Salento, Colombia

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Quito to Salento was a long journey that involved an overnight stay in Cali. I had to change flights in Bogota and the connection was delayed. On arrival at my hostel in Cali I found out that it was somebody's house and that the owner was decorating so I couldn't stay there. Instead, the owner called a friend of and I stayed at her house. The next day I got a bus to Armenia, which was also delayed, and from there I caught another bus to Salento.

Salento sits at an altitude of around 2800 metres in the Zona Cafetera (Coffee Region). Cali is at a much lower altitude and appears quite like the Carribean. The temperature cooled as we drove up to Salento and the palm trees and sugar cane gave way to grassy hills and woods. The road in from Armenia is winding but the scenery is beautiful, which makes for a pleasant journey.

The week running up to Easter is a holy week and therefore the majority of Colombians were on holiday, which meant that the roads were busy and that Salento had a population far higher than normal. There was a party going on all week with food stalls in the main square and almost daily processions. Salento can't have a normal population of more than a few thousand residents and this gives it a real smal town feel. This, added to the natural friendliness of Colombians, meant that everybody in the town wanted to talk to me, and all the other backpackers.

There are few travellers in Salento and therefore it felt like the few of us that were there were part of the commuinity. We even went out with some of the locals to drink and play biliards - a popular pass-time in the town. There was also a community feel in our hostel - the Plantation House - as the dormitory part is a small outhouse and we spent a few evenings together as a group. It helped that there was only a dozen people there as it meant the group didn't break into factions. One night we even baked a cake, which was more fun than I had expected!

The area around Salento is stunning and there are great views both from the town and on the trails outside it. There is a set of stairs at one end of the main street and this takes you up to a viewpoint from where you can get a great view of Salento and its surroundings. There are trails leading out of the town that take you through the countryside, or the other option is to take a jeep to Valle de Cocora. Valle de Cocora is, surprisingly, a valley, which is about half an hour from Salento along a bumpy, winding road. There are paths to walk and hills to climb there, which allow you to enjoy more of Colombia's beautiful landscape.

Being in the Zona Cafetera, coffee was always going to feature in this blog. The hostel gives away free coffee, but more interesting are the two "fincas", or coffee farms, that you can visit. The visits are arranged by Tim, who owns the Plantation House. One farm, run by don Raul, is about 20 hectares in size and quite commercially run. The other, run by Don Elias, is much smaller and more specialised. Don Raul and Don Elias gave us (an English girl called Lizzie and I) a tour of their respective fincas and a demonstration of the process for producing ground coffee. Of course, each tour was rounded off with a free sample. This was an interesting trip and a pilgrimage to one of the world's premier coffee regions.

I have now left Salento behind and headed to Bogota. Photos of Salento can be found at...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30956&l=be736&id=603086503

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