i’ve been home since Friday evening, and figured i had better write a wrap-up and put out the final Colombia post.

in Bogota there is the most amazing street art, sadly i was only able to get a couple of pictures.

a guide told us that a few years ago, a kid was tagging a wall and the local police shot him. not long after Justin Bieber was playing a concert and asked if he could create a graffiti piece.  the authorities said yes, and arranged security while the “celebrity” created some terrible Canadian leaf or something of that nature.  rightly so, the people of the city were outraged,  a local boy gets killed for painting a wall and yet they bring out 3/4 of the police force to guard a pop-star while doing the same thing.

in order to help right the wrong, the mayor opened up a portion of the city to street art and offered a cash award to the artist with the best piece.  people are still creating new pieces, and some of the artists are now quite famous.

a tragic story with an artistic outcome.

hard to believe this is our last day in Colombia.  seems like just yesterday we landed in Cartagena and i was complaining about the heat and humidity.  by the way, Bogota, perfectly lovely climate.

throughout the entire trip we have been enjoying a variety of local beverages including beer from BBC, the Bogota Beer Company.  since we were in Bogota, we decided to spend part of our day on a BBC tour.

the BBC started in an old downtown Bogota house, and outgrew the space a couple of years ago.  they moved into a new business zone area about 40 minutes outside of the city into a brand new and specifically designed building.  the business is run by 22 employees and they brew a wheat, lager, ale, red, porter and honey beer, plus 4-5 seasonal beers.

we had a private tour and enjoyed every bit of it.  we learned the history of the beer and brewery, had a tour of the space, saw the beer lab, had a tasting at the bar and even saw the beer master (a woman!),  a very fun tour.

after the tour we took the cable car up to Monserrate to see the view of the Bogota, and the site itself. the view is pretty amazing, as it is 10,341 ft above the sea level, and there is a church (built in the 17th century) with a shrine, devoted to El Señor Caído (the Fallen Lord).

we ended the day at a crazy fun restaurant called Andres Carne de Res on Calle 82.  i can’t even begin to explain what it was like, and my pix don’t do it justice. try to picture a 4 story warehouse, with a small dance floor on the second floor, and Colombian and American music favorites playing.  the decor was a cross between a Cirque du Soleil set, Mexican tarot card art, a flea market and a little Disneyland thrown in for good measure.  they had people in costume putting on skits throughout the restaurant and a crazy band that played at individual tables.  the whole experience felt like it it would be home in Las Vegas.  the food and drinks were good, combined with the atmosphere, it equaled an unforgettable experience.  a perfect way to end the vacation.

Bogota is really like any other big city i’ve visited……there are good areas with very picturesque sites, and then not so pretty areas that just feel sketchy.

we walked around a little bit last night looking for a place to have dinner, and i was slightly unnerved.  maybe it’s because everyone during this trip has said, “oh be careful when you get to Bogota, watch your bag, watch your wallet, it’s pretty bad, they’ll take the cell phone right out of hand, etc.”  so the streets felt dark & sinister.

we ended up at a fun little place (a chain) called La Hamburgueseria, which really felt like a jazz club that served burgers.  lot’s of cool jazz posters on the wall and a crazy colorful painting in the back of the room, and good jazz playing throughout dinner.

today, in the light of day, we saw that there wasn’t anything sinister at all about our area. it’s primarily student filled, and there is a lot of activity as it’s by a variety of cultural attractions…..you do need to watch your step while walking though, lots of missing utility covers causing big holes in the sidewalks and people with dogs here don’t seem to know the concept of bringing bags on a walk.  but hey, at least unlike the streets of SF, this poo belongs to a dog.

the day started with a bicycle tour through the city hosted by Bogota Bike Tours.  Mike, the owner, is from Walnut Creek and we spent some time chatting over coffee and pastry at our first stop on the tour.  he’s a really nice guy, and i’m glad we had the opportunity to hang out with him for a bit before we headed out for the rest of the ride.

we only road about 10 miles, but saw lots of sites along the way.  we stopped to enjoy a coffee at Cafe de la Fonda, fresh fruit at the La Macerena Market and a quick game of Tejo.

Tejo, the brown square you see is clay, the white circle is made up of gun powder in paper triangles, and the goal is to hit and make the triangle explode, plus, hit the center of the target with a hand-sized rock. it’s a drinking game……gun powder and alcohol, what could go wrong?

super fun tour once you get comfortable riding on the sidewalk, dodging pedestrians and cars, and not using any directional hand signals. warning, don’t try this at home.

after the tour we went to the Museo Botero (which is free) to see not only the works of Fernando Botero, but also his private collection of art.  pieces by Picasso, Monet, Dali, and Miro to name a few.  impressive.  we also walked down to the Plaza Bolivar and enjoyed a little organ music at the Catedral Primada.

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.