains, chorizo and black sausage, avocado and lemon. After a long, long day in the fields this meal was to replenish the hungry farmers and laborers.
We are early in our trip so a full assessment of the foods will come later. Th Columbians are good at making soups and grilling meats. The Bandeja Paisa was very good and in our opinions the Colombians cook beans well. We’ve been surprised the Colombians don’t use more spice, many of the foods we have tried have been bland. We expected the flavors to be a bit more like Mexico or Peru. At each meal they serve a tortilla and or a plantain patty that have very little flavor. Colombia is rich in the variety of fruits and each morning we are met with lovely fruit bowls and fresh juices. They have amazing pineapple, guava, papaya and more. We will continue to sample a variety of foods and report back.
Although our
Grilled Chicken and potatoes
They grill meats well and serve potatoes frequently. stay was short, this region of Colombia provided us with a wonderful opportunity to learn about life in the more rural section of the country and enjoy its gifts. We would recommend that anyone visiting Colombia try to take a day or two to enjoy what we did.
Where we stayed: Bosque del Samen Coffee Plantation
Our private trip was organized by
Millie Davies at Journey Latin America. She did an excellent job, and we recommend her.
Millie.Davies@journeylatinamerica.co.uk 0208. 600 1899
If you call Millie please let her know we sent you! She is great to work with.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.644s; Tpl: 0.024s; cc: 57; qc: 181; dbt: 0.3278s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.8mb
Frankardenas
non-member comment
Glad you visited my country
Thank you for sharing a bit of my country. Your pictures are lovely and it seems you enjoyed the visit a great deal. I love Salento, it is such a picturesque village. Yes, we had such diversity of natural treasures, I hope you continue your trip and can see other lovely places, Enjoy