Once on the bus the scenery was beautiful...
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We had a lovely apartment just off the main square which was a great location and in a local neighbourhood. Even though Salento is being discovered by tourists we liked that it still was an authentic town where people went about their daily business.
The focal point of all the towns and cities in South America is the main plaza which is also true of Salento. Anchored by the Iglesia on one side....
And of course a statue of everyone’s favourite hero, Bolívar in the middle.
The church doors are always open...
Many people come to light candles as this family was doing...
When we arrived Sunday evening there was a Fiesta in the plaza so there were lots of people around...
These little ones were getting pushed around the square on a pony ride...
There were lots of food stands serving traditional food, one of which is trout or trucha.
They serve it many ways but one of the favorites is with lots of cheese, mushrooms and garlic served on a fried plantain...
Yes there is a huge piece of trout under there and it was delicious!
Coming off the main square are lots of little streets with many colourful doors, a distinctive feature of this town...
This house is particularly colourful...
And here is the tourist information office...
We loved going for walks around town especially in the evenings when the locals were out greeting each other and seeing the sights....
Having a chat...
A magician entertaining the crowd...
At the end of the Main Street there were around 250 steps to the top of a look out, we went when the sun was about to set...
Some views from the top...
Halfway there!
This is a cowboy town so as we were walking one night the horses were being led back home...
And to work in the morning....
The main square is on top of the hill and everywhere else is up and down...
One of the reasons people come here is to hike in the Cocora Valley which contains some of the world’s tallest wax palm trees which unfortunately are dying due to lack of nutrients. To get there you line up to go on a Jeep called a Willy which are always parked in the square each morning. Everyone crowds in for the half hour ride to the beginning of the hike...
There are two hiking routes, one that takes 5 hours and one that is about half that so we decided to do the latter...
The beginning of along uphill walk...
Some of the scenery as we started...
Many shades of green...
Some of the scenes reminded us of walking in Switzerland...
Some people chose to ride the horses in through the valley...
But we huffed and puffed our way along...
Stopping to take in the views...
And a picture...
The views were amazing....
Lots of up and down...
A final picture stop at the Angel Swing, reminding us of a similar stop on our trip to Ecuador a few years ago...
And a reward at the end...a tasty Columbian latte, again with a view...
Speaking of coffee, Columbia is the third largest producer in the world and around Salento there were lots of coffee farms offering tours so another morning found us at the coffee farm of an Englishman named Don Eduardo...
We were joined by a group of young people around from around the world so always such interesting conversation about where they have been and what they have seen...
Walking down to the coffee farm in the valley....
Can’t block the views, they were everywhere...
He took us through the process from bean to grounds and was very knowledgeable and passionate about his craft...
His assistant then demonstrated the process...
The taste test...
Most people preferred medium to dark roast....
We really loved our stop here, a break from the bigger cities, so much good food like fresh fruit everyday...
Lots of great restaurants serving all kinds of food like a Columbian mess...
Everywhere there were places to stop for a drink and to people watch...
But time to move on with lots of great memories of Salento...
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