Zona Cafetera, Colombia.

I headed south to the coffee region to stay at a coffee farm / hacienda. It's a beautiful place with magnificent vistas. They have this great infinity pool. See the pictures below. It poured rain the first day so I did my coffee tasting and basket weaving and deferred the plantation tour for another day. Stop. Basket weaving? What? Yes. Basket weaving. After all my South American adventures, it finally came down to this...

But there is a point. Bamboo is indigenous here (or endemic is the right word I think) and it is a big part of the coffee culture. It was used to build haciendas and to weave baskets to collect the coffee beans. They are all still hand picked even today, in Colombia. 

Coffee tasting, called "cupping":

Pictures of the hacienda: 

And the magnificent pool...

I stayed three nights. Saturday night was full with Colombian tourists but on Sunday and Monday nights it was just me. I was quite happy as I was ploughing through a gripping John Grisham novel. I had just finished Gabrial García Márquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude only because he was a Colombian writer (so I was happy to be reading a thriller). Two nights of solitude was quite enough for me!  I'm looking forward to Medellín!  

On the second day I went to the Parque Nacional del Café where I got so much history and culture. I loved it. There were museums, interpretive centers, botanical gardens, and shows. Some photos below, mainly of the views and garden. 

On the third day I went to Cocora Valley, best known for its Wax Palm Trees, Colombia's national tree and the largest species of palm tree in the world. I had a wonderful hike. It's a beautiful place. 

I planted my own Palm Tree with my very own Juan Valdés! 

And we spotted a Great Egret and caught a few lovely shots...

And I rounded off the day with a visit to the oldest town in the region; Salento. It was very touristy minus the tourists. Colombian holidays begin in a few weeks. So it was quiet. Lovely colors. Too many souvenir shops. 

This morning (last day) I finish up the tour of the plantation. It's very interesting and I'm the only one. It was nicer that way as opposed to a hoard of tourists. The pickers make about $5 a day (USD). That's just so astoundingly low. They work 6 days a week. Unbelievable. In any case, here are some photos.