Colombia: Popayan & la Zona Cafetera

After San Agustin, we hit the road to reach close by Popayan for a couple of days. Popayan also named the “Ciudad Blanca” or the “White City” was enjoyable to relax and taste good meat a la parrilla (bbq). We then continued to the Zona Cafetera, the coffee producing region, and stopped in Salento. Salento is a great little city where to visit coffee farms and hike the famous Valle de Cocora. This valley is home of the wax palm tree unique symbol of Colombia. These majestuous trees can reach 60m and live for more than 300 years. Their wax was once used to waterproofing the wooden boats. They are now protected. It’s been very rainy since we arrived in Colombia and thanks to our guesthouse in Salento, we wore rubber boots for the hike as the path became very muddy.

On our way to the palm trees area, we had the opportunity to visit the House of Colibris. After a steep climb, we could stare at dozens of these adorable little creatures. There we took a well deserved break drinking hot chocolate and we were then ready to climb further uphill before going down and finally see the trees.

Colombia, visiting farms @ zona cafetera

After Salento, we decided to spend a couple of days in Filandia. Very close to Salento but a lot less touristic. We visited the mirador to have a 360 degrees view of the surroundings. We spent our time sipping coffee and watching the locals in their day to day life.

Colombia, hike @ Valle de Cocora

accommodations

• Salento: Posada Casa Salento, a wonderful guesthouse where the owners are super friendly and full of tips to make your stay memorable!
• Filandia: Hosteria de Mi Pueblo, a nice house turned into a small hotel. The rooms are simple but what made this place is the breakfast with local and organic products specifically chosen by Steven, the owner.

Colombia, colibri @ Valle de Cocora

restaurants

• Salento: EL Punto Vegetal, a vege-vegan where we could get our daily fix of vegetable and greens!
• Filandia: Helena Adentro, one of our favourite Colombian place so far! The courses are very tasty and mix traditional Colombian cuisine with new tastes, we went there twice!

Colombia, wax palm trees @ Valle de Cocora