Coffee Country

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Despite traveling to 3 different areas, I had yet to take a long-distance busride in Colombia. Well, that all changed when Adam and I started our journey into Colombian coffee country!

Naturally, Adam and I were running late for the bus to Armenia that we had planned to take. As we jog into the terminal, we are greated by literally every single bus company shouting at us in the hopes that we would make our travels plans with their company. It was truly a crazy scene! The next 7 hours were spent going up, down, left and right through the mountains. As the crow flys, Armenia is not that far. Only problem is that the crow can fly directly over the mountain whereas our bus (unfortunately) cannot.

After another bus from Armenia, Adam and I finally arrive in Salento. We are getting situated when all of a sudden we hear a voice behind us tell say ¨You guys look lost.¨ Since of course I am never lost, I turn around to protest but instead meet a nice Israeli girl named Carmel. She shows us to our hostel, the Plantation House, and so begins our Israeli friendships for the week...

The Plantation House was quite a place! While not as new and clean as the Cranky Croc, the Plantation House easily makes up for it with the beauty of its location and the bantar of its owner, Tim. Tim is a British ex pat who met a Colombian woman over 5 years ago, moved to Colombia, and now owns a hostel and small coffee farm...not too shabby. Also, he speaks Spanish pretty much EXACTLY how you would assume a Brit spoke!

That night, Carmel, Ariel (another Israeli), Adam, and myself head out to dinner. Adam and I get the local specialty of trout. Little did we know that this trout was swimming in a sea of garlic and cream! After dinner, We went back to the hostel to hang out and learn how to play Taki (the Israel version of Uno).

The next day Adam and I wake up early once again (what´s wrong with us?) to go for a hike in the Cocoro Valley. The hike was 5 hours of such completely varied terrain that I dont think either of us knew what we were in for. We started out along the valley floor walking besides a small river. Next, we got into the mountains and the cloud forest. Deep inside the cloud forest we came upon a small orchid farmer and his family who sell Sodas to hikers and let them sit amongst their crazy varieties of hummingbirds. Those little guys were everywhere! After leaving the orchid farm, we began our ascent up the mountain through a pine forest. It wasn´t Everest but, at 2500 meters, this mountain was no small feet. Besides...Adam and I are both absurdly out of shape (or at least we were convinced of that after we had to stop every couple of minutes to catch our breath). The hike finally ended with us walking amongst Wax Palms and other people´s property. I´m not so sure that the last part was supposed to be a part of the hike...

Following a hitch back into town, Adam and I meet up with Tim, who is beginning a tour of his coffee farm. Its really amazing the bounty he has managed to produce in the year that he has owned the farm. Not only does he grow coffee, but also bananas, pineapple, peaches, avocados, a whole bunch of herbs and spices, and many more! He has also built all of the additions to the farm using bamboo from his own forest! Adam and I decided that we were offsetting our carbon footprint from the ride to Salento by supporting this man in his ventures.

Not only was the scenery in Salento breathtaking, but I finally got in my fix with some real coffee...ahhh....

The next morning we were off to Medellin with our new friend, Ariel...

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