Salento, Valle de Corcoca, and Bogota

After Medellín I headed to Salento, a small town in the Zona Cafeteria. I was considering plopping down a little extra cash and flying, but I’m really glad I didn’t, as I got in a great conversation with a charming woman that lives in the area and because, much as was the case with Santa Fe, the bus ride there had some really amazing scenery. In Colombia it appears that the bus rides are attractions in themselves.

It just got better from there. Salento is a small town in the region of the country where most of the coffee is produced. It was a puny little town, surrounded by coffee plantations and located nearby the Valle de Corcora. I was only there for one day and two nights. The first thing I did on the day I was there was take a long 6 hr hike in the Valle de Corcora. A lot of the scenery I saw on the hike was almost unbelievably beautiful. Just check out the photos and you’ll see (bear in mind, though, that it still doesn’t look nearly as impressive in the photos as it does in person).

In the afternoon I took a tour of a finca (coffee farm) run by the same British chap that owns the hostel I stayed in. He was a pretty engaging guy and the tour was really fascinating, even for a non-coffee drinker like me. The farm itself was really beautiful, too. I spent a fair amount of time just walking around the finca taking photos after he finished his tour.

One thing that really surprised me was the town itself. I arrived after dark, so I was under the impression that that town was in a valley or otherwise relatively flat area. I was pretty shocked when I woke up the next morning and walked out of my room and saw that the town was perched on the top of a mountain with hillsides and coffee plantations sprawled around it.

The next morning I took a short bus ride to Armenia where I caught my flight to Bogota.
I didn’t have much time in Bogota, and I knew I was going to have to spend a fair amount of time sorting out the deal with Chile, so I headed right out into sightseeing when I got there. Despite not getting in until 3:00, I was able to tick off all the historic sights on the first day. I was also able to catch up with a friend of a friend that happened to be in town for dinner and drinks.

One day two I did a couple other standard tourist things, and then spent a fair amount of time shopping. I won’t say what as I don’t want to spoil the surprise for somebody that I know will be reading this, but let’s just say it was good.

Bogota wasn’t my favorite city to visit, but I think that was partly due to where I was based and had to spend most of my time due to the locations of the tourist sights. Unlike the neighborhood where I stayed in Medellín, the neighborhood I was in was pretty gritty. Unfortunately, due to the short amount of time I had and the Chili mess, I had little time to explore the nicer neighborhoods farther north. I was able to get there for dinner with my pal on night one, though, and from what I saw I was pretty impressed. There were lots of nice restaurants and little cafes, which as I understand it is pretty characteristic of that part of town. I also didn’t have any time to really party at all. I suppose I’ll have to be a little more thorough next time I’m around.