Tag: Outdoors

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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A Long Hike Up a High Hill in Bogotá: Quebrada la Vieja or Chapinero Mountain

A Guided Hike in Bogotá

We knew we needed the exercise, and our host Robin was willing to take us up the nearby mountain for some outdoor entertainment and views of Bogotá. We got up early this morning and started at 6:30am for a long hike up a high hill in Bogotá.

Like hiking? Read my post about hikes in Curaçao

Chapinero Mountain

We left so early because the hike is on privately owned land and is only open to the public until 10am. It’s a beautiful spot along a river with eucalyptus and pine trees so it also smelled great too!

Hiking trail Bogota
Views of Bogota
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A Bogota Bike Tour And the Food to Fuel It

Today was a beautiful day in Bogota, so we experienced the city on two wheels with a Bogota bike tour.

Biking in Bogota

Sunday is a big day for cyclists in Bogota Colombia because they close the streets to cars. You heard me right! A big chunk of main streets in Bogota are shut down for pedestrians and cyclists for Ciclovia, and we wanted to be part of it! Since we don’t travel with bikes, we participated in a bike tour with Bogota Bike Tours. For 35,000 COP (less than $16 Canadian), we got a 5 hour ride around the city with a lot of facts and fun!

Fuel for the Bike Tour

The best way to get ready for a bike tour is to eat! Since we didn’t eat dinner last night because of our massive lunch, we stopped at a street with lots of Colombian restaurants. We wanted an authentic breakfast and got it at La Puerta de La Tradicion. We consumed coffee, a milk soup called changua (which was delicious) and chorizo. The food was good, the service was too, and from there it was a quick walk to the bike shop.

Bogota Bike Tour

The English language bike tour left around 10:40am from Bogotá Bike Tours and took us approximately 8KM around the city, with a lot of stops along the way.

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