La Zona Cafetera

There are three things Colombia is well known for: cocaine, coffee and plastic surgery. We all know something about the white powder produced here but what about the other popular export? Colombia is not only the second largest coffee producer in the world (after Brazil) producing about 12% of the world's coffee, but the country is considered to produce the highest quality coffee beans.

Early Monday afternoon we boarded a tiny plane to visit a region north west of Bogota known for it's coffee production. It took no more than a few steps off the little airplane to see exactly why a visit to the La Zona Cafetera came highly recommended by every Colombian I discussed my trip with. We exited the plane to be greeted by balmy weather and a panaorama of exotic green scenery. My immediate surroundings were an unexpected and certainly unfamiliar marriage of mountains and rainforest- I know we're in the Andes but this feels like a jungle! For the next hour we wove through several small, modest villages and passed some exquisite coffee plantations. Gated properties, long driveways, two-story colonial houses, wrap around porches- I don't know about you but this is sort of how I fantasized about Colombia.

We rattled down a dusty unpaved driveway to our home for the week, an all-inclusive resort just outside of a town called Armenia. The hotel looked and felt like a coffee plantation with the added bonus of a pool, two restaurants, gym, spa. The hammock on our balcony was a nice touch too.

That evening we followed up dinner with some drinks at the hotel bar (all you can drink, fyi). That night was my first introduction the official Colombian liquor Aguardiente, an anise-flavoured liqueur derived from sugar cane. The Colombian firewater is never mixed but taken straight as a shot. When in Rome......well in my case this meant multiple shots and I am not particuarly a hard liquor lover nor a shot taker. Let it suffice to say the finer details of the evening were difficult to recall the next morning. Over way to early breakfast with an annoying guayabo (headache) Chepe reccounted the previous nights events.

Chepe- Who is my cousin?

Me- Wha? What are you talking about?

Chepe- You said last night that you found my cousin!

Me- I have NO idea what you are talking about.

Chepe- Last night you said you met someone that is my cousin, who is it?

Me- Wow, no more Aguardiente for me!

For the record, Chepe's cousin definitely wasn't at our hotel....

Other highlights according to Chepe- I'm talented at creating a spontaneous dance floor where non exists. To my credit I did get other couples to start salsa dancing in the bar. And, at the end of this disasterous night I decided to go to bed only to try and get into a room that was not mine.

The guayabo only slightly ameliorated by my two quickly consumed cups of coffee we hopped in a car with our driver for the day and headed to the Valle de Cocora and the town of Salento. Despite the windy and at time bumpy car ride + hangover combination the interesting scenery was enough to knock me to my senses and start snapping some pictures. My picture count in the first 2.5 days in Colombia is already 200+. My incessant picture taking has earned me the nickname "crazy shooter". Like I said, Chepe's sayings are frequent and priceless.  Luckily our driver was more than happy to slam on the breaks everytime I saw something I wanted to photograph. We passed plantain orchard after plaintain orchard, thick bamboo forests (I know I was surprised to discover they grow here), and or course coffee plants. Our driver was also pretty knowledgable about the region, explaining that the plaintains often grow right next to the coffee plants to give them shade. Right past the town of Armenia we passed what look to me like an abonded house. There was a story behind this house. It belonged to Carlos Lehder (co-founder of the Medellian cartel) who some reading this might recognize as the first Colombian cocaine dealer to be tried and jailed in the United States. Or maybe you've seen the movie Blow? Yeah, that's based on him. According to the story, this enormous house of his has such elaborate details as gold walls. Our driver also pointed out another house belonging to the Colombian drug legacy. This not so abandoned property was an incredible, colorful hotel in the Paisa style that until recently belonged to a now jailed drug trafficker.

Colombian music lingering in the background we continued to wind through the mountains in our dumpy little car finally arriving at the Valle de Cocora, a national forest considered sacred to the Colombians because of wax palm inhabiting the area. To prevent exploitation of the Wax palm, mainly due to the celebrations of palm sunday, and therefore the threats against the endemic species dependent on the palm, the government constituted the area as a national park. We arranged to ride horses into the valley and to be accompagnied by a tour guide. A rather uncomfortable horse back ride on the beach in Rosarito, Mexico definitely left me dubious of a horse ride + tourism + spanish speaking country combination but the guide, Alex, assured me my horse Fantasia was muy tranquilo. Off we went on Fantasia and Pharoah, enjoying the sublime weather, taking in the scenery and listening to our extremely knowledgable guide. Alex spoke at length about the wax palm, Colombia's national tree. It is the world's second tallest tree after none other than the Californian Sequoia. Alex even pointed out to us the tallest wax palm in the world which reaches 57 meters (187 feet) and is 193 years old.

Halfway through the trail ride Alex took us off the path to a crashing waterfall. He called this hidden spot a discoteca because of all environment sounds combined have a music like quality. Okay, obviously this guy really, really likes nature. The cornicopia of nature information and the discoteca comment all made sense on the way back out of the valley when Alex struck up a conversation with me. In very slow Spanish we talked the rest of the way back doing our best to communicate on a variety of subjects. I discovered he was actually a Biology professor at a nearby university and that he has an American girlfriend who is from Kansas that teaches English at a high school in his town and that he gives several tours like ours a day simply because he loves doing it. This guy definitely left a huge impression on me. I was sort of touched by the interest he took in talking to me about where I'm from and my travels, the slow and simplified Spanish he spoke so I would understand and his general candor with me, a stranger.

We spent the second half of the day in Salento one of the most well-preserved towns from an architecture stand point. Sadly, the region was devestated by a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in 1988, destroying most of the areas traditional architecture. Salento is well entact and absolutely charming. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering in and out of little shops and admiring the multi-colored houses in this tranquil town.