Blogs from Quindío, Colombia, South America - page 8

Hi, It is Omer. I want to tell you about a town called Salento in the region “Zona Cafetera” or in English the coffee zone. In Salento there are farms of coffee and they also do tours in the farms. Off course they also sell coffee in Salento. When we got to Salento, we looked for a hostel, when we found one (Las Palmas), we accommodated ourselves. Then we asked the owner of the hostel where is the best cheapest local restaurant and he told us there is a very good one called Somy in the main plaza. Don't ask me why, but he came with us all the way to there and also stayed with us when we were eating. Later we discovered it was because his sister owns the place - that's why he ... read more

Early on Saturday 3rd April, I took a bus with Chris, a guy I had met in my dorm the previous night, bound for Salento in the heart of the ‘Zona Cafeteria’, or the Coffee Region to you and I. Not originally part of my itinerary, I included this place because of the positive comments I had heard from other travellers. It was supposed to be beautiful, peaceful and a vast difference from anything else Colombia has to offer. How right they were! On arrival, the first thing I noticed was how peaceful everything was, with people going about there business in a very tranquil manner. We were recommended the Plantation House hostel which a century ago used to be a working coffee plantation but has recently been turned into a hostel by an eccentric Englishman, ... read more

Of all the things in Salento I have experienced thus far... a 3 hour hike to a hummingbird reserve, horseback riding through unrealized railroad passages, dancing cumbia in the streets of la plaza mayor, cooking some very tasty French cuisine with my gracious hostess Liliana, what I will take from this town is Tejo. Tejo is a game alikened to our great American drinking passtimes - botchi ball, horseshoes, beanbag toss, etc. - in that you can hold a beer in one hand and lob a random blunt object at another random blunt object with the other. Throughout the course of humanity, man has searched for somet to do with the non-drinking hand. I think Tejo could be one of the best answers to this profoundly Delphic question. Tejo: Each player gets one metal disc, each ... read more

Blog to appear at a later date.... read more

I was dead tired from lack of sleep on the bus ride into the eje cafetero (towards Armenia). When I woke to see a mirador near the entrance of the city I was speechless and breathless at the same time. I could not believe the beauty before my eyes, and it was just a tiny peak through the sun-filled windows. I could see high, jagged rolling clustered of lush, green, mountain, hailing before the bright blue sky, covered with... well green, exuberant shades of life. SR. Alvaro (a friend of a friend sent to take care of me) picked me from the bus terminal and dropped me at the ever so cordial and accommodating SRA Martha’s hotel. It was beautiful, clean, and had HOT water! -but situated in the rather ugly town of Montefeo, I mean ... read more