La Zona Cafetera – Colombia’s coffee region
Valle de Cocora – Eje Cafetero
We left Bogotá for Manizales in the heart of the Zona Cafetera (also known as Eje Cafetero or the Coffee Axis of Colombia), which includes the departments of Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda. It was a lot easier leaving Bogotá this time than it was on New Year’s Eve as there were no queues. The nine hour bus ride to Manizales took us through the windy, mountainous roads of central Colombia. Once we arrived in Manizales we took a cable car across a valley to Villa Maria and a taxi to our accommodation, The Secret Garden, which is located off a dirt path in the mountains overlooking lush farm land.
The Secret Garden, Manizales
Manizales Cathedral
We don’t normally book accommodation so far out of town, but we only decided to visit Manizales last minute and hadn’t realised that there was the Feria de Manizales – an 8 day festival that’s been celebrated every year since 1951 and includes lots of bull fighting, drinking and a beauty pageant. We wanted to go there because we had tickets to the Super Concierto that finishes the festival, featuring Marc Anthony – an artist we like because he sings a lot of our favourite salsa songs.
Manizales was founded in 1849 and is the capital of one of the country’s smallest departments: Caldas. Because of its topography (being in the Andes there are plenty of valleys and steep hills) the city made a cable car to glide over it all, providing us with great views.
Manizales’ Cable Car
There were seas of people in Manizales for the festival. Live music, street performers, street vendors of all descriptions and theme park rides were strewn throughout the city. We walked through the mass of people for hours, checking out the beautiful churches – including the Gothic Cathedral, the city’s symbol – and other parts of the city until we walked down to the city’s stadium for the concert.
When we got to the venue we decided to get a beer, but were surprised to find out that there were only two drink options: aguardiente or rum, by the half bottle… On the recommendation of the bar staff we went with aguardiente, as the rum is supposedly quite potent. It wasn’t our favourite drink, but who cares when you’re surrounded by enthusiastic Colombians in a stadium with vallenato and salsa singers performing. Nobody gets into concerts like Colombians; it was one big singalong as everyone knew all the words to every song. Moreover, they were getting very emotional. You know the expression “Sing like no one’s listening”? Come to a Colombian concert to see what they mean. It made for a fantastic atmosphere to hear Silvestre Dangond – a Colombian vallenato singer (music typical of the country’s Caribbean coast) – and Marc Anthony.
Church in Villa Maria
If the crowd went wild for Silvestre Dangond, they went berserk for Marc Anthony. His was an amazing performance; he had great stage presence and above all a fantastic voice. We left the stadium after his performance but from a couple of blocks away, where we were waiting for our taxi, we could clearly hear the whole performance of the last act, a popular reggaeton artist. We got home late so the next day was one of sleeping, reading and relaxing.
Salento and the crowd for the festival
Our next town was Salento, a place of colonial charm and beautiful buildings. Unbeknown to us there was another festival on in Salento and we had arrived for the final day! We got off the bus after traveling from Manizales through Pereira to Salento and after a quick search and some negotiating we found a room in a pension with a cute 3 month old puppy. With that sorted we set out to explore the festival.
Buskers in Salento
Once again there was a sea of people, although not quite as many as in Manizales. The main square had temporary bars and restaurants and a wood chopping competition set up, along with souvenir and artisanal stores. Buskers were playing music in the street, people were drinking and shopping and having a great time. Colombians were dancing in the street without a care in the world.
We walked through Salento admiring the beautiful, colourful buildings. All the window frames, shutters, balconies and their balustrades have different colours, creating a vibrant atmosphere. This type of architecture is called bahareque, which consists of one- and two-storey houses with balconies, white walls and colourful doors and window frames. We also once again saw plenty of ponchos, hats and scarves around the town.
Locals hanging out in Salento
Originally the town was the site of a penal colony for political prisoners known as Barcinales, but in 1854 a proper town was established on the site following a flood nearby. Most of the buildings date from this time – especially on Calle Real which leads up to the mirador from which you have great views of the whole town.
Valle de Cocora
The next day we went hiking in the Valle de Cocora. This was the most surprisingly lovely hike we’ve done so far. Having seen pictures we did not expect to enjoy the hike as much as we did, nor did we expect the kind of scenery that we encountered. Please trust us when we say that the photos do not do justice to the majesty of this valley.
The Cocora Valley was incorporated into the Los Nevados National Park in 1985 when the Quindio wax palm – Colombia’s national tree – became endangered as it was being cut down with much fervour for Palm Sunday celebrations. The protection of Cocora Valley protects the wax palm, which is everywhere in this part of the national park. The wax palms are truly impressive. They stand like silent sentinels over the valley, providing some contrast to the rolling hills and mountains.
Sarah among the wax palms
One of many rickety bridges
The hike around the valley takes about 6 hours and reaches a height of 2860 metres above sea level. We took a jeep from Salento early in the morning. Duncan had to ride on the outside to get there as they don’t leave until every space is taken, both inside and outside the vehicle. The jeep stops right near the entrance of the loop hike through the valley, which starts near a trout farm. From there we walked through the valley and the forest, over wooden suspension bridges and steep trails.
Cocora Valley – this place is gorgeous
We made a detour at the half way point to a hummingbird garden called Acaime. We saw many different types of hummingbird, including the Long‑tailed Sylph which we had been hoping to see. The long tail and iridescent colours of this bird were amazing to see and we think it must be one of the fastest and most beautiful hummingbirds we have encountered.
Long-tailed Sylph hummingbird
Hummingbirds
Walking through different types of forest we emerged towards the end of the trail surrounded by the famous wax palms. These plants can reach up to 60 metres high and we had to constantly check where our feet were before craning our necks up towards the sky to see these impressive trees. We finished the walk tired but very happy. It was one of the best things we’ve done in Colombia and we didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as we did.
Tejo – try to hit the gunpowder
That night we rewarded ourselves with a beer and a game of tejo – Colombia’s national sport. This game predates the conquistadors (although they were the ones to add gunpowder to the mix). Think of petanque or lawn bowls with gun powder and you’ll start to get the nature of this game. We saw people playing it in Manizales but only played it ourselves in Salento. The aim of the game is to get to throw a metal disk in our as close as possible to a circle on a wooden board filled with clay. You get points by getting the disk stuck in the clay closest to the metal circle, getting the disc inside the metal circle, or by exploding one of the four triangles of gun powder that are on the metal circle.
Time for Tejo!
The game is a lot of fun; add some beers and raucous shouting from the locals and you can imagine why people love this sport! We were rubbish on our first goes but we still managed a couple of explosions. Although we have to admit they made us play on the practice/kiddie court, the distances on the real court are a lot longer. We enjoyed it so much that we plan to play more of it elsewhere in Colombia.
After tejo we went for dinner to try some of Salento’s famous trout. Trucha (as it’s called Spanish) is on every menu in town and there doesn’t seem to be much difference between restaurants when it comes to the preparation. We had Trucha Dorada (baked trout) and Trucha al Ajillo (trout in a cream and garlic sauce). It was delicious! It came with patacones – twice‑fried sliced green plantains that came with a pineapple sauce – another tasty staple of Colombia.
View while walking to the finca
Being in the coffee region we offcourse also had to go explore a coffee finca and learn about the bean varieties of the region. Colombia is the third largest producer of coffee (after Brazil and Vietnam) and is the second largest producer of the high quality Arabica coffee bean. Its coffee is renowned throughout the world and La Zona Cafetera is the producer of the majority of Colombia’s coffee. The ideal conditions for producing washed Arabica coffee are found above 1200 metres above sea level but below 2000 metres, which is why La Zona Cafetera – in the Colombian Andes – is such a good area for producing this kind of coffee. The landscape and coffee making process here also contributed to its inclusion as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Coffee at Finca El Ocaso
We decided to go to Finca El Ocaso to participate in their coffee tour. This tour put our coffee tour in Guatemala to shame, it was an excellent tour and highly advisable in this coffee region. Finca El Ocaso is a 32 hectare coffee plantation sitting at 1780 metres above sea level. The finca was a lovely one hour walk from Salento in the direction of Armenia and we had beautiful views of the hillsides and plantations during our walk, which was once again accompanied by a dog that enjoys the company of tourists – we christened him Pedro.
The coffee tour took us through the different bean varietals in Colombia and how different types of coffee plants have been tried and developed to resist diseases (such as Caturra, Tabi and Variety Colombia). We then picked a couple of red coffee beans from the plants (not many were ready to be picked so our take was pitifully small) and took them to be skinned and washed. We were then shown the drying area and finally the traditional way coffee was ground and served (similar to in Costa Rica it is a method involving socks!).
Salento, Colombia
This was a great last activity in the Zona Cafetera and a really fun and informative coffee tour. We loved our time here, especially in Salento and in the Valle de Cocora. Next up is Medellín, a city that has reinvented itself and where we plan to do a couple of day trips.
Salento, Colombia
Duncan overlooking Cocora Valley
Sarah & Duncan travel 