Todays agenda is to tour a coffee planation in the morning and Cocora Valley in the afternoon.
Since we wanted to cover a lot of ground we hired a guide for the day. You can easily arrange all kinds of tours/ guides through Kawa. Actually we had 2 guides. Alejandro, seemed to know everything but spoke limited English. Jairo acted as the interpreter, both were Colombians in their 20’s, both very polite and courteous.
Alejandro picked us up at Kawa and we began the roughly 30 minute, 4 mile journey to Coffee Farm El Recuerdo. This small coffee farm is on a bumpy dirt road littered with numerous small coffee farms.
After arriving at El Recuerdo, a friendly teenage English speaking kid named Eduardo gave us a tour of the grounds along with a detailed history of the Colombian coffee business. He also detailed the entire coffee process from planting the trees to pouring a hot cup of coffee.
Panoramic view of the area.
After about 1 1/2 hours it was time to head to Cocora Valley. We picked up Jairo in Salento who stayed with us the remainder of the day.
Cocora Valley is part of the much larger Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados. As seems to be the case in Colombia, there are smaller private parks/trails within the larger park. We took a private trail that had a small entrance fee – Im not sure how much as it was included in the cost of the guides. We spent the next three hours on a semi strenuous hike up a mountain trail that had scenic vistas as beautiful as you will see anywhere.
Quindío wax palms are prevalent through out the valley.
Another relative common site is the Andean Condor which is a giant South American vulture. Alejandro says he sees them occasionally but none today.
Enjoying a Guanabana drink after a active day. Guanabana or soursop is a popular Latin American fruit, that as you see, is quite large. They take the pulp and mix with water and sugar to give a refreshing drink.
After a long day – Dinner at Kawa.
Kawa Mountain Retreat restaurant was the best food we had in Salento
Tomorrows plan is to fly back to Medellin.
