Category: Medellin

Coffee Tasting at Toucan Café Medellin

It’s almost the end of our trip to Colombia, and we had another “Must do” to cross of our list: a coffee tasting! Fortunately, we found a great place to sample and learn more about coffee in Medellin.  Toucan Café and Tours, only a 5 minute walk from our hotel in Poblado, hosts coffee tastings every weekday at 4PM. Here’s our experience at a coffee tasting at Toucan Café.

Coffee Tasting overview

We not only got a coffee tasting from our guide Juan (Not Valdez!), we got a master class in coffee origins, preparation, and the smells and flavors of coffee! We also got lucky and had a private class of just the the 2 of us! Both David, who organizes all the tours offered by the company, and Juan speak perfect English, so it was an easy and fun experience for us from the booking to the class.

After the history of coffee and coffee growing briefing, which Juan adjusted when he heard we had done the coffee farm tour in Manizales, we moved from the classroom to the café.

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Taking a Break in Guatape

People from Medellin know where to go for their weekend breaks: Guatapé. This beautiful lakeside town is located just a short 90 minute bus ride from the city. We took the bus, which was relatively painless and on time, and joined the Colombians on a break in Guatape.

Guatape overview

Guatapé sits on a man-made reservoir built in the 1960s by the hydro-electric company, and offers water sports opportunities. Another draw is the town’s beautiful colorful art decorations. For hikers, the town’s giant rock called El Peñon is a popular climb featuring beautiful views of the water and mountains.

Where to stay in guatapé

Yesterday afternoon, the bus dropped us right across the street from our hostel, Mi Casa, which is a lovely spot outside of town, overlooking the water and El Peñon. The owners, Suzy and Sean, are German and English and couldn’t be nicer!

Hiking el peñon

Since the hostel is walking distance from the rock, that was our first “Must do” activity while taking a break in Guatape. It was a sweaty climb up the 650+ steps to the top but wow the views were worth it! Glad we got a warm-up hike in Bogota.

El Penon in Guatape
El Peñol – look at those stairs!
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Flying Above Medellin 

I took the bus again this morning and this time it was totally worth it! Brian and I went paragliding in the mountains outside of Medellin and we both loved it. Read on for more about our experience flying above Medellin.

Leaving Medellin

It helped that the bus ride was under an hour. Quick and easy bus rides are the only bus rides for me. We left the city at around 9:30am and by 11am we were flying!

Why Paragliding

The mountain locale, weather, and air climate of the region makes for perfect conditions for paragliding. There are a number of businesses offering the service for a really inexpensive price. We paid $95,000 COP each for 10 minutes plus $10,000 COP for a video. Convert the currency and for the low low price of $87 Canadian two of us paraglided and we each got video and photos from the gopro they gave us to use on the flight. How could we NOT do it?!

Paragliding and Flying Above Medellin
View of some of the paragliders

Zona de Vuelo

We flew with Zona De Vuelo because they were the business who confirmed with us online. We probably could have just taken the bus to the drop-off point where all the businesses are and any one of them would have accepted our money. They all charge the same amount and they all fly from the same point of the mountain.

Me Paragliding
Me Paragliding

At Zona de Vuelo, they were very nice and organized. They checked us in, had us fill out some forms and pay of course, took our bags and secured them for us, gave us the photo cards, and pointed out where to walk up the mountain. We walked uphill to the takeoff and landing area and checked in there. We met our pilots – mine was named Jaime and Loves his job! – and got geared up. The mountain was amazing. We joined tens of other people who were just watching and/or getting ready to go on their flights. Everybody was happy and excited. No wonder Jaime loves his job.

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