Cocora Valley & Salento

11/10/23

The Vale de Cocora is the main attraction near Salento.

You can book guided tours for €70 or go there on your own. We decide to do the latter.

That means that early in the morning, after a really fantastic breakfast on the terrace with a fantastic view,

Walk to Salento to the market square. There are jeeps there, also called Willys, which take us into the valley for 9,000 pesos per person. And if you think a Jeep like this is full, then another 2-4 people can fit in it and what doesn't fit is on a running board at the back.

There are 14 people traveling in our jeep 😂

The journey takes about 29 minutes and then you can already see the first wax palms. They are not called wax palms because they grow so tall, but because the mature palms have a thick layer of wax on the bark.

The Quindio wax palm is a species of plant from the palm family. It was discovered in 1801 by Alexander von Humboldt and is native to Colombia. It is considered the tallest palm species in the world. The Quindio wax palm has been the national tree of Colombia since 1985.

The trunks reach heights of 15 to 50 meters (rarely 60 meters) and a diameter of 20 to 40 centimeters. The Quindio wax palm has a very slow growth and can live for several hundred years.

Entrance to the valley costs 20,000 pesos per person.

We start our circular hiking trail and what is not described anywhere, the first half is really all uphill. Somehow things are always going up in Colombia😂 You are rewarded with really beautiful views and a really impressive and mystical palm tree backdrop through which wafts of mist keep drifting.

We only do the 2 hour tour, the other tour lasts 6 hours and the weather can change here at any time. Plus, I don't feel like going uphill anymore.

As you can imagine, it's all downhill now, mostly over steps, but again with great panoramas.

A jeep takes us back to Salento. From there it's just uphill again (what else) to our hotel. They currently have a spot available in the jacuzzi, so we can relax for a while, again with a fantastic view.

We decide to eat in Salento today and found a Colombian/Venezuelan restaurant that is well rated.

The service is again super nice, the food, well, kind of half-raw vegetables with tough meat.

After a stroll through the really pretty Salento,

we have to go back through the forest to the hotel with flashlights. 👻👻

What a day!!!!