SALENTO AND OUR ENCOUNTER WITH EL PUEBLO DE CALLES CORTAS Y RECUERDOS LARGOS (THE VILLAGE OF SHORT STREETS AND LONG MEMORIES)
We arrived in Salento, a lovely little town in the heart of the Coffee region of Colombia. Agreeable weather, friendly people, a speciality of fresh trout and endless amounts of fresas con crema (strawberries and cream)...we were already having an incredible time! The fresas con crema obsession began fairly quickly....we managed to convince ourselves (didnt take long) that it was the best lunch option, the best dinner option, made a great snack and a delightful dessert!! Took me right back to the English summer and I was happy to embrace that feeling.
We spent the first day lazing about, always a standard after any bus journey no matter how long or short. The next day we head of to the Valle de Cocora, where the Wax Palm Trees are. These palms are incredible....they grow up to 60m in height, survive in altitude as high as 2500m and can be as old as 200yrs!!
It is a great valley for hiking, so away we went.....we soon stopped (by soon I mean after about 30 mins) to take some photos and admire the view. Within 5 mins we were seated, 10 mins we were lying and 4 hours later we were still there! Decided that hiking was overrated and chilling on the grass in the sun was the more sensible option!! Didnt wanna exhaust ourselves or break our new trend or ultimate laziness! (im in training for London 2012!)
After some reading, journal writing, snoozing and chit chat. Beks and I decided to stop being ridiculous and get going...we did...back the way we came....we had seen fresas con crema down were we had started the "hike." That accomplished, we head back to Salento and regaled the wonders of hiking!! I love this life!
The next day, was umm....a lazy one! We got up, had brekkie in the sunshine, watched the England vs Ecuador match with all the Colombians (who were obviously supporting Ecuador...and Rebekah, as she was proudly wearing an Ecuador Tshirt...traitor!!) Had time for some further lazing about, journal writing (how am I STILL behind!), book reading and of course fresas con crema (had you guys worried for a minute!)
Monday morning, we got up, sorted and head out for a day at Don Gustavo´s coffee plantation. It was a beautiful walk down, despite the blistering heat. We got showed around by Don Gustavo himself, had a look at the process of growing coffee and processing it from start to finish, had a wonderful cup of the good stuff, had our photo taken for his new brochure (?!) and wandered off through the valley back in search of Salento. Got to Boquia, (a town where we needed to flag down a bus to Salento) watched the bus we needed to flag down drive past, had the guy giggle at us, and managed to flag down the next!
Fabulous!
Vij, Ive got ya some coffee....wanna send it, but the postal system is pretty expensive out here. As a result I am carrying around half a kilo of coffee beans.....handy!
New photos up folks!
posted by Priya @ 4:27 PM
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