I’m not wild about trees. At least, not wild about them in the sense that I can’t tell a pine from a fir and I definitely don’t care enough to pay attention to them most of the time. (For the record, I like trees as a concept – I just don’t feel compelled to get to know them personally).
Anyway, I’d seen some photos of wax palms and was intrigued. What I found so interesting about these trees is:
- They exist only in the mountainous valleys of Colombia (thus the national tree designation)
- They cluster together on steep mountain sides
Valle de Cocora is famous in Colombia for these wax palms, and since it’s so close to Salento, I wanted to check it out (plus, it promised some light hiking). The drive there was simply stunning, with lush green hills and valleys, dotted with the occasional (actually, very rare) farmhouse. The cows manage to perch along the hillside and not fall off, which changed our perception of cows a bit – although not much since Anna-Sophia still referred to them as “dinner” all day.
Wax palm is a dumb name for these trees. Without looking anything up on Wikipedia, I’d guess they grow to be 60-75 feet tall – they are tremendous – but like other palm trees, they have nothing but a trunk and a handful of leaves on top. They are simply the silliest-looking trees…that is, until you see them in person and words like “silly-looking” are immediately replaced by “majestic” and “impressive.”
Vacation Days 