So what else did we do in Salento apart from playing with gun powder? As already mentioned, Salento is in the coffee growing region and so the first morning we went on a tour of the "finca" attached to the hostel. The owner Tim moved to Colombia 8 years ago because "the government told him not to". Whatever, it seems to suit him pretty well and he and his Colombian wife bought the farm around 4 years ago and set about growing coffee, strawberries, blackberries, pineapples, avocados, bananas, oranges and god knows what else on a 45+ degree slope.

He certainly knows his stuff and gave a very interesting tour and insight into the whole business, from the growing techniques to the international market mechanics. I'm not sure the two teenage American girls on the tour were quite as enthralled, particularly at the end when Fabrice asked more and more questions, but I'm sure they'll look back in years to come and thank the 'older' European guy for squeezing as much out of the tour as possible...

The culture bit done, we spent the rest of the day kicking around Salento itself. The small town is pretty much the picture post card template for an old colonial outpost. I'll stick some pictures up, but suffice to say architecturally it's what you imagine, and the menfolk do have moustaches and they do wear ponchos. Usually paired with wellies, but I guess that's progress for you.

It's a bit of a tourist destination, both domestically as well as backpackically, but doesn't really suffer from that. In fact I'd say this is what allows it to keep its charm. To continue a theme, we loved it. Extremely friendly and totally safe.

Side note, we lived the backpacker dream and actually cooked our dinner in the hostel kitchen that evening. Right, done that, can we now move on?

The next day we headed off for a 5 hour trek/hike in the Valle de Cocora. To quote Lonely Planet "a broad, green valley framed by sharp peaks" and "one of the most striking" landscapes in the country. Notable for wax palms, Colombia's national tree and the tallest palm in the world at 60m. Anyway, all very stunning and extremely knackering.

Side note of limited interest, we passed a local dairy farmer taking the morning's milk yield down to the main road for collection - in four churns on the back of a donkey. Good to see the traditional methods in action.
The treat at the top was to sample hot chocolate and cheese, a Colombian favourite. Now it is known that I'm not a cheese connoisseur, but tasteless white rubbery sponge isn't cheese and sweet brown water isn't hot chocolate. Colombia, find another national treat (and no, not that one).
Also saw a variety of humming birds, a few reasonable snaps will be uploaded.

Chatting over a few beers back in town, it transpired that this weekend was a national holiday, which explained the large number of non-local Colombians around. The photo heading this blog entry gives an example of the thrills awaiting city folk in the countryside.

The few beers in the afternoon led to a pretty quiet last night in Salento. The next morning we had a final wander around the town and grabbed the local bus over to the ugly town of Pereira for a connecting bus to Santa Rosa de Cabal. Here lies the promise of thermal baths and rejuvenation.