Salento, at the heart of the Zona Cafetera, is less than 200 miles South of Medellin and most travellers get there by bus on a long, winding 8 hour journey through the Andes. Bus travel isn’t particularly cheap in Colombia as fuel prices are incredibly high – double UK prices and horrendous in comparison to local salaries and other costs – and we found a flight to Pereira (the nearest airport, 1 hour drive from Salento) for £60 each including checked baggage and with a decent airline, so it was a no-brainer. Of course taking the bus would’ve avoided the ‘fun’ we’d had getting to the airport for the 30 minute flight!

We’d both selected window seats to marvel at the view as we flew over the Andes but were in the clouds almost immediately after take-off and didn’t see a thing until we were descending into Pereira – oh well. Our luggage collected, we met our hotel-organised driver (fingers crossed there’d be no drama with this one) and were in the car within 15 minutes of landing – Pereira is not a big airport – and on our way via very twisty roads once we were out of the city. It was obvious that we were climbing throughout the journey before reaching the village of Salento at 1,900m and our base for the next 4 nights at Villa Salento Boutique Apartments and Spa. The name sounds grander than the reality but our studio room was spacious if a little basic, and ‘garden view’ was poetic license. Debbie didn’t argue with the receptionist when told how much she needed to pay – £60/night – even though it was considerably less than the Agoda booking confirmation – you can take the girl out of Liverpool and all that…

Tired from our journey and the drama of the day, we didn’t really feel like exploring so Debbie nipped out to the shop to get supplies to cook dinner, and more importantly procure wine & beer. It was immediately apparent that we were no longer in a big city and had arrived in rural Colombia – no huge choice of international foods and brands here, fruit and veg isn’t sold in the supermarket, so tuna & pasta in tomato sauce it was – not the best meal we’ve ever had but it filled a hole and at least we had a £4 bottle of Malbec to wash it down with! Exploring could wait for tomorrow, and we didn’t plan to do too much – our visit here was more to admire the scenery and relax.

Although our apartment was less than 500m from the village square, we had to scale a very steep (but thankfully short) hill to reach it. But it was worth the effort – a delightful colourful place, possibly even prettier than Guatape. Restaurants, shops, government buildings and a lovely church surround the main square Plaza de Bolivar Salento, the centre of which was currently being renovated. And on the far side of the plaza stood the line of ‘Willys’ – brightly coloured WWII-era jeeps used locally to get around the Corcora Valley and nearby coffee farms. Part transport, part cultural symbol, the vehicles go when they are full (and that is when even the outside rail at the back has 2-4 people standing on it!) and charge about £1/person for a half hour journey.

We weren’t that adventurous on our first day in Salento, opting instead to sit outside a restaurant on the Plaza and watch the world go by. And to sample some local delicacies. Steve went for trout (trucha) – Salento’s signature dish as the Quindio region has cold, clean mountain rivers perfect for trout farming – a huge whole fish butterflied and served in garlic, cream & mushroom sauce for around £8. The local’s favourite is Trucha con queso (melted cheese) but that seemed just too wrong. Debbie sampled one of Colombia’s favourite snacks – patacones (green plantain, sliced, deep fried, smashed and fried again, a bit like a huge thick poppadom in appearance) – fully loaded with spicy beef, hogao sauce and cheese. Both delicious.

We did brave the Willys though….

Firstly to a coffee farm – Osaco, a very bumpy 5Km drive to the West of town. No rain was forecast so we dressed in shorts and t-shirts, sandals for Debbie, but took brollies just in case. The sky didn’t look promising but we had a dry hour or so learning about coffee and harvesting our own berries (the beans are inside). We soon realised that the shorts had been an bad idea and that the emergency insect repellent we’d purchased there (we hadn’t thought to bring any) was totally ineffective against the mosquitos that frequented the coffee bushes and we ended up with at least 30 bites per leg each. Thankfully decent steroid cream is easily available in Colombian pharmacies as our antihistamine and hydrocortisone creams did nothing to ease the bites. Anyway, the tour was fascinating, we met some interesting people also on their travels, and enjoyed some decent coffee. We also learned about the sh*t coffee that most branded chains use and just how bad instant coffee is! And then the heavens absolutely opened so we sat in the coffee shop sampling more varieties and watching the hummingbirds, and once the rain cleared we caught a Willy back to town. With us hanging off the back of the jeep alongside a young Belgian girl. We are definitely too old for this!

Our next Willy adventure was up to 2,400m and the start of the Cocora Valley (Valle de Cocora). Steve noticed the climb in altitude so there was no way that we were going to tackle the 12Km valley loop walk. Actually, we had no intention of doing it anyway – leave that to the bright young backpackers. There really aren’t any words that could adequately express just what an amazing place this is – it’s the highlight of Salento, with giant wax palms (the tallest in the world), misty cloud forest, and unfortunate tourist tat. Let’s just allow the photos do the talking…

Steve tolerated the highest altitude we’d been to so far as long as he didn’t have to climb steep slopes or steps, so that bodes well for some potential destinations later in our trip. We can’t be daft though.

Salento and surrounds was a truly gorgeous place to visit and well worth the effort. If we’d had more time we could’ve explored the village of Filandia and some hot springs on the way back to Pereira, but we had a flight booked so just had a taster of this region. Hikers and mountain bikers (mad fools) appeared to be in absolute heaven. The air is clear (if a bit thin), the temperatures are reasonable (low 20s in April) and in most places the mozzies aren’t a bother.

But now to leave the Andes and fly to sea level – Cartagena on the Caribbean coast…..