During these six months I've travelled five countries, seen some amazing sights and met some awesome people. I've stood in the middle of the World's largest salt flats, looked out over the mystical Incan city of Machu Picchu, stood on the furthest point from the centre of the earth and run out of money...but had it replenished it again! My father has been keeping track of my movements on this map - it looks a bit like a map from a carry-on film - and I can't believe I've managed to do so much stuff!
It was time for a re-jig of the ol' backpack. After unpacking everything, I have discovered that my pack has Tardis-like qualities - all of the below fits inside (with a bit of jumping up and down).
The last few days I have devoted some time to finding out about Colombia's main export, responsible for many a sleepless night. Not cocaine...coffee! I've been staying in Salento, right in the heart of La Zona Cafetera, on a plantation owned by a Colombian/English couple.
I also played some more Tejo and bumped into a friend from work, Keke, who is also travelling around South America. Small world!
Salento is located in the centre of some truly beautiful countryside. Myself and Reed (from the US) caught an early jeep to the Valle de Cocora for a bit of hiking through the mountains. We headed off and found ourselves following a river, with some interesting crossings.
After a short climb we arrived at a hut selling hot chocolate and cheese. There were also loads of humming birds zipping around all over the place. I took about 200 pictures with my camera's high speed burst mode. The result? Two average pictures of humming birds - I will not be giving up my job to become a photographer.
The best part of the hike was the last part. As we wandered down the valley we rounded the last mountain and were stunned to see green fields peppered with 60m high wax palm trees. I've never seen anything like it in my life, it was like stepping back in time to the Jurassic period.
The next day I took a tour of the coffee plantation. I didn't know there were so many steps to producing a good cup of coffee! I also didn't know that coffee grows in a kind of berry form. You pick the berries and remove the skins with a machine that squeezes the berries.
Next up the beans from inside are washed to remove natural sugars and dried in the sun. They are now good for 18 months and this is how they are generally sold on the market.
After you receive your coffee beans you roast them in a big drum. This dictates how much caffeine the coffee will have in it. More roasting reduces the caffeine level, but people generally like their coffee bitter which requires more roasting.
After that the coffee is ground up and made into a tasty cup!
The picture below shows, from right to left, the different stages the coffee plant goes through.
Next stop is Cali, the home of Salsa. Watch out dance floors of Colombia!
Nice views from Salento.
The view from the top of the mountain in Valle de Cocora.
Fresh coffee brewing away.
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