Hiking in the Colombian Coffee Triangle

Santa Rita is in the valley below

I have walked on several day trips through the mountains around the rural village of Santa Rita.  The trails are negotiable, though muddy at times, and reveal spectacular views of mountains, forests, rivers, and waterfalls.  Taking a jeep ride into Santa Rita is very bumpy, but it brings you to a place that is quite and beautiful.  The village is of only a few hundred people, but it covers a large area of what is mostly farmland.  You'll see cows, horses, dogs, chickens, and a lot of coffee.

This mountainous area of the Andes is home to some of the most coffee production in the world.   People plant coffee here, and then hand pick each bean, husk it, and sort it based on grade.  The work is hard, but it is how many Colombian farmers make a living.

Sunset in Santa Rita

In the early morning from up on the ridge line (1,800 meters above sea level) you can sometimes see the clouds that have managed to cross over the first of the three mountain chains flowing into the valleys of the Coffee triangle.  Looking down on the tops of the clouds as they fill the remote valley of Santa Rita was one of the highlights of our hike.  

German is from the Santa Rita area and runs the Villa at which we stay, he is also a coffee farmer.  I am continually amazed by his endurance and willingness to share his local knowledge of local plants, water sources and the way the local farmers integrate their farms to maximize production and preserve the sensitive flora and fauna.  He would be surprised to know that I think of him as a teacher of practical ecology.  When farming in these mountains the farmers regularly and constantly are climbing up and down the sides 300, 400 and 500 foot hillsides carrying 60 lb bags of coffee beans (wet weight).  

 Along the way German points out which plants to avoid, some with thistle like needles, and some with poison ivy like defenses that cause rash and itching.  Interestingly, in this temperate environment there are very few bothersome insects.  They do not have mosquitos or other poisonous insects with the exception of the local variety of honey bees.  

 On our hike along the mountain ridge, German pointed out the two rivers flowing down the mountains, one on each side of the trail.  As we came to a bend in the mountain trail we could see across the valley to where one of the rivers was fed from the mountain in the background via a two hundred foot waterfall.  Although the air is a little thin, and we are not use to the exercise, we are pushed on, not by our drill sergeant, but by pure curiosity of what wonder might lay beyond the next bend or hill.  

I took a jeep to a mountain peak with my father, Henry, and German.  We walked a little over two hours, along a ridge-line, and descended into Santa Rita.  The jeep picked us up on the one road going through Santa Rita, and we returned to German's to eat well and sleep soundly.