Colombia's Corcora Valley is a startling sight. Its green rolling hills make you feel like you are in Switzerland except for one thing. There are palm trees popped up all over the hillsides. The exceptionally tall species of palm (the largest palm in the world) is known as Wax Palm and is unique in its presence so far above sea level and cooler climate. Corcora Valley (in Spanish, Valle de Cocora) is situated in Colombia's Coffee Country region. UNESCO has designated Colombia's entire coffee region as a World Heritage site. It is gorgeous.
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The Corcora Valley looks much like the surrounding area but for its palms. The majestic trees and the hills around them were granted government protection by being designated as a national park in 1985. The country named the Wax Palm as the national tree, in the hopes of preserving it from total destruction. Until that measure in 1985, it had been the practice of thousands of Colombians to descend on the area just before Palm Sunday to rip at the trees for their leaves. The tree trunks are scarred and weakened, and many have fallen to the ground.
Now a protected area, the park has been developed for hiking and horse trails.
A popular way of traveling by road through the park is on Willys Jeeps. Originally brought to the area in the 1950s as World War II surplus, they were used to transport coffee crops, pigs, people, whatever, through the tough terrain of the coffee country. They still are. But as tourism grows and better roads are built, the Jeeps are also used to shuttle tourists from Valle de Cocora trailheads to the nearby town of Salento.
Unlikely you'd see this in the USA, but people freely ride on the Jeep's back platform, hanging onto the roof as the Jeep winds through the gorgeous road.
