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Day 1
Valle de Cocora to Finca La Argentina
Length: 9.9km Alt. start: 2,400m Alt. end: 3,400m Departure: 8am
Lunch: El Bosque
I met my guide at Salento around 8:00 am to be ready to leave by 8:30 am and hop on a Willys Jeep for the 12km drive to Valle de Cocora where our Trek starts. Valle de Cocora is a natural cloud forest and home of the Colombian national tree Palma de Cera. This giant wax palm tree, the tallest in the world growing up to 65 meters, was near extinction but regained life after the Colombian government designated it a protected area in 1985. In Cocora, after about a kilometer of easy hiking taking in the beautiful view of the valley, we crossed the Rio Quindío for the first time, enter the Bosque de Palmas forest and start hiking in the jungle. This is also the entrance into the Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados created on April 30, 1974.
We crossed the Rio Quindío twice before our destination. The forest is home to 250 species of birds including hummingbird, yellow-eared parrot, Blue-crowned motmot and Andean condor to name a few. The trail heads up quickly and we climb for the next 2.8km (about 3 hours), crossing the Bosque de Niebla and passing by an indigenous cemetery. After about an hour (2.5km) of hiking, we will take a lunch break (altitude 2,900m). After lunch, we headed out for the 3.5km (2.5/3 hours) hike that takes us to our final destination Finca La Argentina. The trail will ease up a bit and cross a prairie where sometimes raccoons can be seen walking around. The last 600 meters to Finca La Argentina will get a bit steeper again and take about 30 to 45 minutes. Dinner at Finca
Day 2
Finca La Argentina to Paramillo del Quindio to El Jordan
Length: 26 km Alt. start: 3,400m Alt. end: 3,200m Departure: 5.40am
I left La Argentina without breakfast at early morning about 5.40AM . I headed out toward Finca Buenos Aires (altitude 3,700m), on a kilometer steep uphill section where I had my breakfast, had a cup of coffee and resupply of water. After 20 minutes we reached the Paramo (from 3.750 to 3-750), In this vegetation, we can see the Frailejones. Some time after, when we reached 4.200 Mts from here normal route to El Jordan goes up about 100m and then goes downhill about 8km . We continued further towards Paramillo del Quindío. It is a s a 4,750–4,760 meter (15,620 ft) inactive volcano in Colombia’s Central Andes, acting as the highest point in the Quindío department . I left my backpacks 1 hour far from Paramillo del Quindío, went there, and then came back to have some snacks in the place where we had our luggage. I had to skip my lunch and pretty much lived on snacks . On the way down to El Jordan we stopped at El Berlin around 5PM . There I had big bowl of hearty soup , a bottle of beer, though I had an option to stay their , I decided to continue towards El Jordan. The track from here to El Jordon is very steep downhill , full of knee deep mud and slippery . Nevertheless I had to use headlamps for last 2 hr or so as it became dark. Before reaching to the camp , I had to cross a river on a wooden bridge at dark . And finally, I reached to El Jordan, a family farm, which was my second night refuge and where Tapirs camee freely, completing an itinerary in about 14 hours. El Jordan is the nicest farm I stayed in this region . I had my own room , electrictity (solar) and hot water.
Day 3
El Jordan to La Florida
Length: 14 km Alt. start: 3,200m Alt. end: 2,100m Departure: 8am Lunch: El Cedral
In my third day and final day , we were hiking, mostly downhill, at 8am for around 6hours in a path of 14 km, in order to arrive at El Cedral at 2.100 Mts, through another Bosque de Niebla located at the same altitude of Cocora Valley, but with a different flora due to the kind of land where it is situated. In el Cedral I had lunch there is going to be a Jeep waiting for us to drive us to La Florida, where I got my luggage . Here also I bid good bye to my guide and then the Jeep dropped me to my hotel in Pereira .
The flora and landscape is very different from Cocora valley , it was very wet . I saw quite a few species of birds and hummingbirds. There is also howler monkeys though I did not see any.
