TIM AROUND THE WORLD
Seeing the world, one week at a time.
CHAPTER FOUR: COFFEE AND COCORA
(In 2024, I planned and executed a round-the-world adventure, spanning all six occupied continents in about a month. This is Chapter 4 in a blow-by-blow retelling of how it all came together, and how it all went.)
NOVEMBER 10 - SALENTO, COLOMBIA
MILES TRAVELED: 2,346
After a quick but tasty breakfast at the hostel cafe, I meet up with my new American friends (Jess, Mike, and Oskar) and we head into town to begin our adventure into the spectacular scenic areas around Salento.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ And the first part of any adventure into the Salento hinterlands is a Willy Ride.
Jeep "Willys" are ubiquitous in Colombia's coffee region, and have been since the end of World War II, when the U.S. Army sold its wartime stock off (650,000 were made between 1940 and 1945) to developing countries at a big discount.
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In Colombia, farmers and merchants found that the Willys were much more efficient than mules at carrying things, so much so that they became known as "mulas mechanicas", or mechanical mules.
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And as tourism came to Colombia, they became an easily recognized symbol of the area and an easy thrill ride for passengers wanting to traverse the region's hills and valleys. ​​
Once aboard, it took a little more than half an hour of hairpin turns and washboard roads (I was glad I chose to sit inside rather than hang off the back - I didn't need back pain two days into the trip) to arrive at the Finca El Ocaso coffee farm.
Jess, Mike and Oskar had previously booked a 3-hour English language tour of coffee exploration, but that tour had sold out, so I opted for the 90-minute version, which was fine. I mean I like coffee, but I'm not sure I like it enough for three hours.
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The tour was fun and informative, taking us every step from farm to the coffee cup, throwing interesting tidbits in-between. For instance, although we call them coffee 'beans', the part we actually get coffee from is actually the seed, or pit, of a fruit called the coffee cherry. We also learned the main differences between 'good' coffee and 'not so good' coffee (the word 'Kuerig' was never uttered), and how different types of coffee go with different kinds of machines.
Since I had an extra 90 minutes to wait for my friends, it gave me time to walk around the grounds, enjoy the scenery, and settle in for a couple of lattes at the little hillside cafe on the property.
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Once they finished their tour, we hopped in a taxi instead of a Willy, since we wanted to go directly to the Cocora Valley rather than go back through Salento.
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The hour-long taxi ride became a bit of a party, as the taxi driver was playing some sort of 80's music mashup on the radio, and we played guess-the-artist trivia as we sang along (pro tip: if anyone needs a team member for 80s music trivia night, I'm your guy!​).​
Then, we reached the spectacular Valle de Cocora.
The Cocora Valley is part of the Los Lavados National Natural Park, and is home to the majority of the remaining populations of the wax palm, a tree that is the national symbol of Colombia and grow to a height of 148 feet, or sometimes as tall as 200 feet. The species is threatened, mostly due use of the fruit for cattle and pigs and use of the leaves for Catholic celebrations of Palm Sunday in the country. But the government of Colombia has placed the tree under protection since 1985.
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In any case, while the park seems overcrowded at the base of the valley, once you move onto the trails, the crowd really thins out. And despite near constant fog and light rain, the scenery is spectacular everywhere. I had to control myself from taking way too many pictures.
The park also has several manmade objects to appease the modern Instagrammable tourist, and the four of us had some fun taking advantage of those as often as we could.
After finishing the hike, we stopped for a snack and a drink (Oskar speaks fluent Spanish, so that helped a lot), and then caught another Willy ride into Salento where we all shopped for souvenirs before heading back to the hostel. After dinner, we'd planned on all going to play some tejo, but between our fatigue, the pouring rain, and their early start in the morning (they were heading to Medellin on an early flight), we had a few drinks around the hammocks and said our goodbyes... after an incredible day of sightseeing in the hills around Salento.
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