Salento: the Gateway to the Cocora Valley
The next stop on our Colombian road trip was Salento, a quaint, mountain town and the gateway to the Cocora Valley. I was very excited. Everyone, Colombians included, raved about Salento and the Cocora Valley. We planned to have a few days in Salento since there are so many activities in the area. Most visitors do the day hike in the Cocora Valley, which is the best way to see Colombia’s national tree, the wax palm. The hike is through lush, green pastures and cloud forest, and can be done either on foot or by horseback. The town is also in the coffee region, or Zona Cafeteria, and there are countless coffee fincas offering tours. There are opportunities for horseback riding or mountain biking, but the most adventurous activity is a multi-day trek to the Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados.
To save time, we took the overnight bus from Bogota to Armenia where we could then catch the mini-bus to Salento. We chose the 10:00 pm bus on the Bolivarano line; their busses are equipped with wi-fi and personal TVs. Not too shabby. The bus was comfortable, and we got a decent amount of sleep before arriving in Armenia at around 10:00 am. From there, we hopped on an Alcala mini-bus and were in Salento an hour later.
The bus dropped us off in the adorable town square, where colorful, Spanish-style buildings surround an inner-courtyard park. The town square was very charming, and we were excited to explore the rest of Salento. We found our hostel, the Plantation House, dropped off our stuff, and headed back to town for some food. We each chose a traditional dish: Arie got the local trout and I chose the plantain chip. Every restaurant in Salento serves the trout, steamed, fried, or grilled, all topped with the “Salento Salsa.” The plantain chip, made by frying mashed plantain into one giant, plate-sized chip, is also served with the salsa. This special sauce is a warm, chunky tomato sauce with sautéed onions mixed in. Both dishes were delicious, but it was our dinner at El Rincon de Lucy that was truly the star of Salento’s culinary scene. For 6,000 COP (or $3 USD) we got soup, a drink, a side of beans, and a full plate loaded with two types of corn bread, plantains, rice, salad, cooked veggies, and egg (for me) or trout (for Arie). To date, that is still one of the best and cheapest meals we had during our time in South America.
Since we had just arrived in Salento that day, we wanted to check out the town before making extended plans, so we walked down Calle Real where each souvenir shop is in a multi-colored, Spanish-style home. Our next stop was up the stairs to the hilltop lookout. We were definitely in the country now. We noticed that there were a few nature trails on the hill; casually wandering, we came across a beautiful lookout that had a view of the deep valley and beyond. There were green rolling hills as far as the eye could see. We could spot a few cows here and there, but mostly it was just nature.
While we were enjoying the scenery, something was brewing – a police truck had pulled up with a trailer full of small trees. The men were outfitted in their dress uniforms. Then a beauty queen, Miss Earth, hopped out of another vehicle. She was in full hairdo and makeup and wearing a sash. A second truck pulled up full of local beauty queens, Miss Salento, Miss Cocora Valley and so on. It was a press-filled, tree-planting ceremony! And lucky for us, there were extra trees! After the police finished passing the beauties their trees, they asked us to plant two of the extras. We obviously said “Si!” When else would we have the opportunity to plant trees with Miss Earth? After our first day, Salento was definitely living up to its reputation of a truly awesome town.
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