Bogota Blogger

Last weekend I went to Pereira, one of the three department capitals in the coffee region, and in the mountains and a valleys outside of town is where the palma de cera (wax palm) is found. This is the Colombian national tree, not because it’s common in the country, but because it’s so UNCOMMON in the world. 

There’s a town called Salento that is about an hour outside of Pereira, and from the mirador at the top of the town you can look down over a valley that the River Quindio flows through.  This valley and the slopes above it is where the wax palm flourishes. It’s protected now, of course, since it’s the national tree, but for years was exploited, and now is a fairly rare tree.

This tree can be 15 to 20 stories high, is tall and thin and has a typical palm-looking crown. The mature trees are anywhere from 150 to 200 years old, and they produce just one seed every two years. Take a look at the photo of the palm next to a building, to get persepctive.  In one of the other photos, if you can see a blue speck at the bottom of a palm, that’s me, a 6′2″ guy.

Also, the place is just a bit touristy (but not too bad, since it’s somewhat remote), and there are a few restaurants that are actually pretty charming. Trout is the specialty, since it’s plentiful in the river and some lakes in this area (which means the water is clean, since these trout need clean water to survive).  Some beautiful flowers in the region, too (as in most of Colombia).

This entry was posted on Friday, May 4th, 2007 at 8:15 am and is filed under Out of Town Trips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.