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. 

Guatavita and Zipaquira

I booked a day tour to see Guatavita Lagoon and the Salt Cathedral at Zipaquira. I was picked up at reception by Marina, my tour guide. When I saw the "car", I quickly realized that it was going to be just me, Marina and the driver (Daniel) for the day. Nine hours! My instant reaction was that I was going to run out of things to say at about hour two, and a mild panick took me over. Where were all the "other" people? And why wasn't there a "bus", where I could read my book quietly until we arrived at our destinations? So I convinced myself that I was SO lucky to have a private guide and driver for the day (in other words, shut up and get on with it!). Well, they were lovely and we had a brilliant day. At least I did. Here they are at lunch.

Lake Guatavita was one of the sacred lakes of the indigenous people (the Muisca), and a ritual conducted there is the basis for the legend of El Dorado", "the golden one". The legend says the lake is where the Muisca celebrated a ritual in which the Chieftan (named "El Dorado" by the Conquistadores) was covered in gold dust, then venturing out into the water on a ceremonial raft made of rushes, he dived into the waters, washing off the gold. Afterward, trinkets, jewelry, and other precious offerings were thrown into the waters by worshipers. Of course the Spanish went mad looking for the gold and even tried to drain the lake by cutting a hole at the edge. The Muisca had wonderful wisdom and the real gold here is self knowledge and an open heart. There is a tradition there that you make a heartfelt offering of a beautiful thought and a warm sentiment of gratitude to Guavita: "Mother of Life...".  I did Marina's version: To meditate on three of my happiest moments and "throw" them in the lake. This offering will help restore more happiness to the world.  It was a beautiful meditation. 

Below are pictures of the mythical raft (I took the photo in the Gold Museum), the lagoon and surrounding landscape. Beautiful. A very special place. 

GUATAVITA TOWN

This whole town was rebuilt in the mid 1960's on higher ground because the authorities needed to build a reservoir to service Bogotá. Everyone was relocated and the old down was flooded. It must have been a big social undertaking. Here are some pictures of the new town. 

ZIPAQUIRA 

A beautiful colonial town.  It's quite common here for houses in towns to be painted all the same color(s).  The mayor of Zipaquira recently decreed that the "new" town colors would be red and blue. You can see them here in the photos. The "old" colors are green and many buildings have not yet been re-painted. You can see this on the church doors. 

Nearby, there is a Salt Cathedral built 200 meters underground in a salt mine.  It began when miners carved a sanctuary, as a place for their daily prayers asking for protection to the saints before starting to work. A church was built in the 1950's in the mine but was later decommissioned as it was unstable due to the dynamite. Later in the 1990's, the present cathedral was built. It's bizarre and spectacular at the same time.  There are 14 stations of the cross in small chapels, a dome, three naves and a sacristy. It's massive.