Ever the nomads, the next day we moved onto Salento and Tim´s "Plantation House". This is where all backpackers stay who come to Salento. It was full of Israelis. This was our first real experience of them & yes they do tend to take over a place. We seriously considered moving to alternative accommodation (Las Palmas hotel - same price, much quieter) but Tim (English owner) & his wife Christina, asked, or more precisely pleaded, with us to stay. How could we refuse? Salento is a beautiful wild-west style town. It´s got that lost-in-time feel. Everywhere you look there are horses, cowboy hats, saloons, ponchos, and dusty unpaved roads.. It´s wonderful. We had a drink in one bar where the ladies had a normal toilet but the guys had a, see-through, bead curtain, behind which was a trough for doing the business. This was literally right beside the bar and on full display for all!!
Whilst in Salento we took a walk out the road to visit two of the local coffee fincas (farms). The 1st was a small family run operation where we were shown the whole process of coffee growing, picking, drying, roasting, grinding and of course drinking. The man of the house could not have looked more like a coffee growing baron if he tried. The 2nd finca was a much larger affair and clearly a much more commercial operation. Another tour and more coffee to drink. It´s a hard life!! We learned that all the "premium class" coffee is for the export market while the "second class" coffee is kept for the Colombian market. Apparently the Colombians don´t like the taste of premium class coffee anyway. Anyone remember the story of the fox & the grapes (Aesops fables)? We also learned that the reason Colombian coffee is so good is that it is all picked by hand. They only pick the beans that are ready for picking whereas elsewhere, e.g. Brazil, they use machines that pick all the beans from the plants and hence they get a mixture of ready & unready beans and consequently a lower quality blend. So, Colombian export coffee is the best! 
The next day we were up early to catch a jeep to Cocora. We, in our infinite wisdom, decided to wear our sandals. Big mistake....big mistake. The walk was a mud-fest. Claire grumbled the whole way up & most of the way down. The walk itself didn´t live up to our expectations (leaving the mud aside). The valley is surrounded by mountains with a unique type of palm tree called "Palma de Cera", the palm is recognized as the national tree of Colombia & is a protected species. There were quite a few "interesting" rickety hanging bridges en-route but all in all we were glad to get back in the jeep for Salento. When we got back we treated ourselves to some la fresa sueña aka "Strawberry Dreams", i.e. a glass with fresh strawberries, cream & ice cream. An institution in the town. Delicious! In total we spent 4 days in Salento before moving onto Popayan (6 hours further south). Our bus journey made a stop in the town of Cali. Cali is to Salsa what Lourdes is to Holy Water. There was a guy with a walrus moustache & dark shades sitting behind me (Claire) on the 9 seater bus- he was as high as a kite gyrating his skinny little hips to the loud salsa music (that the driver insisted on playing). Needless to say he got off at Cali! Dave wasn´t too keen on swinging his hips to the beat of salsa music & we´ve met others who say that it´s not really a nice place for anything other than salsa so decided to give it a miss.
The drink of choice is the Tinto, a small cup of strong black coffee (no milk)
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