It's funny how often strangers can impact your life when traveling. Something as small as a suggestion can turn into an hour long conversation and next thing you know you've altered the (rough) itinerary. That's how we ended up in Salento.
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| Taxi jeeps in the town square |
Since Salento is in the coffee region, we tried about every coffee shop in town, but quickly found a favorite.
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| This coffee maker is over 100 years old |
The menu is simple. You can either get a small or large coffee with steamed milk. And it costs less than $1 USD per cup! Given our love for Colombian coffee, we decided to take the hour hike out of town to a small coffee farm that offers tours. We had taken a tour in Costa Rica and were curious how the two differed. Honestly, the biggest difference was that this one was significantly cheaper, only $3 USD per person, and this included the cup of coffee you received at the end!
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| This lab hiked the whole way with us |
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| Flowers from the trail |
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| Taking a quick break |
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| Almost to the farm |
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| Our tour guide |
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| Lots of banana trees on the farm too |
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| Drying out the beans |
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| Enjoying a fresh cup |
After the tour, and our hike back into town, we were ready to try the local trout that the area is also known for.
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| Trucha and patacon |
Patacon is basically a large plantain tostada. I had my fish with garlic sauce. Phill had his topped with sautéed tomatoes and onions. They were absolutely delicious!
The next day we were ready to head out for a hike in Cocora Park. We took an early morning jeep taxi from the town square hoping to avoid the fog, but it never quite burned off.
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| First view of the river |
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| Saying hi to a few friends along the way |
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| One of many makeshift wooden bridges |
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| Settling down for lunch |
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| Making our way back down |
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| Favorite part of the hike |
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| Our taxi jeep soon to be stuffed with people |
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| Phill taking a pic while holding on to the back |
On our last day in Salento, we walked up the 250 steps of Alto de la Cruz to see a panoramic view of the city.
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| More winded than I should be |
Then we settled in another coffee shop (with wifi) to work on the blog. For dinner, we found a restaurant serving American cuisine. The owner is from Oregon so we knew it was legit. It had been over a month since we had anything that resembled food from home so we couldn't resist!
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| My first cup of mora juice |
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| The main street |
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| Phill's massive burger loaded with EVERYTHING |
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| Sunset from the town square |
If these pictures haven't convinced you to add Salento to your bucket list, I don't know what will!
Just lost the whole long comment i wrote here. Darn blogspot.
ReplyDeleteI was writing that i am so surprised i didn't know about this blog until Tyler mentioned it to me. So stoked you guys fell in love with Colombia and i reminisce so much when seeing you eat best empanadas in Popayan and trout in Salento! So glad you're doing this and keep this blog going as much as possible. If not for others, then for your own self.
Vamonos!