Coffee Region (I), Colombia (November 2019)

We left the hotel in Bogota at 6:45am to the Bogota El Dorado Airport to catch a plane that departed at 9:00am to Pereira in the center of Colombia's Zona Cafetera (Coffee Zone). It is  a region of great natural beauty, charming colonial towns and welcoming people. But, due to bad weather in Pereira, the plane departed one hour late.

Pereira is the center of Colombia's coffee region and also at the center of the three major cities in Colombia: Bogota, Medellin and Cali. (I have prepared a separate blog post to cover the visit to a coffee hacienda.)

We drove to the lush Cocora Valley, one of the most striking landscapes in Colombia, part of Los Nevados National Park. After lunch, we were supposed to walk in the park, but the heavy rain made many of us decide to stay at the restaurant. But the view from the restaurant through glass wall was panoramic. We saw a bunch of the tallest wax palms in the world, the national tree of Colombia, reaching up to 200 feet tall.

These tall trees are wax palm trees.

The local trout dish, a local favorite, was indeed delicious.

After lunch, we headed out towards Salento with Colombia's beautiful traditional architecture.

At the town streets, there were colonial buildings with colorful balconies and rows of handicraft shops.

I climbed up the steep stairs to the highest point in Salento overlooking the town and the artisan street.

"Love Salento" sign was crowded with people.

So I took the selfie at the back of the sign.

The view of the town was panoramic.

But, the view of the mountain on the other side of the town was breath-taking.

A Peruvian man blowing a wind instrument looked mysterious at the backdrop of the picturesque  mountain.

The way down was somewhat easier, but not too much.

I also tasted coffee at Jesus Martin Coffee, known to be the best shop for specialty coffee.

At the town was Bolivar Square...

harmonized with a church.

I took a selfie with Alejandra, tour manager and Yohany, coffee region local tour guide.

In every corner of the town, you could find something interesting even at a toilet for COP1,000, approximately US 30 cents.

Then, we drove to Manizales, which has a population of 450K and is the highest elevation city in the coffee region built on the hills and ridges of the hills. The tour was to explore the lovely city with its beautiful parks, mountain views, and streams.

The first building that came to our sight was the Basilica de la Immaculada Conception de Manizales. This was built and rebuilt by the residents of Manizales. As such, people in Manizales are proud of this church.

We walked to the Plaza Bolivar in the city center, highlighted by the massive Cathedral of Manizales, famous for its elaborate gold canopy and beautiful, large stained-glass windows.

Inside the Cathedral was a mass service under way.

As I explained earlier, Simon Bolivar is the first president of Colombia Republic and the national hero revered not only in Colombia but also in Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. He is portrayed in many forms and shapes. But here Bolivar is depicted as the mix of Condor of the Andes with human legs. In the front, Bolivar's face is also featured.

There are other interesting sculptures around the area.

In front of the Cathedral, a group of little girls were singing and dancing.

A pile of ripe papayas looked tasty although personally I still have not developed the taste for the papayas.

More to come. - Jeffrey