Café Herencia

The final stop on our tour was at Café Herencia and Art Gallery. Here, Gina explained to us all about the coca trade in Colombia. It is legal to grow coca here, and indeed, indigenous people are encouraged to continue to plant it. They believe in the medicinal properties of the leaf, and they use it to make tea, cakes, cookies, skin cream, rum, etc. Gina demonstrated how to 'take' the leaf as a medicine. One of the Americans tried it. He said he didn't feel any noticeable differences!

I was more interested in the indigenous art on display than I was in the coca!

After having coffee and cake, we said our goodbyes to Gina. It had been an incredibly good tour. We were ending it with a better understanding of modern Colombia and its history and culture.Read more