Blogs from Quindío, Colombia, South America - page 12

After a bus journey that was 5 hours more than scheduled we make it to the coffee zone of Colombia. The town is typically small, with a nice square (Colonial of course), a few police men lazily leaning on their m16s and at least 10 restaurants advertising trout as their dish of the day. Feeling peckish, I have trout, and head back to the only hostel in town, the plantation house. This is owned by a friendly but eccentric english guy, who as the uncanny ability to be able to say the same tourist speel to every new comer to the hostel, i stayed 3 days and its true. The town is situated in the midst of terraced coffee plantations and is argueably one of the most beautiful spots in Colombia. If hikes, horse riding, coffee ... read more

Ran out of writing steam so photos tell the story.... 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