Salento, Colombia
Yesterday morning we had a great tour of the coffee plantation, where we got to see the entire operation, from picking the ripe berries to roasting the final product. From now on, we are coffee connoisseurs. One odd thing was the peacock population on the farm - I'm not sure what that is all about.
In the afternoon, we rode a bus for a couple of hours to the town of Salento, a seemingly quiet little backwater in the midst of coffee country. However, this weekend is a bank holiday in Colombia, and this town is tourist central for both locals and international visitors. The main drag is crowded with coffee shops, bars, restaurants and souvenir shops, and a hoard of people. Last night, during dinner at a nearby hot spot, the rain came down hard, but was mostly over by the time we were ready to leave.
A few of us were persuaded to try a unique Colombian sport in a nearby bar, which basically consisted of throwing rocks at a clay target with strategically placed packets of gunpowder. You know you scored big when it exploded, otherwise scores were much like curling. The games are free - mostly an excuse to buy beer!
This morning, after a short Willys Jeep ride, we hiked, along with an incredible number of other people, for a couple of hours, to take in some spectacular views of one of natures oddest things - the tallest palm trees in the world, growing at something like 2500 meters above sea level. The weather was perfect for the hike - the rains held off until late this afternoon. When we got back to the town, there were even more people than yesterday.
Tomorrow we will be making our way back to Bogota and our Colombia adventure will be almost over...
{GMST}4|38.37|N|75|34.122|W|Salento, Colombia|Salento, Colombia{GEND}
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment