There were a few reasons why I wanted to visit the tiny village of Salinas:
1. It's “off the beaten track” (in as much as somewhere with a write-up in the Lonely Planet can ever be considered “off the beaten track”)
2. Getting there involves a spectacular bus journey across the Andes
3. It's famous for its excellent CHEESE, salamis and chocolate! (Those who know me well will realise that that was really the main reason for the trip).
It's true that Salinas isn’t really on the main tourist trail - probably because it really is just a tiny village and it's a bit out of the way. I hadn’t met anyone else who was planning to go there, and I did ask myself whether it was worth the detour, but hey, I’ve been craving decent cheese, OK?!
The journey there certainly was spectacular. As the road wound its way through the mountains, I noticed that the slopes here were a patchwork of different colours, i.e. the entire side of the mountain was cultivated from top to bottom. The colourful fields were dotted with hedges and trees and tiny farms, and people out working on the land. The bus climbed up to altitudes of over 4000m and passed within 5km of the glacier on Volcán Chimborazo (Ecuador’s highest mountain) before descending into the small town of Guaranda. From here I had to sit in the back of a pick-up truck with a few sacks of grain, for the last 45 minutes to Salinas.
Salinas is one of those places, like Villa de Leyva and Oscar’s Place in Colombia, which just felt “good for the soul”. It consists of a number of cooperative enterprises, including all sorts of food production, textiles, ceramics and even the hotel I stayed in. As recently as the 1970s, Salinas was a village of mud huts, where most people lived in poverty, and the only jobs were in the local saltworks, where villagers were paid a pittance by the Colombian landowner. Then a visiting Italian Priest (Padre Antonio Polo: still very much revered in the village today) helped the locals to establish a credit cooperative, buy back their land, and then establish the first cooperative enterprise: the cheese factory (still the largest and most successful coop in Salinas).
40 years on, the work has spread throughout the region and there are now over 30 local communities contributing produce towards the cooperatives. They now export all over the world, including Alpaca wool to the UK, chocolates to Japan and mushrooms to Italy! Incredible!
Jorge, from the tourist office, took me around some of the “micro-empresas”, including those producing cheese, ham, salami, mushrooms, nougat, chocolate, ceramics, essential oils, wool, clothing, footballs(!) and of course the salt mines where it all began! Unfortunately I think I only got about 20-30% of what he told me and I really wished I could have understood more, as it seemed like such an interesting and inspiring story.
I was originally planning to stay in Salinas for just one night but ended up staying for three (hurrah for having a more flexible schedule this time!). There really wasn’t much to do there, but it was just so beautiful and peaceful and I felt completely content.
I loved the way the village has such a community feel about it: a real sense of working together and supporting each other. One night I had dinner at the local pizza restaurant (and when I say ”restaurant”, I mean someone’s front room) where a sign on the door proudly stated that 100% of the food served comes from Salinas. Another morning I had breakfast in the deli, and again everything I ate came from the village: fruit juice, cheese and ham toastie, scrambled eggs and hot chocolate! So, so good.
Salinas is at 3500m above sea level so the evenings were COLD! Luckily the community-owned hotel where I was staying had a roaring fire in the lobby and on the first evening I sat beside it with a couple of the locals, who were working the night-shift on the hotel reception, and watched "Troy" in Spanish (not my choice of film of course, but at least it was easy to follow!).
Business in Salinas is booming to such an extent that they need volunteer workers to help them keep up with demand. I told them I'd consider a stint in the cheese or chocolate factory but unfortunately the place they need most help is the mushroom factory, which didn't appeal quite so much. Maybe another time!
1. It's “off the beaten track” (in as much as somewhere with a write-up in the Lonely Planet can ever be considered “off the beaten track”)
2. Getting there involves a spectacular bus journey across the Andes
3. It's famous for its excellent CHEESE, salamis and chocolate! (Those who know me well will realise that that was really the main reason for the trip).
It's true that Salinas isn’t really on the main tourist trail - probably because it really is just a tiny village and it's a bit out of the way. I hadn’t met anyone else who was planning to go there, and I did ask myself whether it was worth the detour, but hey, I’ve been craving decent cheese, OK?!
The journey there certainly was spectacular. As the road wound its way through the mountains, I noticed that the slopes here were a patchwork of different colours, i.e. the entire side of the mountain was cultivated from top to bottom. The colourful fields were dotted with hedges and trees and tiny farms, and people out working on the land. The bus climbed up to altitudes of over 4000m and passed within 5km of the glacier on Volcán Chimborazo (Ecuador’s highest mountain) before descending into the small town of Guaranda. From here I had to sit in the back of a pick-up truck with a few sacks of grain, for the last 45 minutes to Salinas.
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| Chimborazo, as seen from the bus! |
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| The village of Salinas |
Jorge, from the tourist office, took me around some of the “micro-empresas”, including those producing cheese, ham, salami, mushrooms, nougat, chocolate, ceramics, essential oils, wool, clothing, footballs(!) and of course the salt mines where it all began! Unfortunately I think I only got about 20-30% of what he told me and I really wished I could have understood more, as it seemed like such an interesting and inspiring story.
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| Cheese heaven! |
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| Chocolate heaven! Can't begin to describe how good the smell was! |
I loved the way the village has such a community feel about it: a real sense of working together and supporting each other. One night I had dinner at the local pizza restaurant (and when I say ”restaurant”, I mean someone’s front room) where a sign on the door proudly stated that 100% of the food served comes from Salinas. Another morning I had breakfast in the deli, and again everything I ate came from the village: fruit juice, cheese and ham toastie, scrambled eggs and hot chocolate! So, so good.
Salinas is at 3500m above sea level so the evenings were COLD! Luckily the community-owned hotel where I was staying had a roaring fire in the lobby and on the first evening I sat beside it with a couple of the locals, who were working the night-shift on the hotel reception, and watched "Troy" in Spanish (not my choice of film of course, but at least it was easy to follow!).
Business in Salinas is booming to such an extent that they need volunteer workers to help them keep up with demand. I told them I'd consider a stint in the cheese or chocolate factory but unfortunately the place they need most help is the mushroom factory, which didn't appeal quite so much. Maybe another time!
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| Showing my support for the local businesses... |
Kate! Love your commentary and photos so far - looks like you're having such an amazing time.
ReplyDeletePS was also alerted to your fabulous hoodie from the last post. Looks good!! ;)
Ha ha, yes it's been getting a LOT of wear this last week. Really must do some laundry...
ReplyDeleteGlad you like the blog! x
Are they looking for any semi retired coppers?
ReplyDeleteI could do with a part time job. lord knows I have enough practice as a mushroom..... bit of a commute though. hmmm
the local clothing may give you as much insulation but not the lightness?