A bunch of adult men were playing a shooting videogame loudly in the hallway but they stopped around 11pm.
We were hoping to find a city welcome sign to take a picture (Lori has Armenian background) but the city was really small.
But we found the city name in big letters in a park so Lori can still prove we were there ?.
27/11/18 The city didn’t seem to have much to see or do so we went to the local botanic garden and with a private guide we learned about some local plants and animals. They also have a nice butterfly house that we both enjoyed very much.
Back to Armenia centre we had arepas and empenadas for lunch and took a bus to Salento in the afternoon.
The locals sometimes jump on and off the bus randomly as the drivers are happy to let them do so (for free). They are also very nice with tourists as they helped us with our suitcases and helped to find our way.
We arrived at the Cedro Negro hostel while it was raining heavily and made some plans for the next few days. As the breakfast was not included we went to a mini supermarket to buy some groceries.
The room has terrible insulation so I am expecting to freeze at night, I will probably use my sleeping bag.
We went to a local restaurant where we had arepas and a delicious dish that looks like nachos, but made with plantain banana chips instead, covered with meat and cheese. Heavy but nice!
28/11/18 We woke up early to avoid the rain. We took a Jeep Willy to reach the Cocora valley, full of palm trees, horses and cows. We hiked about 3km for a great view and came back to Salento for lunch where I had French toasts, well deserved after the hike. We wandered in the city for some pictures before the rain and climbed 250 colourful steps to have a view of the city from above. Lori had to push me a bit as my legs were already showing some weakness, but it gave me the chance to take a photo of a weird green ant/beetle on the way.
We chilled in the hammocks at the hostel in the afternoon as the weather was turning bad.
The hostel lady recommended a vegetarian restaurant for dinner which was delicious. Lori had a peanut salad and I had pesto pasta with veggies.
29/11/18 We woke up early again as the mornings are usually dry to catch a Jeep Willy and reach the Finca El Ocaso, a coffee plantation. Jamie was our fun tour guide and gave us little baskets to attach to our waist. We picked coffee beans like the farmers and learned many things about the coffee production cycle.
75% of the world’s coffee production comes from Indonesia, Vietnam and Colombia. Optimum environment requires altitude, the Ocaso plantation is at about 1800m. Jamie confirmed that Colombia produces Arabica coffee, and the best coffee needs to have a good balance between acidity and sweetness.
The production process starts with coffee beans planted in soil with compost under plastic to get a plant. After 6 months the plant is taken out of the ground and planted again to become a coffee plant.
This plant produces a flower called azar, similar to orange trees and pollinate itself after 9 months.
Coffee trees produce red or yellow (sweeter) beans on different trees and once the fruits are picked, the plant and shells are recycled as compost.
A plant can be reused a few times and produces the best results during the 3rd cycle. A cycle lasts about 2 years and 3 months.
Once cherries (ripe beans) have been picked, they cut branches and some of the tree, wait for 2 years and plant it again. 1 tree is therefore used for 20 years then goes to compost.
There are 3 types of coffee: arabica, robusta and liberica. Liberica trees are too big so are not great for handpicking.
Pickers can collect up to 100kg of beans in a day and they get between 500 and 800 pesos (depending on the low or high season) per kg. Once picked, the beans are dried at 40-50 degrees Celsius for 2 days before they can be roasted. Then the beans can be grounded to 3 different levels: light medium or coarse depending on how the coffee will be served (with French press, paper filter etc).
The perfect water temperature to pour on coffee is 90 degrees to avoid burning the coffee, and you need 7.5 to 8g of coffee per 100 ml of water.
The pillar machine used to separate beans from the cherries was created by a German guy (Otto Niklaus something Von Derfecht)
You need to pour the water on the filter and the pot first to avoid a drop of temperature when the coffee touches the filter or the bottom of the pot. Wait for 20 sec before you pour the rest of the water without touching the filter. Don’t press the filter either.
We finished the tour with a coffee tasting then took the Jeep Willy to get back to Salento.
As it was still early and not raining yet, we took another Jeep Willy to explore Filandia, a small city half an hour from Salento. We had lunch there in a local restaurant and came back just before the rain. For dinner, we went back to the vegetarian place we liked the day before.
