Zona Cafetera, Coffee Central

For those of you old enough, remember Mrs. Olson of Folger's Coffee fame?  She advised - with her generic "European" accent - her young (always white) female neighbors to brew (i.e., percolate) Folger's coffee for their men, because it was "mountain grown, that's the richest kind." 

Well, turns out Mrs. Olson spoke some truth! At least in the context of Colombia, its most famous and prolific coffee region is indeed in the mountains, wedged at around 6000' between the western and central spines of the Andes.  We spent about a week in this beautiful area, rich not only in coffee but also natural abundance ... unique high altitude forests and rushing mountain-fed rivers and the ecosystems they support.

Coffee is, of course, not from the Western Hemisphere, originally "discovered" in East Africa.  So how did it get to the Americas?  Well, we heard one story of how coffee became a Colombia "thing."  Goes like this: Italian Jesuit priests came to South America in the 1800s to save souls, but were chagrined to find no coffee. (Absolute proof of humans who needed saving!)  But apparently one or more of the priests had the foresight to bring some coffee plants with them, and they devised a diabolically simple plan to propagate the heavenly elixir.  When their charges came for confession, rather than assigning the traditional "penance" for sins - a prayer, some sort of sacrifice, whatever - they had the sinners plant some coffee beans!  Like many origin stories, it's hard to know its veracity, but I like the taste of it!

Anyway, our first stop in the Zona Cafetera was Salento, a very cute though rather touristed mountain town north of Cali.  We stayed in a lovely lodge on the hill just above town with a gorgeous view down into the Valle de Corcora and the impressive mountains above it.  

The handsome couple with the gorgeous view below Salento

We enjoyed our private balcony

Salento is picturesque, with a cute main plaza, colorfully painted storefronts, and lively street life. 






We had lunch at this elaborately decorated family restaurant


We discovered that pool is a popular sport in Colombia; this large pool hall was one of several we saw during our trip.

A popular outing while in Salento is a walk/hike in the Valle de Corcora, which is famous in part for its Quindio wax palms.  The national tree of Colombia grows to 200' tall and as old as 200 years; unlike most palm species, wax palms grown at altitudes of 6000-10,000 feet. It is named for the thick layer of wax that coats its trunk, used by locals for many things but critical for the tree, as the wax attracts the beetles that pollinate it. 

We had a fine walk with our local guide Carlos, incredible views and a rare sighting of an Andean condor ... and a Crested caracara, both soaring above the sun-drenched valley.


View of the Valle de Corcora


Quindio Wax Palms

The wax palm's abundant red fruit are a favorite of various local birds

It's a pandemic! Faced with an amazing view, this young couple fixated on ... their cell phones.
 
Majestic Andean condor soaring above Valle de Corcora

Equally majestic Crested caracara


I took guide Carlos's offer to do some birding in a reserve owned and maintained by a ranching family.  Carlos showed me high altitude Colombian oak forests, waterfalls, and lots of birds.  I'll save most of what we saw for a later post, but here are a few highlights:


This is one of several tunnels built by indigenous labor for a railway, built I believe in the early 1900s, that made only one run.  But what a great, secure place for an Andean Cock-of-the-Rock nest ...



... and here's Momma Cock guarding her eggs!








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