Category: Colombia

Manizales to Medellin, Or I Hate the Bus

I hated it. To begin with, I am not a bus person. I need gravol for my motion sickness. This bus ride was supposed to take 4 hours and it ended up as 6 1/2. Plus it was 6 1/2 hours of windy roads. This happened to me already in Colombia and now I’ve learned my lesson. Non stop windy roads through mountains. The trip from Manizales to Medellin via bus reminded me that I hate bus trips.

The Roads from Manizales to Medellin via Bus

These roads were filled with trucks. Trucks that can’t handle windy roads up and down hills, so have to stop and wait at every single turn until there is enough room for them to navigate. Some of these waits lasted 15 minutes. Some felt like they were taking 30 minutes.

Brian said it was going to be worth it for the views. Nope. This wasn’t an epic road trip like The Garden Route or the Ring of Kerry. Not worth it. Hated it. Should have flown.

Losing my Book

Plus in all the desire to leave the most hated bus ever I left my Lonely Planet Colombia behind. I packed light but that was one of my prized possessions. It served its use and I am fine without it. It was pretty thin on Medellin – really? Only 4 pages for the 2nd biggest city in the country? Fine. We’ll use our wits and we’ll see how that goes! Maybe some good stories ahead!

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The Coffee Tour

After a 3 hour tour of Hacienda Venecia today, I am impressed by all the labor that goes into one cup of coffee. Here’s my take on the coffee tour at Hacienda Venecia.

Lots to Learn

We learned a lot about coffee today!  I admit, I didn’t know very much to begin with so anything is added knowledge for me!

Colombia coffee production is high because the region isn’t troubled with seasons. They have sun and rain all the time in the coffee zone and the plants need both elements so it works out in their favor.

The Coffee Farm

We got to see a lot of the production at the farm: from little seedlings to a walk through the growing plants and more. We saw the flowers and fruit and got to watch as the farmers unloaded the day’s pickings.  The guide also showed us where the fruit gets sorted. Interestingly the premium beans are reserved for export and the worst/3rd level stay domestic as cheap coffee in Colombia. The foreigners pay a lot more than they can afford to pay here. Which explains why my host family in Cartagena drank instant coffee!

Different stages of coffee: fruit, green beans and roasted beans
Different stages of coffee: fruit, fermented beans, green beans and roasted beans
coffee fruit
The fruit on the tree: ripe and unripe

Colombian Coffee

Colombia is the 3rd or 4th largest exporter of coffee – I had no idea Vietnam was so big! – and Juan Valdez is a great story. He’s not a real person, but made up to give Colombian coffee more clout! They use Juan Valdez as a collective of Colombian coffee growers to get marketing and selling power, and to fund their farms and workers.

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Manizales Town and Termales

After a fantastic night’s sleep at the finca, yesterday’s plan was to explore the nearby town of Manizales and local hot springs, or termales. We had a great day and are so glad we visited Manizales town and termales.

Manizales Landscape

Manizales is part of a beautiful landscape but I could never live here. The driving up and down and around winding mountains is too much for my motion sickness! I have taken gravol before every single drive into and out of this coffee farm and I am still feeling it!

visit to the town

We took the Hacienda Venecia van to the highway and the lovely Angela from the hotel accompanied us into town. We hitched a ride with a collectivo jeep for a 15 minute journey that cost 5000 COP for the two of us (about $2.20 Canadian). Cool trip – the views along the mountains are lovely. I just would be addicted to Gravol if I lived here.

We walked around the town a bit, visited some plazas and a cathedral.

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