Colombia – Salento

Salento is a very small, sweet town in the hills and has become a tourist destination for both Colombians and the rest of the world.

I headed to Armenia from Bogota at 8.30 a.m. in the morning from the terminal bus station. I traveled with Bolivariano for 46,000 and arrived in Armenia at about 16.30. The journey was wonderful with beautiful views as we went through the valley. There was even wi-fi on the bus. I then got the local bus to Salento which cost 4,500 and took about 45 mins. My hotel, Cattleya Trianae (www.hostalcattleya.com), was really nice and very accommodating, but unfortunately non of the staff know any English. The dorms have 4 single beds and a new en-suite bathroom. They offer good breakfast and Mona will do anything to make sure you enjoy your stay there. They have two dogs on the grounds as well which are so cute.

That night, after talking to some guys from the hostel, we headed out to a local bar where they played Tejo (Turmeque). This is a very old Colombian game. In this game there is a metal disk in a clay bed with explosive ceramic triangles which were placed on the metal. From a distance you throw metal disks trying to hit the ceramic triangles. If they explode, you get points. You get 9 points if you explode the ceramic triangles and the metal disk stays in the circle. 3 points for an explosion and 1 point for the closest metal disk.

 

 

I met some really cool people at the game: Adrian from Switzerland, Esther from Desborough (3 miles from my home town) and Pete, her husband from Grimsby.

Valle Del Cocora

The next day we all met at the square, as well as Vanessa from my dorm, to head to Valle Del Cocora for a hike. We grabbed some lovely big sandwiches from just off the corner of the square, for 5,000, to have for lunch. We headed off in jeeps to the Valley for 3,600 each (Don’t pay any more. That is the set price.) The journey takes about 20 mins. The hike in the valley is about a 5 hour round trip along beautiful country tracks and through forests with many rope bridges along the route. The journey was not very difficult. It was quite fun, but also very muddy. Some hostels will rent Wellington boots to you, but we preferred our normal hiking boots. There is a Hummingbird sanctuary that you can go into for 5,000 or you can just continue on the trek to the top. When you see the sign saying go right to the Hummingbird sanctuary, you need to go left if you just plan to continue on the normal trek; a lot of us had to turn back. At the top there is a cottage but no food or drinks so take plenty for the hike. As you continue along the road, you head down into the palm tree valley. We were informed that these Palm trees are not sustainable as they graze cows underneath which are eating all the new growths so eventually these palm trees will disappear.

The Plantation House

The next morning we went to the Plantation House to do a coffee tour (www.theplantationhousesalento.com. The guy’s name is Tim and he is Aussie/ English. He bought the plantation and has been doing it up to start specialised coffee. He took us to his farm down the road with his two dogs, Ipod and Bonny,

 

and explained a lot about growing coffee as we went. At his plantation, he went through a very detailed process of how to make coffee and the different variations of coffee etc. After he had covered the process, his colleague showed the roasting process. We tried two different types of coffee, one being the one that had just been freshly roasted, and we also got a chance to try coffee wine, which was so good I had to buy some.

After the main tour, we took a look around the grounds to see all the other fruit growing there.

Food in Salento

A lot of restaurants serve a large variety of trout, which seems to be a local dish. One restaurant on the square had 10 different types of trout. I ordered trout with shrimp. The dish was really good with a creamy sauce.

Another restaurant we went to was La Eliana  which had great curry. They have a few set curry options and then a curry of the week. Luckily my favourite, Chicken Tikka Masala, is one of the permanent choices. The whole night was very enjoyable for all of us.

Shopping in Salento

There is a main shopping street just off the square that has a long line of souvenir shops. They are not the cheapest in Colombia but there is a good selection of things to buy.