Zona Cafetera

After Bogota, relunctnatly leaving, Justin and I took a bus to to Armenia in the coffee region of Colombia. So we arrived in Armenia at 5:30 am. We took a cab to "downtown" where a guy with one eye tried to follow us into the hostel, and settled ourselves, and took a little nap before we explored. When we finally woke up, we took a trip to Coffee Park!! We took the bus with hope in hearts that there would be a coffee fountain and streams of coffee and coffee sidewalks, but hearts were broken and it was just a place that had some coffee plants. lame. I even got in trouble on the go carts, cause I thought they were bumper cars and I kept running into people on purpse. They had to run out in the middle of the course and tell me to stop... how am I supposed to know the difference between bumper cars and go-karts... sheesh.

It was still fun, all the cheesiness we expected.

A ripe coffee bean

An old coffee plantation house

Justin after splash mountain, he was so happy.

After the coffe park, we headed back to Armenia... aka the most depressing city ever on a Sunday afternoon. We walked around for maybe 5 minutes before we decided to eat and stay as close to the hotel as we could. After eating, I suggested that we go into the local bar across the street from our hotel... HAH. That was awesome. Aguardiente. Must try.

The next morning, we headed for Solento... probably one of the best recomendations yet. We stayed at the only hostel in town, Plantation House, and had an amazing time. What a beautiful place. I know I say that a lot, but this really was. I see a lot of beautiful places and all of them are worth me saying that.

The view from my bed in the hostel

The second day, we went for a hike in the national park. Also amazing.

The start of the hike

One of the river crossings

Amazing

Wax palm trees

That afternoon, we went on a tour of the coffee plantation we stayed on and learned all about how coffee was grown and made and the differences throughout the region... but don't ask me how cause I couldn't repeat it worth squat.

The up and coming hotel on the plantation

The town of Salento is so cute. Its the town "of short streets and long memories" or something like that. It is really tiny, but so much character and charm, I could have stayed longer... again... but I must move on.

Salento

Thinking about how cool this place is