Long bus rides! Colombia! Oh well at least the places are so worth it.
Next stop was in the coffee land! Quindio is in the heart of Colombia, west of Bogota and the Andes. Riding in the bus through the heart of Colombia is just gorgeous. Had I been in my own car or motorbike I never would have made it to my destination because I would have been stopping everywhere.
For being such a big tourist destination Salento is a really small village. Only about 6 or 7 blocks in each direction around the central plaza. It's a lot more touristy than I thought it would be. I arrived in the afternoon on a Saturday and the central plaza was full of artesania tents (handicrafts) and tourists crowding the streets. If I hadn't known of a hostel to stay in already it would have been really easy to find one.
That afternoon I checked out a nice viewpoint overlooking the town before heading down to the valley to walk along the river. Hitchhiked back to the town and took an hour walk out to the coffee plantations for a short tour. In my opinion the walk made it more worthwhile that than the actual tour but I did learn about how coffee is grown and produced.
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| Finca (farm) |
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| This takes the fruit off the pit |
Each coffee plant produces fruit twice a year, and from the looks of it each plant produces quite a bit of fruit. Then when the fruit are red (Arabic) or yellow (Colombian) they pick the fruit and deshell it. It ferments in water for a day before laying them out to dry on the ground. The beans need to dry for one week at least where they need to keep mixing them to make sure they are completely dry. After they are dry they can roast and grind the beans to brew a cup of coffee. Yumm!
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| Flowers -> fruit |
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| Ripe fruit |
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| Drying the beans |
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| Grinding the roasted beans |
The walk back couldn't have been better with the sunset. Then it started to rain. How refreshing! What an amazing day!
For being such a big tourist destination Salento is a really small village. Only about 6 or 7 blocks in each direction around the central plaza. It's a lot more touristy than I thought it would be. I arrived in the afternoon on a Saturday and the central plaza was full of artesania tents (handicrafts) and tourists crowding the streets. If I hadn't known of a hostel to stay in already it would have been really easy to find one.
That afternoon I checked out a nice viewpoint overlooking the town before heading down to the valley to walk along the river. Hitchhiked back to the town and took an hour walk out to the coffee plantations for a short tour. In my opinion the walk made it more worthwhile that than the actual tour but I did learn about how coffee is grown and produced.
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