Tag: Manizales

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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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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Life on a Colombian Coffee Farm

After a long wait for a flight this morning, and another wait for a ride, we made it to Colombia’s famous Zona Cafeteria! We will be enjoying delicious fresh coffee for the next few days from our base on a coffee farm (finca) outside of Manizales. The finca is called Hacienda Venecia and it is proving to be a lovely place to relax after the hectic pace of our city stays the past week. We are experiencing life on a Colombian coffee farm.

Coffee Farm Location

The finca is outside of the city of Manizales. We flew from Bogota this morning and took a very winding cab ride through the mountains to get here. I should have taken a pill before the drive because it was worse than a roller coaster, but we arrived safe and not sick.

About The Coffee Farm

This is a working coffee farm, with a hostel and two guest houses. They offer tours every day to the public, and three meals a day. There are birds and wildlife, green trees everywhere, an orchid house, hammocks for resting, trails for hiking and pools for swimming. We will be here for 2 nights and plan to experience as much as is on offer, which includes the coffee tour, 7:30am yoga and free coffee all day long! (I’ve already had an espresso and it is delicious!)

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