Armenia to Bogota, via Avianca Air.

our flight was cancelled, we were booked on a new one 2 hours later and given a complimentary lunch in the airport cafe. Avianca Air, BEST airline customer service ever.

what does Bogota have in store for us?  we shall see.

today we went to visit Cocora Valley and the nearby town of Salento.  the valley became part of the  Los Nevados National Natural Park in 1985, and was named after the Quimbayan princess, daughter of the local chief Acaime.  Cocora means star of water.

our walk was a bit overcast and rainy, but it was still a beautiful place, and very peaceful.  the valley is home to the Wax Palm, the national symbol of Colombia and has an average height of 196 feet. below is a close-up of the trunk –  the whiter part is slightly powdery & feels waxy to the touch.

after lunch at Donde Juan B, the farm at the base of the trail, we were given a wonderful treat. we were able to plant our very own wax palm on the property!  Mariano, the naturalist on the farm led the planting ceremony, which was really touching.  our palm was 3 years old, and it was about 8″ tall.  it won’t be at it’s full height until long after we are gone…..maybe i’ll leave a map in my will so one of my friends kids can go and visit on my behalf.

next we stopped off in the little town of Salento.  home to a population of 7247. although it was one of the first settlements in the region,  it is one of the quieter and more laid back towns, a favorite to backpackers and hippies the guide told us.  the main route from Popayán and Cali to Bogotá used to pass through Salento, but when the road was diverted the town became isolated and didn’t grow as quickly as some others.  it’s really charming and i wasn’t surprised to hear that Salento and Cocora Valley are among the most popular tourist destinations in Colombia.

the coffee zone, that is where we are. and i must say, the coffee is delicious.

today’s activities included breakfast, a tour of a local coffee farm, Recuca, lunch, a hammock nap, massage, cocktails, dinner and now bed.

i now know more about the history, growing and processing of coffee….do you know where coffee originated? do you know which country consumes the most coffee? i do.  after today i will appreciated my daily cup that much more.

as always, there are parts of an itinerary that i overlook until it’s need to know time….so i really wasn’t surprised when i realized we were driving from Medellin to Armenia. 6 hours.

thankfully, the coordinator changed things up a bit and instead of a bus trip, we had a driver, and he spoke English, bonus.

the road from point a to point b was one lane in each direction, shared once again by trucks, buses, cars, motorcycles and cyclists.  the road was under repair in many places due to landslides from the rain, taking it down to one lane.  had we been on a bus it would have been over a 10 hour trip.

we arrived at our hotel, Hacienda Combia around 1:30 PM, and immediately changed and went for a swim.  the pool is the first cold thing i’ve experienced on this trip.

the hotel is on a working coffee farm, the house is over 100 years old, and farm has been here 145 years.  it’s really charming, relaxing and our home for the next three nights.

today we met up with our fantastic guide from yesterday and she took us on a tour of the city.  Medellín is in a valley, and the population is 2.5 million people.  the valley itself, which is made up of 10 cities, has a total of 4 million people.

if you drive here it feels like you’re driving with 4 million people, let me tell you.  the battle between the buses (which there are a phenomenal amount), taxis, cars, motorcycles and pedestrians is mind-boggling.  the lack of road rules or lack of rule observance makes driving, and riding, a truly a harrowing experience.  i’ve never seen anything quite like it. evidently there is no shortage of organs available for transplant here due to the amount of motorcycle accidents that happen daily.

we took the Metrocable (they call it a cable car, i’d call it a gondola) up to the top of the city, which provided quite the valley view.  the cable car was installed for the people of the mountain area, so they could get better transportation up and down the mountain. previously it took one hour for a bus to take people up the hill.

when our guide was in grammar school, this mountain area was under the rule of Pablo Escobar.  she shared with us some stories about what it was like in Medellín during that period. i feel very blessed that i haven’t personally had to live though something like that, i can’t even imagine what it was like. it seems that although he died in 1993, it’s only now the people are beginning to live more freely, peacefully and can breathe easier.

there is a lot of building happening in the city, which is kind of amazing when you see the big view, there isn’t a lot of space to build. houses are being sold and torn down and buildings are going up in their place.  a lot of very tall narrow apartment buildings, when you look out over the valley it’s a sea of structure.

there are improvements being made as well.  by the end of 2018 they’re trying to have all the buses run on natural gas, they are building water treatment plants at each end of the river and creating greenbelt areas.

other sites visited today were Cerro Nutibara y Pueblito Paisa, Botero Square Sculpture Park (pictured below) and the Jardin Botanico de Medellín.

after a tasty breakfast we were picked up by our guide for the day and made our way to the train station.  from there we went to the bus station, and caught a local bus to El Peñón de Guatapé, the rock of Guatapé.

see that zipper staircase in the picture above? that is 740 steps from the bottom to the top, which is 220 meters of high.  the best time up was clocked at 4 minutes by some over-zealous runner.  we did it in 30 minutes, and that was just fine.  the views from the top were pretty amazing. 

the rock is quartz, feldspar and mica and was first climbed on July 16, 1954 by Luis Eduardo Villegas López, along with Ramon Diaz and Pedro Nel Ramirez, a doctor and a priest.  in case he fell, he would need a doctor, and in case he died he’d need a priest. smart man. they didn’t have stairs, they used sticks that were fixed against the rock wall, and it took five days. 

after the walk down and a rest, we took “the public transportation” to the town of Guatapé. 

we are in love with this place, and definitely want to come back and spend more time.  i took a million and two photos, and can only share so many here, but here are a couple of my favorites.

today we made our way to the new airport in Santa Marta to catch a flight to Medellín.   Avianca Air was the carrier, which was very nice. lots of leg room, comfy seats and complimentary entertainment, wow.

once in Medellín we were picked up and dropped off at our hotel, La Compana Hotel Boutique.  we were a bit spoiled by having a suite in Santa Marta for a week, so the room here feels small, but it’s a nice place. (except there is a serious lack of hooks.) the shower water pressure is fantastic, and they have a lovely garden and breakfast terrace, plus the largest avocados ever!

after settling in we decided to get a bite to eat and as soon as we left the hotel we were caught in a downpour.  thankfully we had our jackets, but we showed up at the restaurant looking like drowned rats.  they didn’t care because they weren’t open.  we quickly realized that most places don’t serve dinner until 6 PM, and we were eating at early-bird special time since we had been travelling and missed lunch.

so we ended up at our now favorite, yep…..Crepes & Waffles.  open all day and never disappointing, although the wine pour was a bit on the small side.

tomorrow, we will try a highly rated vegetarian restaurant, Verdeo, and Friday we have reservations at Carmen, which is supposedly delicious.  there is no lack of good food here.

we’ve spent a week in Santa Marta, and now the time has come to say goodbye. thankfully, my legs are almost back to normal, just a few small patches of rash left.

our time here has been relaxing and enjoyable, and i have no complaints. i suppose sometimes it takes a rather large, and in this case itchy and expensive, wake-up call to make you stop, slow down and take time to breathe. not something i do very often……

Sunday was a quiet day in town.  maybe because it was Sunday and people were spending time with the family or maybe because it was Mother’s Day and more people were places like the beach or park. or a nice air conditioned cafe.

we took the opportunity to visit the Museo del Oro Tairona Casa de la Aduana.  this originally was the Customs House that Simon Bolivar stayed at for six days before he went to the plantation home where he passed away.  the photo above is the view he would have had from his bedroom window, minus all of the modern day additions of course. the museum was really interesting, providing a history of the Pre-Hispanic societies, the people of the Magdalena Province, stories from the Casa de la Aduana (the house itself) and of course, of Simon Bolivar.

Monday held a visit of a totally different kind, to the local dental clinic.  note: never have dental work done the week you leave for a three week vacation.  i must say, Dentix was a lovely clinic in Santa Marta, with some very friendly staff.  through my passable Spanish, their little bit of English and Google Translator, we were able to diagnose and remedy the problem.  needless to say i need to call my dentist while here and schedule an appt. for when i return.  the issue?  my new crown has a high spot and it is hitting on the lower tooth in just a way to make it painful to bite & chew.  not ideal.

today was spent relaxing, wandering, repacking and a massage.  we booked the massages last week in anticipation of needing them after the hike.  why cancel because the hike didn’t happen?  you never need a reason for a massage!  then there was a rain storm.  a BIG rain storm.  the streets were flooded, the power was out, thunder & lightening……it was just like home 2 months ago.

tomorrow we’re off to the airport, headed to Medellín, where we will stay for three nights. they say it’s cooler there.  right, where have i heard that before?!

so long Santa Marta, it’s been fun!

cooler my ass……..there were about 5 seconds of cool.  that was at 7 AM.

the legs are getting better, slowly. the rash on my thighs has gone away, but the calves are still red, blotchy and very itchy. and this morning something very small with a stinger decided i was in its path and stung me on the walk back from the village.  i just can’t catch a break.

as you might have gathered from the previous post and the picture of Minca, it is really quite small, so there wasn’t a lot to do today.  breakfast, a walk around the property, a walk into the village, a cool drink at the Lazy Cat and back to the hotel. we then made our way back to Santa Marta.

Santa Marta now feels like home.  it’s really not a bad place to be for a few days, again the hotel is well situated, the room is spacious and there is A/C and a ceiling fan.

if my legs get better and i can stand being outside for more than 10 minutes, we may go see a couple more sites before we leave on Wednesday. if not, you may not see a post for awhile.

no Lost City. so much disappointment. there were some tears yesterday while nursing the rashy legs, but nothing a little pizza, beer and pain killers couldn’t make better. what can you do?  in our case, we packed up and took a trip to Minca for the night.

Minca is a village in the Sierra Nevada  mountains 30-40 minutes above Santa Marta. it is famous for its organic coffee and has “cooler” temperatures than Santa Marta. cooler, bah, that is a matter of opinion.

the village is small, but in the last few years has become quite the destination for birdwatching, they have over 300 species of bird in the area.  actually, they say tomorrow the area will be packed for some big birdwatching event, not being a big birdwatcher myself, i’m just looking forward to the slightly cooler temperatures.

before lunch we took a tour of a family coffee farm called La Victoria, where surprisingly they also make beer.  Happy Jaguar and Happy Toucan are the beers made in this little brewery.

La Victoria is a small farm founded in 1892, and they generally harvest the
ir coffee in October, but due to the climate changes, this has varied over the last couple of years. this past year they started harvest in October and ended in December.  they roast and sell coffee from their farm, and if we understood correctly, they also sell unroasted beans to various companies.  the coffee was delicious and we ended up with a couple of bags of beans to take home.

we had lunch at a little place called Dona Ana, and then made our way to the Sweet Harmony Hotel.  this hotel is owned by the same people as the one we stayed at in Santa Marta, so we were welcomed by familiar faces.

the rooms aren’t as spacious as Casa del Farol, but they have balconies with lush views and some of the river.  the river, on a sunny day can be crystal clear, and you can swim, but today the current was strong due to the rain, and it was pretty muddy.

after a rest and a cool down, we walked back into the village (the hotel is about a 20 minute walk) for dinner and ate at Sierra’s Sound right on the river.  we we
re the only people there, and the host/waiter/cook didn’t seem overjoyed to see us, but said they were open, so we we sat down.  it was super quiet, we were the only people there (all evening), but the food was good, and the owner showed up as were finishing.  she was lovely, in from Cordoba, which is a 7 hour drive, for a long weekend to check in on everything.  she took the time to show us around her guest house as well, which has 7 rooms, all with their own baths, A/C and some have decks over-looking the river.  had we not had a play to stay i would have been tempted to stay for the A/C alone.

Minca is the perfect spot for a little time away from the hustle and bustle of Santa Marta,
and hopefully the cooler temperature will help my legs heal sooner.

side note: the guide that took us to Minca said, that she thought it might be good we didn’t do the Lost City because if was raining here, it was REALLY raining there. it made me feel a little better.