salento and hacienda valencia

we spent a week in the region of colombia called the zona cafetera (coffee zone)....sometimes also called the eje cafetero (coffee axis). this is the heart of colombia's coffee.  the towns in this region are full of poncho-wearing men driving jeeps and sipping cups of coffee.  the landscape is beautiful hills of lush tropical vegetation in many shades of green, dotted with coffee farms.  although coffee was grown in ecuador as well, most people in ecuador seemed to drink the nescafe version...bleh!  the colombians are serious about their coffee and they drink it all day long.  these are my kinda coffee people and i am already back up to my multiple cup a day habit!

our first stop was the little town of salento.  this town couldn't be more quaint and charming.  we all fell in love with salento and the kids both say they are coming back to live here one day.   it is a tourist town with the main street adorned with colorful balconies and local craft stalls. i spent several happy hours wandering around looking at the local art.

todd spent several happy hours taking photos of the colorful doors....here is a small sampling.

lining the main square are the classic WWII jeep willys.  these jeeps are so cool and are such an integral part of life here. they transport everything from passengers to animals to cargo to coffee.  my guide book tells me that these jeeps first arrived as army surplus models sent from the US in the 50's.

we stayed at this sweet hostel called hostel tralala.

generally salento was a sleepy little town but still we found some fun activities....
one afternoon todd was able to rent a bike and had a great ride.

we also found a restaurant/bar that had this great soccer field.  riley was in love.  we played a little family soccer game....the parents (for the first time on the trip) pulled out a win!

this same place also had the game of tejo.  this is actually colombia's national sport, and second only to futbol in popularity.  you throw this metal disc into a ring lined with gunpowder.....think horseshoes with explosions!! its roots go back some 500 years, originally using a gold disc.  it was the conquistadors who added the gunpowder.   super fun and nothing that would ever fly in the states!!!

one of the main attractions for visitors to salento is the nearby valle de cocora where one can see the palmas de cera (wax palms). they are amazingly tall, reaching 50-60ft high.  they are also the national tree of colombia and can be found pictured on the 50 mil note (that's right, we often carry several fifty thousand notes in our pockets!).

we took a willy out to the valley and went on a 5 hr hike which wandered up through cloud forest.

part way through there was a 1/2 mi detour up to the reserva acaime where you can sip hot chocolate while watching hummingbirds at feeders.

the hike finally loops down and ends in the valley of the palms. it was like nothing we'd seen.

we ate at this diner called brunch owned by a man from oregon that served american style breakfasts. so so good. we ate there everyday.  the restaurant hides a little toy on the hike and if you find it you get a free peanut butter brownie topped with ice cream!!   we found it!

bonus picture....todd, who spent a few years running gorge grown's mobile market, got a chuckle out of salento's version of the mobile market.

we loved salento and all of us dream of coming back to visit, but i was pretty excited about our next stop as we booked ourselves a couple nights at a coffee farm!   from salento we traveled to hacienda valencia.  this is a large working farm that has been in the same family for four generations. we went on a coffee tour and learned so much about coffee production and processing.  these people know coffee.

we started with a history lesson on coffee....while sipping yummy coffee

then we moved out to the fields to learn about the growing of coffee plants.  these grown on these crazy steep hillsides and can grow quite tall....enough to disappear people walking on the trail!

hill farming....those are all coffee plants!

nursery of little coffee plants

the farm is currently in harvest (which lasts a couple months) so there were lots of bright red fruit on the branches.

we then toured the production facilities and learned all about how the beans are processed.

coffee beans before roasting

lastly we learned about the roasting and were able to appreciate the different characteristics that different roasts can bring to the same beans.

at the end of the tour we walked around the grounds of the main house on the hacienda. a beautiful place evident of a very different life.

we were staying down at the hostel on the property which had its own charm.

a large group of people touring with an organization called 'dragoman' arrived on our last evening and scheduled a band to play at the hostel, so as a bonus we got a little music and dancing.

what an enjoyable stay at hacienda venecia.....a cup of coffee will never be the same!!

we arrived in bogota yesterday and will hang here for a couple days.  from country to big city!!
hasta luego!