I've spent the last week in Colombia's "Zona Cafatera" which is an area of verdant hills, exotic bird life, wax palm trees (well, in the valle cocara at least)and coffee (sometimes it is important to state the obvious). The first few days of the week were spent in Salento which is a small town famed for its trout and proximity to the Valle Cocara. The highlight of my time in Salento was not the hike around the Valle Cocara (stunning though it was) but a visit to the Finca of Don Elias which is about an hour hike from Salento.
Don Elias is the Clint Eastwood of coffee farming. In a shootout of coffee farmers he'd be the last man standing. He is that cool. He is a 70 year old coffee farmer who has been in the business his whole adult life and is exactly how you would imagine a Colombian coffee farmer should be: a slightly wrinkled face complete with white moustache and he wears a white cowboy hat, blue denim shirt, jeans and wellington boots. All his attire is slightly muddied to give him an authentic look and he carries a finely sharpened machete for all occasions. Frankly, even a Latin American media star like myself was starstruck in his presence. As it turns out, Don Elias is also a very nice guy and is keen to show all comers around his finca and explain to them the coffee making process from start to finish. We went around the finca picking coffee for half an hour and afterwards Don Elias showed me how the coffee beans are pealed, dried, roasted and ground to produce the coffee that we get in our Starbucks cups. It was quite an enlightening experience. After the tour around we sat around drinking coffee, talking and enjoying the scenery.
The day before the Don Elias experience I'd been to the Valle Cocara which is a valley of wax palm trees near Salento. Some of them are up to 60m high and it seems strange to find such vegetation at over 2000m. Everything is "green" around the valle de cocara and hiking among the greenery and clouds can be a slightly surreal experience at times. However, as you climb further up you come across humming birds and there is a bird sanctuary at the top of the climb. Overall, it is well worth spending a few days in the area around Salento to enjoy the spectacular scenery.
Following Salento I moved onto the Villa Finca Maria. It is a large Finca near Perreira that sees maybe one or two visitors every couple of weeks yet is one of the most spectacular fincas in all of Colombia. As it isn't in any guide book nobody really goes there but it is a truly enchanting place. It is set at the top of a series of fincas and is a working coffee and platano farm. There is an outdoor swimming pool, great hospitality, hammocks and good hikes. All in all, those who do make there aren't disappointed - just don't expect thronging nighlife.
