After very much enjoying our time in Medellin—despite battling our GI issues—it was time to head to our next destination, a little town up in the coffee region of Colombia called Salento. We’d had a few people recommend Salento, including a fellow traveler that we met in Cartagena. He showed us some pictures from there and we decided to make it happen.

We thought we’d try a more economical route, and so we booked a bus from Medellin to a town named Armenia, close to Salento, and from there we’d hop another bus for the short ride to Salento. Then our plan was to take an overnight bus when we left Salento, in order to get to Bogota. The bus advertised a 7 hour trip to Armenia, and I have to say we were looking forward to 7 hours to sit, rest, maybe read, and take in the countryside. Plus, it was only about 30 USD total for the two of us!

The bus was easy to get to, and left on time. So far so good! When we were just outside Medellin, however, one of the attendants came through passing out plastic bags. Sick bags. Is this really necessary? Erika asked him, with a not small amount of nervousness. Almost certainly not, he assured us.

Almost Certainly Not!

We knew it was mountain roads we’d be taking, and they’d be curvy, but oof… it was worse than either of us expected. The driving is also… aggressive. Our driver would pass other cars on the straights. Our driver would pass other cars on blind curves. Our driver would pass other cars when there were clearly other cars coming. It was a much better idea to stare out the side windows than look out the front. Between the curves and the death-defying passes, it wasn’t long before Erika was nauseated, and wondering how much more she could take. Fortunately(?), we kept hitting road construction, or toll booths, that would bring us to a stop for 20-30 minutes, and give our stomachs a break.

Unfortunately, we kept hitting road construction, or toll booths, that would bring us to a stop for 20-30 minutes. This bus ride took forever. We were pushing 9 hours by the time the bus was coming into Pereira, a town it stops in before Armenia, and we’d decided we’d had enough. It was another hour to Armenia from there, plus another 45 minutes on the local bus to Salento. So we got off at Pereira and planned to figure it out.

Buses to Salento were done by that point, so we headed for the taxis. There was a line of people waiting for taxis, and while waiting in line the woman behind us struck up a conversation with us. She was from France, and was staying in Pereira for the evening visiting a friend. I was too exhausted to try a conversation in French, and we didn’t have long before it was our turn for a taxi. Sure they’d take us to Salento, they said, for 140,000 pesos—about 50 bucks. Oof. We were certain we were over paying, but we were tired, and it was getting late, and we were low on options, so off we went.

Settling In

We got checked in to our hotel in Salento, and shambled out to find dinner. We went to a restaurant our hotel had recommended, Cafe Bernabe, which was a great recommendation and dinner was fantastic. Our day was turning around! The food was cheap and excellent, and left us plenty of left overs for lunch the next day.

Oh… before we’d even gotten off the bus, Erika had decided that overnight bus trip to Bogota was dead and buried, and I really couldn’t argue with her. So we looked up flights out of Armenia: 70 USD per person for the one way flight. Sold! We booked immediately and loved our decision.

When we got up the next day and went down for breakfast, we saw someone checking into the hotel and realized… it was the French woman we were talking to waiting for taxis yesterday! She joined us for breakfast and we got to catch up more. She’s in the midst of quite the whirlwind tour of Colombia, spending about a month here and seeing far more places than we’re going to. Family health scares have spurred her into traveling as much as she can, and seeing as much of the world as she can. We hear you, and couldn’t agree more. Her excitement and joie de vivre were obvious, and we loved getting to know her.

Around Salento

We headed out to explore the little town, and now got to see in the daylight how gorgeous it is. The town is adorable, with colorful buildings and fun shops, and a big central square and park oriented around the town church. And the scenery is gorgeous, surrounded by lush mountains. We stopped to caffeinate ourselves at Cafe Matto, and not only had some great tea and coffee, but had excellent conversation with the barista there. Well, Erika conversed; I could mostly follow what was going on but still don’t have the vocabulary to participate much.

Speaking of… I don’t know if it’s just that I’ve gotten more used to the language, or if people speak differently here, but I’ve found it a lot easier to understand everyone here. That being said, I have picked up an astonishing amount of Spanish in two weeks. Erika keeps being surprised at what I’ve learned, and apparently keeps forgetting that I don’t speak Spanish as she leaves me to fend for myself. At any rate, I figure after 4 months in South America I’ll be fully fluent. Eso!

Anyway! The barista at Cafe Matto was great, we loved talking with him. And really everyone in Salento has been incredibly nice. I fully expect that there is some recency bias or something going on, but we both quickly decided Salento is our favorite spot in Colombia that we’ve seen. We love this little town and quickly became very comfortable here.

There is a hill on the side of town offering views of the town and the surrounding mountains and valleys. So we climbed it to take in the views, and they are stunning. From one view point, you can see the whole of the little town. Walk a little further, and a larger viewpoint gives a vast view of the Valle de Cocora. See what we mean in these pictures!

Finca el Ocaso

For the afternoon, we wanted to take a tour of one of the local coffee farms, Finca el Ocaso. The farm is a little under 3 miles from the hotel, and there are jeeps that can take you there and back. But it was all down hill so we decided to walk there, and had a lovely, peaceful walk. We got to the farm early enough to take some pictures before the tour, and to also get a sneak peek at some of the coffee!

Eventually it was time for the tour, for which about 15 people showed up. It was quite the multinational group! There were people from the UK, Canada, France, Norway, Holland, Sweden, Spain, Chile, and only one other American couple. The tour itself was excellent. We walked out into the coffee tree fields and learned about the different tree varietals. We got to pick beans ourselves, and learned how they’re separated, dried, and roasted. Then at the end, we got to sample a cup of coffee too! First the beans needed to be ground, which I was volunteered to do.

The coffee was excellent. Even Erika could drink it!

We highly recommend their tour. It was 90 minutes long, inexpensive, and very fun and informative.

As we waited around for one of the town jeeps to come give us a ride back up to the town center, we got to spend some time talking with some fellow travelers. There was a Romanian couple who was spending several weeks touring Colombia, and a solo Swiss traveler who was a little over a year into basically doing what we’re doing: quitting his job and traveling as long as he could. We loved hearing of his experiences, as well as realizing again and again that we’re far from alone in doing this. We would continue to realize this as our time in Salento continued. Our Swiss friend, like us, is off to Bogotá next, and then he’s continuing through South America in roughly the opposite direction as we are. I fully expect to see him again in Córdoba, Argentina or something.

Next Time

Whew… I’ve written a lot here and we still have two more days in Salento to talk about! I’ll save that for another post soon, come back and read about our hike in the Valle de Cocora!