Salento

Day 1: Coffee Tour 

Swapping the city for the countryside, I arrive in Salento. It’s overcast and humid as hell. My hotel overlooks the valleys below and the views are pretty spectacular! Rain, hills, cows, I needn’t have left Scotland! 

I haven’t eaten yet so first stop is lunch at a place called Brunch where I eat a burrito the size of my head. I spend the next couple of hours wandering around the town and instantly fall in love with the place with its rows of colour houses, shops and restaurants. Salento is known for its coffee farms so it’s not surprising that the coffee here is gooood. 

After enjoying a deliciously strong coconut mojito at La Fonda de los Arrieros, I set off on a 5km walk to Osaco Coffee Farm for a coffee tour. The guide has us all in the bushes picking coffee beans. Workers earn less than 10 cents for every kilo picked. I think I’ll stick to banking! 

To get back to town I decide to ride a Willy. I’m saying nothing, my parents are reading this! Willies are jeeps that transport people around the town. They pack as many as physically possible into them, and that includes those hanging off the back. Health and safety is not really a concern in this country. 

 

For dinner I head to Rincón de Lucy. They offer a set menu with a choice of trout, pork or chicken which is served with soup, rice, lentils, beans, fried plantain and a jug of lemonade. It’s fairly bland but the whole thing costs 13,000 COP, which is about £2.50, so you can’t really complain. 

After dinner my plan is to have a drink or two then have an early night as I’ll be up early for my hike. I’m drawn to a mojito bar playing salsa music and as I walk past I hear screams and shouts of “come in”. So I do. As soon as I enter they ask where I’m from and I join the merry gang. This game continues throughout the evening until we’ve filled every table in the bar with Italians, Americans, Dutch, Germans, Polaks, Colombians. I spent most of the evening talking to a lovely Polish couple. We say “uno más” at least 5 times before calling it a night and agreeing to meet again the following night. 

Day 2: Valle del Cocora

I’m last to board the Willy in the morning which means I spend 25 minutes clinging onto the back for dear life and praying I don’t fall off at every turn. Part of the experience though I guess! 

The hike is a 6.4 mile loop of the valley. Rubber boots are essential due to the terrain. I figured that out the hard way when I lost a trainer to a giant pool of ankle deep mud. My foot slipped right out of the shoe, which was well and truly stuck. I finally managed to yank it out but fell backwards in the process ass first into the mud pit. And this barely 10 minutes into the hike. Fall number 1 of many that day! 

Not to worry though as those helpful Colombians have erected barbed wire banisters to give you something to cling onto. You effectively have two choices - you accept the fact that you’re going to fall face first into the mud or you grab onto the barbed wire to save yourself and slice your hands open. I did a bit of both throughout the day. 

The walk takes longer than expected due to the conditions, but the surroundings were beautiful. Much of the hike is in the jungle where you have to cross a series of wooden suspension bridges, each one more unstable than the last.  The final leg of the walk is where you find the Quindio wax palms which stretch up to 60 metres high. Disappointingly, visibility isn’t great when I arrive, but the cloud parts just enough for me to take some nice photos, not that they do the place any justice!

In the Willy back to town I get chatting to a  group of fellow travellers and we have lunch together at Donde Laurita. We order the bandeja paisa, a traditional Colombian dish of rice, beans, avocado, fried plantain, sausage, pork crackling and a fried egg. Suitably stuffed and knackered, I head back to my hotel and spend a good hour in the jacuzzi (after spending a good hour filling the damn thing). 

Day 3: Santa Rita Waterfall

I wake up to sunshine. Slightly annoying as it would have been a much better day for the hike and the views. But the weather here is so unpredictable it’s impossible to plan. 

As I hadn’t eaten dinner the night before, I start the day at Brunch with the biggest banana pancake I’ve ever seen in my life, which they’ve shaped into bear. It’s one of the most popular places in town and they’re famous for their massive portions. A good option for when you’re sick of rice, beans and plantain (which I am).

I set off on a hike to Cascada Santa Rita, a waterfall close to town. I chose to do the difficult route, a decision I’d live to regret later! It was a tough climb, and my legs were still sore from the walk yesterday. The ascent is never ending, and I don’t pass a single soul the whole way. Eventually, to my delight, the path starts to descend which is exactly when the thunderstorm starts. It’s torrential from this point onwards until I get back to my hotel…which is 4.5 miles away…

I have two choices to get back to town. I return via the same path I took this morning (which at this point is a river, not a path) or I stick to the road (with no pavements and crazy Colombian drivers). A toss up between certain death and a broken limb. I choose the later. The only thing getting me through at this point is the prospect of a beer in the hot tub!

I haven’t eaten lunch today so I’m starving! Dinner is at Cumana Bistro, a Venezuelan restaurant, where I order a chicken and avocado arepa and a salad before heading home for an early night. 

I’m sad to leave Salento and I could easily have spent longer here. It’s also been one of the easiest place to meet people, which has made for a really fun few days! Next stop, Medellin!