Zona Cafetera (Colombia Part 5)

     On our way out of Medellín we rented the car and stayed near the airport so we could meet our final guide, Sebastian, who flew in from Bogotá.  Lucy's nephew was to accompany us for 5 days.  The first leg was Medellín to Manizales: 142 miles.  This is almost the same distance as Phoenix to Flagstaff, a drive we've done hundreds of times... in 2 hours. Google suggested our route would take 6 hours.  Google was wrong. It took 8.5hrs. Half of it was a series of one-way construction traffic letting only one direction pass at a time. Judging from the construction projects we saw, in about 5 years transportation in this country may be light years advanced! The views on the drive between 2 spurs of the Andes (Occidental and Central) were wonderful and literally dizzying. Graciously, Sebastian let me sit in the front, which helped a little.

Our balcony view from Finca Mirador Morrogacho promised a great week!

     Manizales is in the famous Zona Cafetera (Coffee growing region).  On our first morning we toured Finca Guayabal in Chinchina.  We had a very informative class, a short hike, and an enormous lunch.  One highlight was the hummingbird feeding station in the open sided tasting room.  (Confession: my favorite kind of coffee is 75% milk and sugar.)  I could have skipped the bitter sampling and just watched the birds)!  

     Our Hotel had great breakfasts with thin sesame seed pancakes and offered vegetarian dinner service which we partook of twice.  The large family table fostered the opportunity to mingle with fellow guests from The Netherlands, France, Germany, India and San Fransisco.  The girls' favorite feature were the friendly dog and cat and this incredible aviary where they could hand-feed parrots and love birds.

     Another draw to this area are thermal hot springs. Most of them are developed spas with the natural hot water filling concrete swimming pools.  We visited Santa Rosa, which has 4 such pools with the backdrop being this beautiful (cold) waterfall.

     July 20 is their Independence Day.  We went into Manizales for a city-day and caught the parade (heavy on the military representation). We also climbed the church tower, played billiards, and took in a soccer match.  Although we tried several viewpoints at different times of day, the peaks of the Nevados to the east were always in clouds. Next time we hope to do some trekking in the National Park.

When in South America....Fùtbol: Manizales defeated by Medellín. 
We heard some scary stories about crowds at soccer games, but this Women's match was lightly attended and FREE.  We couldn't miss the opportunity.

Farewell to Sebastian.  We dropped him in Pereira for a flight back to Bogotá.  His school term started the next day.  Many thanks for guiding us around the region and being our translator!

     On the way south, we stopped in Filandia for an hour.  It has the same aesthetic as Guatapé, but we were here on a drizzly day so didn't stay long.  Our last adventure of the trip was visiting the Valle de Cocora, famous for tall Wax Palms. We stayed in the small town of Salento near the National Park.

     We opted for the 6.8 mile loop and completed it, counterclockwise, in 6 hours. Some parts of the trail require intuition to assume you are on the right route, but we never strayed incorrectly. Jeff was peeved by the detour to the Acaime Bird Reserve. It is definitely skippable if you have seen a few hummingbirds elsewhere. The rest of the Cocora Valley loop hike is excellent.  The girls did great and complaints were kept to a minimum as they rationed gummy worms and chatted about back-to-school shopping.

The fabled hot chocolate with cheese is on the menu at the Aciame Bird Sanctuary.  The cheese is salty and squeaky, not melty.

The trail passes through a lot of private property. There are horses and cattle fenced in along the way.

The fast moving clouds added interest to the tall palms as they rolled up the hillsides.

     Our final stop was in Chinauta to meet Lucy's sister, Margarita.  She and Guillermo were so kind to host 4 road weary strangers in their gorgeous home.  They fed us, entertained us, and taught Jeff how to play Carambola (a 3 ball billiards game on a pocketless pool table).  

We also go to meet Sebastian's mom, Ceila.  She prepared us a scrumptious lunch then took the girls out to get fresh manicures.

Our final coffee date in Fusagasugá.  I cannot pronounce or spell that name without looking it up.

     We headed back to Bogotá the day before our flight, leaving no time to ever explore the capital.  The rental car was due back at the airport before the "Pico y Placa" traffic reduction ordinance banned our plate number from travel within the city.  With the heavy traffic and confusion of "retornos", we did not make the deadline.  This put the Avis Rental Agent in quite a tizzy.  Hopefully we won't receive a fine in the mail!  

There are so many areas of Colombia that we did not get to experience:  

• Whale watching on the Pacific.
• Multi-day Peak and Glacier trekking in El Cocuy or Los Nevados.
• The Tatcaoa Dessert, Caño Cristales, the giant hammocks of Minca, Cañon de Río Claro, the dunes of Guajira, that really interesting pyramid shaped peak somewhere, etc....

But we had an experience unlike any other international trip we've done: gaining many new friends and extended family.  

¡Muchas gracias por todo!