Blogs from Salento, Quindío, Colombia, South America - page 9

Its very hot here in Columbia and Very beautiful, palm trees and coffee plantations...sigh.....text to follow, i promise! love to you all Kate and Gav xxx... read more

After taking off from the Leticia airport we were bound for Bogota, the capital of Colombia. Sharyn and I had both wanted window seats that would allow us some good views from the air over the jungle region but as we took off the area was covered in cloud and our view lasted for all of 4 seconds. As we got further from Leticia the sky began to clear and we did get some awesome views of the jungle mountains and the rivers twisting through them. Not long after taking off we started our descent into Bogota. I had mixed feelings about going to Bogota after being in remote areas for a while I was not sure if I was ready to be thrust into the middle of another large Sth American city where you have ... read more

Salento is a quaint little town with a central plaza and really nicly done up roads. All the buildings are kept in the old style and we stayed at a hostel that Patty had stayed at 2 years previously. There we met up with Daryl who we had met in San Agustin and Patty bargained for us all to have a room together at a much cheaper rate than they wanted. Salento has a lookout with lots of stairs to climb. The others had a climb up their that afternoon, but I was looking at the shops and resting. We caught a jeep to the walk, Salento has amongst the hills, it takes you passed wax palms. Hundreds of very tall thin wax palms, best example in South America. The track follows a bridal path passed ... read more

22nd september- 24th september Driving into Salento on that very early morning bus (am really getting used to sleeping on those overnight buses!), was definitely an eye opening bus ride- couldn´t help but keep my eyes opened and glued to the amazing scenery along the way- lush green majestic mountains with the sun rising ever so slowly to reveal the full splendour of the land. I stayed in a hostel called ¨The Plantation Hostel¨, crashed immediately, and woke to explore the town. Its a small town, centered around The main plaza. People greet you kindly and are polite in a way that you would rarely experience in large towns. Hiking up the viewpoint, you can appreciate the small size of the town that, which despite its beauty, has not expanded into a city like these places ... read more

Salento lies within the Coffee region of Colombia which as the name suggests is the main area for growing the famous Colombian coffee. Despite the fact that Colombia produces some of the finest Coffees in the world the coffee here is not that great as the really good stuff is exported and too expensive for the locals. Salento is another very tranquil place to hang out without too many major attractions. The town itself lies in an altitude of 2200m which means that even if the days are nice and warm (it is also very close to the equator) the nights are cold. I stayed in another backpacker hostel which is run by an English Expat. Most of the backpackers here are actually run by some European, Australian or New Zealander and are mostly really good. ... read more