Tag: Outdoors

Great Walking Tour of Medellin – in English!

Yes, I am tired from the day of touring the city of Medellin, but more than that, I am really impressed by this sprawling and interesting – and beauty filled – city of 2.5 million people. I am even more impressed because we did a great walking tour of Medellin in English.

This morning I woke up at 8:45am! I haven’t slept this late since sometime in July in Toronto, maybe. I don’t remember. After all the action of yesterday, I slept late today.

Real city tours

After our morning self-guided tour, we spent yesterday afternoon in a walking tour of the city with Pablo, the founder and owner of Real City Tours. The day was a mix of rain, clouds and sun, and Pablo always found a place with shelter or provided us with umbrellas and rain ponchos so we were comfortable. The tour is advertised as “free” and you provide a tip at the end based on how good you thought it was. After 4 hours of learning so much about Medellin, its people, sights and culture, we thought the tour was great!

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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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