In Search of Juan Valdez

The town of Filandia is home to Steel Horse, a Finca run by Yvette and Paul, located in the Zona Cafetera of Colombia. Juan Valdez is the national marketing brand for Colombian coffee, not only represented by the raw or roasted beans that are exported, but also a chain of cafes found around the country, much like Tim Horton's in Canada, Starbucks in the US and Costa in the UK.

The demanding manual labor the farmers engage in (here the coffee beans are hand picked from the plants that are perched on the side of the mountain) requires the consumption of about 4,500 calories a day. Breakfast is an important meal to get the day off to the right start. This morning breakfast was served at a restaurant favored by Paul and Yvette; I opted to try the local desayuno completo. Potato and rib soup to start, followed by steak, eggs, rice, beans and a frisbee sized arepa, washed down with hot chocolate. It was huge.

A brief shopping trip followed to pick up fresh veggies and meats for the pantry. No polystyrene shrink wrapped trays here; everything is grown or raised locally, delivered daily to the stores, including milk delivered direct from the farm in steel churns. Processed food need never touch your plate.

Milk delivery.

Filandia is an attractive, clean town that in the last few years has become a weekend tourist destination for city based Colombians and is increasingly on the map for foreign tour companies.

At noon a short ride took me to Salento, the heart of coffee country and the gateway to the Cocura Valley. The valley has a unique type of tree, the wax palm, that grows nowhere else on earth.

Salento provided an ideal spot for a late lunch, notwithstanding the calories banked from the farmers breakfast. An attempt was made to keep consumption modest, though it proved to be a dismal failure. Good intentions wrecked by Oblea Especial, that oozed calories in the form of cream, cheese, caramel sauce, strawberries and jam. It was delicious, big and artery clogging. Lunch was completed by a coffee, it would have been wrong to visit without having one.

 

El Burro had its work cut out making the return journey to Filandia with an engorged porker in the saddle.

Oh, and as for Juan, well he was as scarce as the racing guinea pigs in Bogota. The coffee bushes could be seen on the sides of the hills at some distance, not close enough to make for a decent picture. Tours of the coffee plantations are available, in English, but early in the day. I need to press on south tomorrow so will take a pass.

Onward.

T2