Last year my friend Allison and I were due to go to Rio de Janeiro. As with many trips in 2020 this one got cancelled. So, we looked at alternatives this year. She came to visit me in Colombia (for the 2nd time)...
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... and we decided to visit the Coffee Triangle (or Coffee Region, Coffee Belt, Eje Cafetero). Made up of 3 Colombian departments: Caldas, Riseralda and Quindio).
We started with the hot springs in Santa Rosa de Cabal. These pools had both hot and cold waterfalls feeding them.
There were lots of butterflies fluttering around (but it was hard to photograph them).
We were fortunate to have a rain free day. The next day, as we were leaving, the skies opened up!
Our next stop was Salento. A very picturesque town in the Coffee Triangle.
From the top of the hill (where our hotel was) the views were amazing.
The town is very touristy and we enjoyed wandering around and drinking coffee!
... and drinking some wine...
These jeeps are the taxis there and are called Wheelys.
Allison also visited the Cocora Valley with its very tall Quindio Wax Palms (the national tree of Colombia).
...and had lunch there (at restaurante Jose Fernando).
After our coffee region visit we returned to Bogotá and were lucky enough to have a clear day so we visited Cerro de Monserrate.
We went up by funicular...
...took in the views...
...and visited the church.
From the church you could look across to the statue of Christ (Guadalupe) on the other mountain.
In 1912 Canadian tightrope walker Harry Werner crossed from Guadalupe to Monserrate,
Not for me! We went down using the cable car.
Then we visited the International Emerald Museum (https://museodelaesmeralda.com.co/).
From the museum we saw Monserrate.
