Armenia´s coffee region

Salento

So instead of heading to the Pacific I am on a bus to Armenia, the capital of the department Quindio. There I change the bus and head towards Salento, the most popular village in this department, and check into the hostel "Ciudad de Segorbe – a place run by 2 super nice guys from Spain. Its almost sunset and I drop my stuff and run outside since the sun is out which gives me a chance to take some nice pictures. The village is pretty small so that I run around the center in less than 30 minutes before I climb up the stairs in the Calle Real to have a marvelous view over the village and on the other side over the mountains. The setting sun sets the mountain peaks alight and offers me a spectacular picture. I walk around and come to a place from where I get to see a rainbow coming out of the mountains breaking half way through. This mesmerizing view and the intense smell of the plants and trees around me, gives me a rush of excitement which I haven’t felt for a while. I feel free again, far far away from the smog and rush-hours of the Colombian cities. If there is one thing that this journey has changed in my life then it is my relationship to nature. In the past I always enjoyed my life in the biggest cities Europe’s and only rarely tried to escape the stressful life. I had my own ways to release the stress that was building up. However, since I have been to places in the jungle or after spending 2 weeks on a lost island in the Pacific I have found a resource of energy, one that actually restores my energy level without harming my body and also delivers peace and balance into my life. When I get back to the hostel I take time to talk to Henry, one of the owners, who, in a very friendly and charming way, tells me what I should definitely do and see during my stay.

 The first thing on the agenda is Valle de Cocora, one of the most beautiful places I have been to in Colombia and extremely popular not only with the travelers but also Colombians. I take the Jeep at 7.30am. With me on board is Ted, a Swedish guy I met in Cali. During the drive we get to know another Dutch couple and another Swiss girl. All 5 of us then make their way through the Valley. Our way leads us through a valley surrounded by a mountain range. Everything is covered in a bright green thanks to the never stopping rain. Luckily for us the morning is very nice and the sun is shining for the first 2 hours of our hike. On the way we pass a small waterfall which Henry told me about. After that we make our way up the hill and have to cross the river 10 times or so because the way goes zigzag. At around 12pm we reach the point we can watch an enormous number of Calibri’s which flies in front of our nose. All of us take millions of pictures since it is very challenging to get a good shot of a Calibri. As well we have a hot chocolate with cheese, something very typical in this region (not necessarily for my taste). After that break we carry on our hike with the most difficult part ahead of us. The last 800 meters to the top have a sharp incline and with the muddy earth under our feet it is challenging. I leave the others behind and go up my own pace reaching the top just in time before the heavy rain starts. The 4 of them come 15 minutes later soaked and we wait an hour until the rain stops. The way back is on a road that is used by cars and by far easier than the other side, especially since its going down. The mountain range is covered in fog and at first we can only see shadows of the famous 70 meter high palm trees growing on those mountains. But the more we go down the better the sight becomes so that we get a pretty good picture of this beautiful region. After 6 hours we reach the entrance and our journey is over.

On the second day I do another hike around Salento which brings me to a famous coffee farm. Just before I reach the farm I take the wrong way and get lost for an hour going a way that leads nowhere but further and further away from where I wanted to go. On the way I pass twice houses with dogs that yell and attack me. A few month ago I would have been scared to death but in the meantime I have learned that nothing happens if you show no fear which is exactly what I am doing both times. And both times the dogs surround me without actually attacking me. James told me that he was once attacked by a dog here in the same region when he walked through a private property. He made the mistake and ran and as a consequence the dog bit him in the ass so that he was actually bleeding. When the owner came he started laughing at the sight of a gringo with a bleeding ass on his property – hilarious!!!

 Anyway, at some point I get back on track and minutes later reach the farm. I only go there because I would love to have a coffee and also need a loo. The administrator shows me around and tells me all about the coffee production. The whole trip takes 40 minutes at the end of which I get my coffee ;) After that I continue my hike and bump into a group of soldiers at the turn around. They check my bag, the first time it happens to me since I am in Colombia, and direct me towards Salento after being sure I am not carrying weapons or drugs. Most people I know still believe that Colombia is a dangerous place to be. Well, believe me IT IS NOT. The guerilla has long been pushed far away from most places so that for 3 to 4 years the country is safe again. Most people also still believe that the Cocaine is coming from Colombia but this as well is not entirely true anymore since the biggest Cocaine producer are Peru and especially the less know Bolivia where the guerilla fled after being defeated in Colombia. Therefore, the army has a very high status amongst the population in Colombia for freeing the country from terror. After 5 hours I come back to Salento and spent the rest of the day traveling to Armenia to get cash because I wouldn’t get it in the only bank in Salento.

Traveling Colombia´s biggest cities

Bogota

The capital of Colombia with its roughly 9mio inhabitants is a vibrant and metropolitan city Latin Americas. It is the first capital on my travel that I could actually live in. It has a very beautiful city center with a mixture of colonial and historic buildings and modern skyscrapers in the financial area. It is also the first city in which I can actually get everything I would be able to consume in Europe, most importantly books. In most streets in the city center you can find at least a book shop which shows the education level of Colombia which is way higher than in all Central American cities. Reason for that is that Colombia has actually a middle class like in all western European countries and a very good school system. During my time here I was for the first time during my trip not confronted with poverty, which is not to say that it doesn’t exist. Apparently, Colombia is one of the worst countries in the world in terms of redistribution of wealth and protection of human. My friend James, a specialist on this subject, told me that union members fighting for labor rights disappear or get executed. Nevertheless, thanks to my friend Luis, who I met 4 years ago in London, my experience in Bogota will go down as one of the best times of my travel.

I haven’t spoke to Luis since I left London and frankly speaking I didn’t know much about him and his life when I got in touch with him a few month ago telling him that I will come to Colombia. Still he welcomed me as if we knew each other for ever and introduced me to his family and friends. I spent a week in his José Luis´ apartment, one of the closest friends of Luis. Since Luis´ family moved in the suburbs of Bogota he asked his friend to put me up so that I can stay closer to the city center in order to have shorter travels. Despite not knowing me, José Luis hospitality surpasses everything I have ever experienced in my life and makes my stay in Bogota unforgettable. Luis and his friends look perfectly after me, tell me which places to visit, what food to try and take me out partying. The only little downturn to my time in Bogota is the weather. Being located on 2600m the temperature in Bogota is the worst that I have had since leaving Europe. When the day was cloudy or rainy the temperature dropped under 10 degrees and during my stay I had not one sunny day J This alone would be reason enough not to live there after my 3 depressing years (in terms of weather) in Dublin.

Medellin

When I leave Bogota I already know that after that great experience everything after that will not be able to match that. For the first time I have heard about Medellin when I was in Nicaragua. James told me that this city, with 4mio inhabitants the second biggest in Colombia, is known for having the most beautiful women Colombia´s. At first I obviously get all excited about that and cannot wait to be there. But the more I heard about Medellin the less attractive the whole story became for me. My friends in Bogota tell me finally that all the beauty there id fake and 90% of the women have some kind of plastic surgery. This is when I totally lose my last bit of excitement. Plastic surgery, I am told, is very huge in Colombia so that even Americans come down here to get their boob job done or to improve other area of their ugly bodies. Most travelers come here either in the hope to meet the girls of their dreams or just to fuck prostitutes and get fucked up on coke. Most of them do both and an infamous hostel for that is "The Pit Stop". James stayed there for a couple of days and told me about the negative atmosphere created by this kind of travelers. When he came down at 10 am to the pool he would meet people who spent their night snorting and had to listen to their homophobic conversations. He also told me that 3 month ago the bar keeper in this hostel died of an overdose. Unfortunately this is the downside of Colombia and this kind of people will end up destroying the reputation of travelers amongst the Colombians.

I arrive on Thursday 28.10.10 in Medellin and stay there until Sunday. Unlike Bogota, with its broad streets and avenues, Medellin is build very tight with little space between the buildings and on the roads which reminds me of London. I don’t like the vibe of the city from the moment I arrive at the terminal and my feeling doesn’t change in the following days. The best thing I do is a trip to Guatape, a little town north of Medellin which is famous for its huge rock "La Piedra" from which you have an amazing view on the breathtaking lake district. Not knowing how long the trip would be I start a bit late and reach "La Piedra" – a 200m high rock – around 2pm just when the clouds start to cover the sun. I run up the stairs only to totally lose my breath before I reach the top. Still, when I stay on the top platform I get a view that is one of best that I had on my journey through Latin America. Wherever I look I can see lakes and land or islands that break them up. After that I go to Guatape to discover that it is a very pretty little town, a bit cheesy, but with its own charm. Every building in the center has a colorful stucco. I would have loved to eat a fish fresh from the lake but I since I was running late I end up having a haircut before I catch the bus back to Medellin. I regret not having more time to spent there and make a note on my mind to come here for a couple of days on my return to Colombia.

Cali

After another night bus ride I arrive in Cali on Monday morning after Halloween. I have two reasons to be in Cali, for once I want to take salsa classes and Cali is supposed to be the best place for it in the world, and the other is to meet up with James, the Australian guy I met in Nicaragua. The time in Cali flies even though I don’t do too much there. My hope of improving my salsa skills end up in a disappointment after a private lesson in Caleño, the salsa style from Cali which is famous all over the world. It is soooo different to what I learnt in Guatemala and pretty tough to get into it that I decide not to spend any money on it. That leaves me with nothing to do in Cali since the city itself is pretty ugly to be fair. Gunther, the German hostel owner of a place I stay with James for a while, tells me that Cali had no importance in the past. For that almost all old buildings have been destroyed in order to build new ones. The oldest building in town is only 150 years. But the time I spent with James, talking about our life and our personal challenges, makes up for anything that the city is missing. At the latest when I arrived in Colombia I realized that I will not meet too many interesting people during my journey. Travelers, even though they have a different mindset to the people who stay all their life in one place, are not any different to them. This means for me that connecting with interesting and inspiring people is by no means easier on the road. That’s why I get the best out of the week with James and regain a lot of energy I lost traveling from one city to the next. Already in Medellin I realized that I had had enough of being in cities and longed to be back to nature, far far away from the civilization. My original plan was to go to the Pacific but like so many times before I change my plan and decide to go to the Amazon instead and go by boat to Peru instead of flying to Cuzco. For that I need to go back to Bogota since I can only fly from there to Leticia which is on the border to Peru.