Salento, Colombia

Salento is quite a tourist attraction known for its brightly colored buildings, coffee tours, and its vicinity to the Valle de Cocora.

I arrived on Salento on a Sunday when every tourist international and national were visiting. The streets were filled and the souvenir shops were open.

I walked the hilly streets taking pictures, admiring the brightly colored architecture and the street performers. I met some local musicians and went to their house to play some music.

I camped in the back of a hostel and woke at 5am the next morning to catch a Willy (jeep) to Valle de Cocora to go hiking.

The Valle de Cocora is an incredibly amazing and beautiful area at the foothills of Los Nevadas mountains and national park.

I hiked 9km along a river and up through a cloud forest to a refuge called Estrella de Agua. I then continued down and hiked to another farm house overlooking the valley and down into the Wax Palm valley (60m tall). All and all I probably hiked around 20km.

I met a fellow Midwesterner and decided to walk back along the road towards Salento until finally hailing a Willy back to town.Read more