Out in the Country

The next morning we set off for Zipaquiera salt mine and cathedral.  There are only two other salt cathedrals in the world, both in Poland.  Below ground in the working mine we found that the massive cross is hollowed out of the rock.  We ended the day at Villa de Leyva, a preserved old town in the mountains that has become home to the wealthy.  Some of us checked out a nearby fossil museum.  A huge marine dinosaur skeleton was found here by farmers, and the museum has been built around it.

On our return to Bogota, we climbed higher into the green mountains through towns where locals live in ponchos, and stopped at a monument to the independence hero Simon Bolivar at a bridge where a famous battle with Spanish forces was won.  From Bogota we took a short flight over the mountains and a snow topped active volcano, getting a great view of the city of 10 million sprawling over hills.

We arrived in the coffee region of Armenia, at 1600 m, with tropical weather.  We have our own hacienda, with pool and hot tub, games room, and view of the nearby city.  We started dinner with a bottle of aguardiente, the local liquor for shots.  It turns out our tour leader Henry used to be a salsa instructor!  So we showed the rest of the group how it’s done.  Well Henry did and I followed.

The next morning we hopped on World War II jeeps that carry everything in this rural region, and drove to Rucuca coffee and banana plantation.  My guidebook said I would never look at my coffee the same way, and it was right.  We handpicked some coffee beans, tried on traditional coffee picking outfits (yes it was a little cheesy!) and met Juan Valdez (not the real one) with his donkey.  We had a coffee tasting to see if we could pick the best quality coffee which is exported, by sight, smell, aroma, and taste, and I was alone in picking the best.  It was nothing like the bitter grocery store stuff I drink, which is why I picked it.  Juan Valdez is a chain much like Tim Horton’s here, but serves high quality coffee.

In this region the homes are painted different colours.  In the past if your colour was that of a political party, it was not uncommon for it to be set on fire by opponents.  Now the colours are party-neutral.  The Colombians take their politics seriously.  Also in this area and in some others, there are a lot of motorcycles on the streets.  They are very popular for fast crimes like the drive-by shootings common in the past.  So, there is a law that no gas can be sold to motorcycles after 5 pm.  Not exactly sure if that helps, but that’s the law.

We reluctantly left our comfortable hacienda for the Valle de Cocora.  We hiked among the tallest palm trees in the world, wax palms that can be over 60m high. 

We moved along to the pretty little town of Salento.  Here was a coffee shop with one of the finest brands, Jesus Martin.  A fancy moccacino will set you back between $1 – $2, much the same as the price of a beer or a pack of cigarettes.

We went out for a game of tejo, the gunpowder exploding game, dinner in the open air, then to the only bar in town for dancing.  Vallenato is the most popular dance in this area, it’s like a fast bachata for anyone into latin dancing, the music includes accordion.  To get the party started we got a half bottle of aguardiente for a couple of shots each, $10.  A big local farmer asked if anyone wanted to dance, I was thrown out, and he was a pretty good dancer, but kept wanting my arms around his neck which I did not go for.  The next day a photo was being passed around that everyone howled with laughter at, it was me dancing with the farmer who was wearing rubber boots!  We were punted out of the bar at midnight.