Cocora Valley

We took one of the colourful Willy Jeeps from the town square to visit Cocora Valley.  Tickets cost just £1 each way for the 25-minute journey.  Each jeep carries 13 passengers - 2 in the front with the driver, 8 seated in the back, and 3 standing on the footplate outside at the back!  We made sure we had a seat - we didn’t fancy clinging on for that long!

When we got dropped off, we went to the information point to see what our options were.  We could have done the full 12km loop hike around the valley with an extension to climb the highest peak at 3500 metres above sea level!  Unsurprisingly, we chose to do a much shorter route, which would bring us to the wax palm trees the valley is famous for, much more quickly. 

These palma de cera (wax palms) are the largest palms in the world, growing up to 60 metres tall.  It is Colombia’s national tree.  Set amid the lush green hills, they are breathtaking to behold.  The valley is protected as part of Unesco's Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia Heritage Site.

We walked up to see the trees, avoiding most of the Disneyesque fibreglass statues of African animals and fantastical vehicles that tourists (Colombian and foreign alike) love to take Instagram selfies with!  I went up to the first viewpoint, while Mark stayed at ground level taking photos.  The scenery was certainly spectacular!

Once we met up again, we had a coffee before making our way back to the park entrance.Read more