Salento and Valle de Cocora

Day 16 - 16 Nov 2012

The Cordillera Central range is one of the three branches of ridges in the Andes Mountains that extends from southwest to the northeast of Colombia. Located on the western slope of the Cordillera Central is La Zona Cafetera, the heart of Colombia's coffee production. This is where you will also find Salneto, a small colonial town located at the foothills of the Cordillera. In recent years, Salneto has gained increasing popularity among foreign tourists due to it's beautiful rolling countryside of coffee and banana plantations.

Salento Town

Salento on a cloudy day

Salento on a clear blue day

A 35 minutes jeep ride from Salento will bring you to Valle de Cocora (Cocora Valley) - home of towering wax palm trees. After two days of wet weather, I was really happy when I woke up at 6.15am to a bright and sunny morning. I grabbed a quick breakfast at the hostel and was just in time to catch the first batch of jeeps that will depart from the main plaza at 7.30 a.m.

I boarded this shared jeep where there were six people sitting behind (including myself), two people sitting in front with the driver, and two people hanging off by the side of the jeep at the back. I recognised three of the people whom I met yesterday on my way back from the coffee farm. They are Ariel from Canada, Pete from U.S and Josh also from U.S. (I think). The jeep ride to the centre of the valley costs COP3,000 (approx US$1.80) per pax. When we arrived, I realised that I only have a COP50,000 dollar note which the driver does not have sufficient change for me, and coins that adds up to only COP2,000. Josh, who was nearby and heard what happened, offered to help me pay for the balance of COP1,000. Even though COP1,000 adds up to only ~US$0.60, I was pleasantly surprised that he's willing to help me even though we do not even know each others' name at that time! Such a kind gesture!

Ariel, Pete and Josh were joined by two other ladies sitting in the front of the jeep who happened to stay in the same hostel with them -  Hana from U.K. and Aurelie from France. Knowing that I was alone, there was a kind of unspoken consensus within the group that I will be hiking alongside them. For the second time in a day, I was totally blown away by the kindness displayed by these complete strangers.

There are many different hiking routes that one can choose to do in Cocora Valley. Since we are here to see the wax palm trees, we decided to head to Acaime first, followed by our final destination - La  Montana. The loop trail to La Montana was rocky. After two days of rain, it was extremely muddy and slippery as well. We also did a number of river crossings during the hike and at times, the "bridge" is only held together by by three tree logs tied together with a rope.



Pete in one of the river crossings

Early morning mist

Acaime is a popular rest point where you can enjoy a drink for COP3,000. Most of us decided to order Agua de panela (hot water with unrefined sugar) with cheese, a common local beverage in Colombia. Unfortuantely, this drink does not sit very well with most of us as it was too sweet. As Ariel puts it, it tastes like "diabetes in a bowl".

From Acaime, it was another 1-1.5 hrs of steep ascent before the path levels off. To past our time, Hana, Pete and I started playing some games including memory games, number games and Guess  Who. Before we realised it, we have arrived at the Cocora Valley. The sight that greeted us was stunning and I was really glad to share this beautfiul scenery with my group of new found friends. The 5 hour hike is definitely worth it!