Salento is another beautiful small pueblo in Colombia. It sits roughly in the center of the three points of the coffee axis - Pereira, Armenia and Manizales. It is actually more famous as the starting point for tours of the Valle de Cocora/Cocora Valley which sports a ton of wax palms, purportedly the tallest palms in the world.
A few photos below from Salento itself.
I am a sucker for dogs. They so often make good photo subjects. Dogs in Salento, including street dogs, were well cared for. The bench in the last pic below was regularly reserved for this old baby.
The Cocora Valley is about a 30 minute Willy jeep ride from the center of Salento. Once there, you have a bit of a hike to the entrance. At the entrance, you have three choices: (1) you can take the full long loop around the valley which takes 4-5 hours; (2) you can take the super-short loop which is about 90 minutes; or (3) you can do an out and back which we did and in that way you can take as long as you like.
The views from the trail are spectacular and the wax palm trees are damn near overwhelming. They are TALL! Pics and videos below.
We never could figure this one out.
The next post deviates pretty far from the
traveling posts.
Look for it this weekend.
I posted a pic of these from a general site last week. It's great that you saw them in person. Live it UP!
Such beautiful views. The palms must have fairly deep roots. Also, wondered about the dead leaves that usually have to be trimmed. Guess that is not an issue. Be sort of like raking the forests to reduce forest fires. Geez, have I started having Orange Idiot thoughts? Just shoot me now. Thanks for sharing your adventures.
What are the plants with the red flower stocks, grown in rows as if cultivated?