Cocora Valley (Quindío) - Colombia 2024 // Valle De Cocora (Quindío) - Colombia 2024
Visit to Valle de Cocora // Visita a Valle de Cocora
Pinmapple link: [//]:# (!pinmapple 4.63979 lat -75.48450 long Valle De Cocora (Quindío) - Colombia 2024 d3scr)
Versión en español
Hola amigos mochileros, excursionistas y turistas, como están?
Hoy les quiero hablar y mostrar un poco sobre mi viaje al famoso Valle De Cocora, uno de los princípiales atractivos turísticos del eje cafetero y del departamento de Quindío.
El Valle del Cocora, es literalmente un valle natural, verde y muy puro, también conocido por ser cuna del árbol nacional de Colombia la famosa Palma del Quindío o palma de cera como le dicen en algunos pueblos, además este valle es característico por que esta todavía en los limites del Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados, incluso desde ciertos puntos se puede observar el Volcán Nevado Del Ruiz donde con ayuda de telescopios o binoculares se puede ver la nieve.
Hay muchas historias acerca del valle, sobre su significado, lo que representa para las poblaciones locales, pero una de las mas interesantes es el nombre, ya que Cocora era el nombre del a hija de un cacique llamado Acaime, incluso uno de los puntos fotográficos de este sitio son las manos de Acaime, que representan como nos ofrecen uno de los paisajes naturales mas bonito del país.
Un dato aun mas curioso y que en realidad me intereso mucho es que la película "Encanto" fue inspirada en este valle, hay poster y afiches en todo el lugar con respecto a este tema.
English version
Hello backpackers, hikers and tourists, how are you?
Today I want to talk and show you a little bit about my trip to the famous Cocora Valley, one of the main tourist attractions of the coffee region and the department of Quindio.
The Cocora Valley is literally a natural valley, green and very pure, also known for being the cradle of the national tree of Colombia, the famous Quindio Palm or wax palm as it is called in some villages, also this valley is characteristic because it is still in the limits of the National Natural Park Los Nevados, even from certain points you can see the Nevado Del Ruiz Volcano where with the help of telescopes or binoculars you can see the snow.
There are many stories about the valley, about its meaning, what it represents for the local populations, but one of the most interesting is the name, since Cocora was the name of the daughter of a cacique called Acaime, even one of the photographic points of this site are the hands of Acaime, which represent as they offer us one of the most beautiful natural landscapes of the country.
An even more curious fact that really interested me is that the movie "Encanto" was inspired by this valley, there are posters and posters all over the place about it.
Vista al Valle desde el mirador de Salento (Al fondo el Nevado del Ruiz).//View of the valley from the Salento viewpoint (Nevado del Ruiz in the background).
Pero déjenme explicarles un poco mas detallado el viaje y cuanto demore en llegar acá. // But let me explain in a little more detail the journey and how long it took me to get here.
El transporte
Lo principal para llegar a este sitio es llegar al pueblo de Salento, que se encuentra a 20min aproximadamente del valle, en total son 9km que debemos recorrer, pero son vías con muchas curvas, y algunas partes en construcción.
Yo partí desde la ciudad de Santa Rosa en moto, y me tomo un poco mas de 1h y 30min en recorrido para llegar, pero partiendo desde el terminal de Pereira se toma un bus que cobra 5000 pesos (1.3$ aprox) que te lleva a Salento, desde allí hay Jeeps Willys que te cobran de igual manera 4000-5000 pesos y te llevan al Valle.
Un dato importante es tratar de llegar temprano en temporada Alta, ya que hay demasiadas personas y la fila para entrar o salir del valle se hace muy larga, puedes demorar hasta 3h en esta fila, como nosotros andamos en moto adelantamos los autos, pero sinceramente jamás había visto una fila tan larga, desde la entrada de Salento hasta el valle.
Transport
The main thing to get to this site is to get to the town of Salento, which is approximately 20 minutes from the valley, in total there are 9km to travel, but they are roads with many curves, and some parts are under construction.
I started from the city of Santa Rosa by motorbike, and it took me a little more than 1h and 30min to get there, but leaving from the terminal of Pereira you take a bus that charges 5000 pesos (1.3$ aprox) that takes you to Salento, from there there there are Willys Jeeps that charge you 4000-5000 pesos and take you to the valley.
An important fact is to try to arrive early in high season, as there are too many people and the line to enter or leave the valley is very long, you can take up to 3 hours in this line, as we ride motorbikes we overtook the cars, but honestly I had never seen such a long line, from the entrance of Salento to the valley.
Plaza de Salento - Acá se ubican los Jeeps que van al Valle. // Plaza de Salento - This is where the Jeeps that go to the Valley are located.
La vía hacia el Valle de Corora es espectacular, desde la vista hasta el clima, ya que por un momento pasamos por un bosque tropical y se siente la humedad en el ambiente, además de ver arboles y abundante vegetación al rededor.
A los alrededor se ven muchas granjas, fincas, hoteles y restaurantes turísticos, aunque básicamente 80% del ingresos de las personas acá es del turismo también se ve la venta de madera comercial de pinos, producción de leche y carne.
Una cosa que me pareció muy curiosa es que acá también se ven rocas volcánicas, emitidas por el volcán Nevado del Ruiz hace mas de 30 años.
Grabe un video de un largo tramo de la carretera donde pueden observar lo que mencione, y además donde atravesamos el Rio Quindío unos de los principales afluentes de agua de esta zona y por un lado una caballeriza, que según entendí cobra 10% por vivir una experiencia completa con caballos, paseos y convivir con pequeñas crías.
The road to the Corora Valley is spectacular, from the view to the climate, as for a moment we pass through a tropical forest and you can feel the humidity in the air, as well as see trees and abundant vegetation all around.
All around you can see many farms, farms, hotels and tourist restaurants, although basically 80% of the income of the people here is from tourism, you can also see the sale of commercial pine timber, milk and meat production.
One thing that I found very curious is that here you can also see volcanic rocks, emitted by the Nevado del Ruiz volcano more than 30 years ago.
I recorded a video of a long stretch of the road where you can see what I mentioned, and also where we crossed the Quindio River, one of the main water tributaries of this area, and on one side a horse stable, which I understood charges 10% for a complete experience with horses, rides and living with small offspring.
Captura de pantalla del video.//Screenshot of the video.
Captura de pantalla del video.//Screenshot of the video.
El valle no tiene una entrada como tal, básicamente no es un solo sitio, hay diferentes entradas a diferentes miradores, restaurantes, senderos del parque, rutas de excursión entre otras. Por lo tanto nosotros nunca nos enteramos cuando llegamos si no hasta el momento donde comenzamos a ver personas caminando a caballo o en moto, y esto se debe a que dejan los vehículos en los estacionamientos y deben subir a pie. Hay un punto donde no dejan que los vehículos continúen, excepto si son pobladores o vehículos turísticos.
Una de las primeras entradas que vimos fue hacia una ruta de excursión, una caminata de 4h pero en el camino había una estación de truchicultura (estación de criaderos de trucha), sinceramente esto me llamo mucho la atención y quise ir a verlo de cerca. La entrada es de 3000 pesos (0.75$) y nos dan una bolsa de alimento concentrado para los peces, acá podemos ver ejemplares adultos como ejemplares muy pequeños. La estación es sumamente grande, nunca había estado en algo igual y también esta la opción de pescar las truchas para almorzar acá mismo o para llevar preparadas y tiene un coso de 22.000 pesos (un poco mas de 5.5$)
The valley does not have an entrance as such, basically it is not one place, there are different entrances to different viewpoints, restaurants, park trails, hiking trails and so on. Therefore we never find out when we arrive until the moment we start to see people walking on horseback or on motorbikes, and this is because they leave the vehicles in the car parks and have to walk up. There is a point where they do not allow vehicles to continue, except if they are villagers or tourist vehicles.
One of the first entrances we saw was to a hiking trail, a 4 hour walk, but on the way there was a trout farming station (estación de criaderos de truchicultura), honestly this caught my attention and I wanted to go and see it up close. The entrance fee is 3000 pesos (0.75$) and they give us a bag of concentrated food for the fish, here we can see both adult and very small specimens. The station is very big, I have never been to anything like it and there is also the option of catching the trout for lunch here or to take them prepared and it costs 22,000 pesos (a little more than 5.5$).
Caminando un poco mas arriba se encuentran los miradores, hay 3 de los cuales para mi el segundo y el tercero son los mejores. Se supone que en temporada baja los precios son de 5000-12000 pesos según nos habían informado, sin embargo todos tenían el precio de 15000 pesos (que equivale a casi 4$). Escogimos el segundo que se llama las manos de Cocora, por que ya había visto en tiktok que este era uno de los miradores mas bonitos para las fotos, sin embargo este se diferencia por que no cuenta con muchos restaurantes, creo que es 1 solo en realidad. El primer mirador aunque no tiene muchos puntos fotográficos tiene mayor cantidad de restaurantes.
En este mirador al que entramos teníamos acceso a 18 puntos de fotografía, desde acá se podía ver gran parte del Valle, la ruta de caminata y en lo mas alto la carretera por donde llegamos. Por su puesto que las filas para las fotos eran increíblemente largas y el calor era extremo, un sol demasiado fuerte y nosotros veníamos se un lugar fresco donde teníamos que llevar chaquetas.
There are 3 viewpoints, of which the second and third are the best for me. In low season the prices are supposed to be 5000-12000 pesos according to what we had been told, however all of them were priced at 15000 pesos (which is equivalent to almost 4$). We chose the second one which is called the hands of Cocora, because I had already seen in tiktok that this was one of the most beautiful viewpoints for photos, however this one is different because it doesn't have many restaurants, I think it is only 1 actually. The first viewpoint, although it doesn't have many photographic points, has more restaurants.
In this viewpoint we had access to 18 photographic points, from here we could see a large part of the valley, the hiking route and at the top the road where we arrived. Of course the lines for the photos were incredibly long and the heat was extreme, the sun was too strong and we were coming from a cool place where we had to wear jackets.
Ya dentro de lugar en cuestión hicimos la fila a varios puntos de fotografías, otros estaban vacíos, pero el mas concurrido era las manos Acaime, donde tardamos mas de 1h en la fila, en el resto nos tomo un par de minutos, aunque no fue mucha la espera.
Pudimos ver un pequeño jardín de Girasoles, desde acá se veía todo el valle o gran parte de el, palmas de cera, y la verdad aunque todo estaba genial esperaba un poco mas de atractivo en este sitio.
Once inside the place in question we lined up at several photographic points, others were empty, but the most crowded was the Acaime hands, where it took us more than 1h in line, in the rest it took us a couple of minutes, although it was not much of a wait.
We were able to see a small sunflower garden, from here you could see the whole valley or a large part of it, wax palms, and the truth is that although everything was great I was expecting a little more attraction in this place.
Otro punto concurrido un Jeep Willy del parque, pero la verdad no quisimos hacer otra fila tan larga, se supone este Jeep es como cultural acá, todos están en muy buen estado y abundan en el eje cafetero, es como un emblema. Seguimos tomando fotos en el resto de los puntos, había un Groot, la casa de Up y una bicicleta cuyo significado no lo se.
Another busy spot was a Willy Jeep from the park, but the truth is that we didn't want to make another long queue, this Jeep is supposed to be cultural here, they are all in very good condition and there are plenty of them in the coffee region, it's like an emblem. We continued taking pictures in the rest of the points, there was a Groot, the Up's house and a bicycle whose meaning I don't know.
Aunque el resumen fotográficos es muy poco, es que lamentablemente no había mucho mas que ver en este lugar, solo nos falto ir al rio y a la cascada al igual que al recinto de avistamiento de aves, pero no era un día libre común, debíamos entrar a trabajar a las 3pm y estábamos muy lejos, tuvimos que salir de aquí a antes de la 1pm literalmente y aunque llegamos temprano, pasamos por Salento a conocer el pueblito.
Así que entre los lugares turísticos que he visitado yo le daría un 7/10, y es que solamente es ver el Valle y tomar fotografías en ciertos puntos, creo que para mis gustos no fue tan agradable, probablemente cambiaria esa puntuación si fuera ido al rio.
Sin embargo este sitio es muy visitado por Europeos y Estado-Unidenses, vimos demasiadas personas de USA acá.
Acá también un fragmento de la Posada Alemana, ex propiedad de Carlos Lehder socio de Pablo Escobar, quería ver todo el recinto pero estaba lloviendo y lastimosamente no pudimos bajar.
Although the photographic summary is very little, unfortunately there was not much more to see in this place, we only missed going to the river and the waterfall as well as the bird watching area, but it was not an ordinary day off, we had to go to work at 3pm and we were very far away, we had to leave here literally before 1pm and although we arrived early, we went through Salento to see the little town.
So among the tourist places I have visited I would give it a 7/10, and that is just to see the valley and take pictures at certain points, I think for my tastes it was not so nice, I would probably change that score if I had gone to the river.
However this site is very much visited by Europeans and Americans, we saw too many people from the USA here.
Here is also a fragment of the Posada Alemana, former property of Carlos Lehder partner of Pablo Escobar, I wanted to see the whole place but it was raining and unfortunately we couldn't go down there.
Y pronto les hablare sobre Salento.
Nos vemos en la próxima.
And soon I will tell you about Salento.
See you next time.
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
The nature around it is beautiful.
Yes it is and it is even more incredible to know that a few kilometres further up is a snow-capped volcano.
Yes friends, I hope the best for all of us. Greetings to the family there
Looks like a really nice trip! :)
Yes it was, exhausting but fun to be honest.
it is a very beautiful park, seeing people very busy there means going to that place is really very enjoyable
The mountains are hidden in clouds in this post:
https://images.ecency.com/p/2N61tyyncFaFc5ntfuipfgTLmysWczwy2xgqE1xJMeVpryrxe7n9Xwry7XGvEwkBFAnijyWrp87j9fp2tnjtZebpmo3zV1MVnkRDkUUYoAobQYbuHGRYUddtKH76vZ4D8He8NStoio9x.webp?format=webp&mode=fit
That was for a short moment, then the sun came out with incredible intensity. Here the microclimates vary a lot, it can be cloudy and then sunny in less than 5 minutes.
You are lucky you saved this moment for later.
Yes! and your mountain pictures are really capturing the view. Makes a lot more sense to me why Encanto looks like that. Thank you!
I was reading the story of the film and Disney producers had to travel here to learn about the culture of these villages to bring it to the animated screen. And actually the similarity is identical
impressive! the dedication they put to it.
Congratulations, your post has been upvoted by @dsc-r2cornell, which is the curating account for @R2cornell's Discord Community.
Enhorabuena, su "post" ha sido "up-voted" por @dsc-r2cornell, que es la "cuenta curating" de la Comunidad de la Discordia de @R2cornell.
Hiya, @livinguktaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2128.
Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!
Become part of our travel community: