Valle de Cocora

April 15, 2019April 15, 2019
by Michael Bjorn Huseby

After waking up at 5am in Salento, Colombia, we loaded ourselves into a jeep (they called it a “willy”) that was so packed that people were hanging off the back bumper. We traveled through some winding roads until we reached the trail head of “the long route” to Valle de Cocora.

No entering pets! Sound advice.
And so it begins.

We started the hike meandering through a valley dotted with towering wax palms. The sun was just making its way above the mountains and offered a spectacular view. I couldn’t stop smiling as I felt the magic of the valley wash over me.

After walking a few miles through the valley, we started a prolonged ascent through a cloud forest. Up and up and up we went. My Fitbit informed we that we climbed the equivalent of about 250 floors.

Our journey included quite a number of bridges of suspect structural integrity. Nevertheless, we managed to cross without incident.

Along the way, we stopped to see some hummingbirds and acquire beverages. One of the options was hot chocolate accompanied by cheese on a fork. Eventually, we emerged from the forest to find ourselves atop the clouds. We could see the precipitation move all around us, and the air got noticeably colder as we found ourselves being engulfed.

Having reached the top around midday, we began our descent through the valley of the palms. The main attraction did not disappoint.

We started seeing a lot more people as we made our way down (it seemed as though most people just walk up to the palms and then turn around instead of doing the whole loop through the cloud forest). We heard lots of languages we couldn’t understand, which I always think is fun. It definitely makes me want to pick up a third after I get my Spanish up to par.

After reaching the bottom of the valley, we piled into an even more packed jeep to return to Salento. Salento itself is a beautiful town with multi-colored buildings and narrow streets.