Salento is considered the heart of the coffee region. Our hostel was a pleasant start to the trip. John just opened the Pasada Casa Salento and will hopefully become a hotspot due to its location 400yds off of the plaza, the quality of the rooms, and his exceptional introduction to the city and the surroundings.
100 Hostels are currently operating in Salento and this number is expected to double in the next year. Sharaton is apparently looking to be the first branded hotel in the area. A new airport capable of handeling jumbo jets will shortly be completed threatening to overwhelm the city of 7000 year round residents with a deluge of tourists.
What is it with Miradores in Colombia? Everywhere they are eager to put up a huge set of stairs up a hill and call it a view point.
Tons of coffee shops dot the city. They all have their own charm, however, many of them specialize in cocoa drinks rather than coffee.
The cocura valley lies outside the city limits in a low valley. You take a "willy" from the town square fourty min down to a magical place. An 8.7km hike takes you through a river forest with many stream crossings on precarious bridges. Halfway through the hike there's an opptional excursion to a humming bird farm. After the sanctuary we struggled up an extremely steep trail to la Montana. They could have charged a million dollars at the restaurant on the peak for a water after that climb and it would have been paid. After recovery, we begun the decent into the shire like feilds. The hills are mostly rolling grass with gigantic 100ft palm trees popping out.
A 45 min walk from the town center gets you to two popular coffee tours that were suprisingly informative.
Did you know that an espresso shot has 1/3 the caffeine of a drip coffee? Or howabout that coffee trees are cut at the trunk every couple of years to increase yeild by the new sprouts from the trunk? Perhaps the most fun peice of dirt was that Starbucks purchases in masse second grade coffee, not the good stuff.
They joke Tejo was going to be an Olympic sport until they found out you have to drink while playing. The pros toss a lead weight 22 yards toward a clay backstop laced with explosives trying to set one off for three points or to be closer for one point. We had tons of fun playing, but we're slightly deaf after the night out.
