Salento Feb 2014

Salento is a sleepy town in the northeast of Colombia.  The peaceful town becomes filled with tourists on weekends and holidays, using it as a base to visit the nearby Valle de Cocora, as well as the coffee plantations in the region.

DSC02988The colorful town of Salento

DSC02971

DSC02970

DSC02977Looking down at the main street of Salento.

DSC02980

20140204_164325Pool hall and cafe in Salento

DSC02991

DSC02984

DSC02985

20140204_165545

DSC02990

Valle de Cocora is known for its towering wax palms which is the Colombian national symbol.  It is the tallest palm in the world growing up to 60 meters high. This area is now protected by the government because these palms were on the verge of extinction.  Traditionally they were used for fronds on Palm Sunday.

DSC02954Valle de Cocora

DSC02950

DSC02940

DSC02957

DSC02942

We did a coffee plantation visit at Hacienda San Alberto.  We were taken around the plantation followed by some coffee tasting.  I didn’t actually know what coffee looked like on the tree.  The red fruits called “cherries” are ready for harvest.  Each cherry contain two seeds and these seeds are more commonly referred to as coffee beans.  They are then dried and become a greyish-green color.  Finally, the coffee is roasted before being packaged for sale.

DSC03007San Alberto Coffee Plantation

DSC03022

DSC03008Coffee Plant Nursery

DSC03009Young coffee plants

DSC03013The red fruits are ready for harvest.

DSC03019Coffee beans inside the red fruits called “cherries”.

DSC03023Dried coffee beans.

DSC03000Coffee Sampling

Lamanai Oct 2014

As mentioned in a previous post, Caracol and Lamanai are the two most important political centers in Maya Belize.  Unfortunately, Caracol was closed during our

Read More »

Leave a Reply

© Copyright 2022 Beatrice Wong | All rights reserved. All photographs and text included herein are the property of Beatrice Wong

You cannot copy content of this page