Salento & Thousands of Wax Palms

Even though we left Colombia behind on the 19th of February we have to let you take part on our last Colombian experience!

When we arrived in Salento at 2000 meters, situated in the coffee region, we had as usual no big idea of how long we were going to stay. But on the second day we decided to book a cheap flight from the nearby Pereira to Panama which also meant that we definitely burried our plans of going to Panama by boat. So we knew that we have plenty of time to discover the many incredibly beautiful places around Salento.

First of all we got to see lots of really cool, colourful birds in the gardens of Plantation House, where we lodged. Among them one of our favourites, the tiny hummingbird...but do not worry we have not become fanatic birdwatchers...!

The owner of Plantation House also runs a small coffee farm. On a tour through the fields we got to know the most important things about growing colombian coffee.

And learned about the whole process from the red or yellow coffeebeans on the plants to the dried pale beans ready to be roasted. We also could wander around on the coffeefarm and see all the different other plants and fruits they grow there. Such as pineapples, bananas, blackberries, strawberries, lemons and oranges as well as a big bamboo forest.

Most of the people visit Salento because it is the gateway to the Valle de Cocora, famous for its wax palm (Ceroxylon quindiuense), which is the national tree of Colombia.

It is really weird to see palms at this altitude...the reason they grow there is because the wind carried the seeds all the way from the coast up to the highlands. The result are the forests full of up to 60 meters high palm trees, swaying gently as the wind blows. It is really cool to stand in the middle of it and watch to the top.

An other fantastic experience was our overnight stay up on 3000 meters on a remote farm (finca), only accessible by a four-wheel-drive car, by foot or by horse. Omar and his family lived from growing and harvesting potatoes but ten years ago they changed to cattle farming because of the climate change. You still can see the terraces all over the hills.

The dimension of their land is incredible...standing on a hill and looking around means you only see their property! We think something like that is impossible to see in Switzerland!

On the arriving day we visited one of the most beautiful places we found in Colombia. It is an other valley full of wax palms, but ten times more than in Valley the Cocora. It is a privat owend property and not developed for the tourism. It is a real secret that only locals know and only a few foreign tourists have been there. Omar told us we are around visitor number 50. This is the case because he just opend his farm for tourism about a month ago and he is the first farmer in this area who started the business. We are very happy that we got to know Omar, his family and that natural wonder!

Sorry, there are no good pictures from this area because it is not possible to picture that beauty.

On the second day we got an early start, milking the cows, drinking freshfresh milk with brandy...what a delight!

We are really glad that we could finish our Colombian travels by visiting this place!

By the way the name of this place is: EL ROCIO, whoever visits this area should ask us for the contact details!