If you wonder where our coffee comes from..

Your next cup of coffee may just come from my hard work here in Colombia ;)

Taganga & the northern coast of Colombia.

 It is the only place in the world where you can see snow capped mountains and tropical beaches at the same time. You can't deny it is a place of stunning beauty. Taganga was mainly my starting point for the side trips I took to Tayrona National Park and Minca.

a beautiful flower on the hike up to Casa Loma in Minca

Between my side trips, I spent about 4 or 5 days in Taganga working on my scuba diving certification. These days mostly consisted of diving in the morning, reading/studying diving all afternoon and treating myself to yummy beach food. Fish, juge de maracuya (passion fruit juice), jugo de lulo (a delicious local grown fruit juice), and arequipe (dulce de leche/caramel flavor sauce).

Taganga is a small lovely fishing village, and a place that certainly makes you feel at home quite quickly.  It's a nice, somewhat tranquilo, beach town, but for me, it was the surrounding area that really did it for me. The prior blog was about Tayrona National Park, and now this blog is about Minca.

Minca has a very brief section in the travel guide (so fortunately for right now, it's not toooo touristy.)  As described by the Lonely Planet, "Minca is a small town located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A place rich with waterfalls, coffee farms, hiking, and over 300 species of birds." Sold. The description was enough for me to pack up my small pack, get off the beaten tourist path, and take the hour long motorcycle ride up the mountain to this place.

Here I stayed at Casa Loma, just a few minutes outside of town. With the hammocks, amazing views, and friendly laid back people, I was content spending 2 days just hanging out at the hostel. I did such such that my first day, but my friend James and I decided to take a trek the following day to Los Pinos. This is about a 3 hour walk past waterfalls and through coffee plantations to the top of the mountain. At the top of the mountain there is another hostel (Hostal Los Pinos) that opened 20 days prior to us getting there. We were undecided about staying up there, but once we got to the top overlooking those mountains and the beach, we knew we just had to stay. The hostel only averages 2 people a day. James & I were those 2 people for that day.

My friend James

Here, we spent the afternoon on the swing that overlooks the mountains and the beach (unfortunately you can't see the view of the beach in my camera), just talking, and watching the weather change every 10 minutes (from amazing cloud forest, to sunny clear skies - providing an opening of the mountains below). There is something so peaceful about having all the time in the world just to watch nature (the birds, the beach, the mountains) & the sounds that go along with it. James saw his very first hummingbird in his life. He was unable to answer which was more incredible to see for the first time; hummingbirds or fireflies (that he saw in the national park a few days prior) 

the hostal we stayed in

We stayed out on that bench until after sunset. The sunset I saw through these mountains and over the Caribbean coast was certainly one of the best sunsets I have seen in my life.

some views of the mountains before & during sunset

I planned to leave here early the next morning (not really by choice), but to head back to Cartagena, since I had a flight to catch the following day. Those plans quickly changed since meeting Juan Carlos, a local farmer, in the hostel. He invited us to take a tour of where he lives (out of a tent) and his coffee farm. We gladly accepted the offer (knowing it may not be a good idea since I was planning on getting back to Cartagena that night, which is a 6 hour ride), but I hated to pass up something as interesting as this. Instead I just have to wake up super early to get the airport. No problem.

lucking out and getting a ride halfway up to his farm

We spent over 2 hours on his farm preparing coffee (starting with the dry coffee bean, taking the shell off, and then roasting it.)  It took us those 2 hours to make a pound of coffee. Juan Carlos has volunteers come to his farm from all over the world to help him with his coffee and crops and learn about living more sustainable.

the coffee plants

For me, it is such a rewarding experience to get off the beaten "gringo" path. I thought I was doing such by heading up to Minca. I thought I was really getting off the beaten path by heading up the mountain to Los Pinos. Then getting up to this coffee farm (7 hours away from a town walking, or an hour by car (on the bumpiest road ever - I would almost prefer to walk), really made me feel adventurous. It's nice knowing I've been to places, and seen parts of Colombia that very few backpackers go. I see this area really taking off with tourism in the future, and it's nice to be one of the first to experience it.

making the coffee

before and after of the beans

Tayrona National Park

 

Here was the place that helped me realize just how small the world is. There were many people at this park who I had met prior in my travels. The most craziest being a couple from France who I met in Argentina 4 months ago. There was, Jenny, from Germany, who I was traveling with for a bit in southern Ecuador. Two Argentinian girls that I met in Medellin were on the shuttle to the park. They were with another guy, James (from China). With them, I spent most of my time at the park.

I was so honored to be with James when he saw his first firefly/lightning bug in his entire life. The response could be comparable to a 5 year olds reaction on Christmas morning or someone seeing snow for the first time in their life.

The topic came up various times throughout the night, and he found he wasn't the only one to be awed by these creatures. Everyone from various parts of the world were so excited about this insect, we all even learned how to say "firefly" in 5 different languages.

The park costs about $19  to get in, or $4 if you are a student (why on earth did I ever get rid of my student ID?) The park offers a variety of flora and fauna because of the two ecosystems (mountain & sea). During the 4 days, we saw monkeys (titi & howler), blue crabs, beautiful birds and not to mention all the marine life. We paid about 6 dollars for the hour to snorkel in the area La Piscina, which vale la pena, we saw some pretty amazing marine life (despite the strong current) - turtles,  stingrays, beautiful colored fish and coral.

the camping area at Cabo San Juan

We slept in hammocks for 5 dollars a night, which I guess helped them justify overpricing their food. The cheapest item on any menu was the spaghetti (basically just a handful of it and not even good) for 6-7 dollars. I'm glad I wasn't the only one wanting to take the cheap route on this one. So here it is, you know you are a poor backpacker when:

the hammock area where we slept

1. You spend hours cooking from scratch - survival cooking (finding dry firewood, building a fire, and ATTEMPTING to start the fire, and waiting for hours for our food to cook over a somewhat lit fire, due to the somewhat wet firewood.
2. You pick fruits from the tree or from the ground to eat (and even consider selling.)
3. You wait over an hour to boil water for your morning coffee because you don't want to pay for a coffee.
4. You drink water from the tap (even after the locals warned us not to.)

on the beach with Ceci and Eugenia from Argentina.
 This part of the beach you are not allowed to swim in,
 because over a 100 people drowned here.

This place has been the highlite of Colombia so far. We ended up staying for 4 days, which was enough. It was nice to get out of my swimming suit, take a nice shower, and sleep in a bed. I plan on staying around Taganga for another 3 days to get my scuba diving certification. Here is one of the cheapest places in the world to get certified, and it will sure come in handy if I move to Southeast Asia :)

Cartagena

Medellin, Colombia

The land of fake butts, fake boobs, loud music, salsa, and party. And let that be doubled because of the week long feria.

Medellin was fun. Maybe a bit too much fun for me. I was excited to get out of the city of Medellin, and on to somewhere more relaxing, like Tayrona National Park (where I would spend my days on the beach or in the jungle and my nights sleeping in the hammock). 

Before going to the National Park, I stopped in Cartagena for a few days. I took an hour flight from Medellin, which came to be about to be about $40 ($20 cheaper & 19 hours shorter then the bus). I stayed here for only a day and a half before moving on to Taganga/Santa Marta/Tayrona National Park

Cartagena is a lovely place. It is the port that is used for people taking the boat to or from Panama. There are some nice beaches and tourist spots near by, but I enjoyed just spending the day and a half walking around admiring the colorful houses and the flower displays. I knew better beaches were to come for me in Tayrona.

Here I stayed in Hotel Familiar - which is pretty basic, but it was nice to have a private room (for the cost of what I would pay for a dorm).

I was going to take a visit to the Volcan de Lodo (the mud volcano), but I slept right through my alarm. The night before there was something going on in the community hall next door, so it was quite difficult falling asleep to the sounds of salsa and clapping until 3 in the morning.  Just another reminder why I don't like cities.

Ladies in traditional Caribbean style dress

barber shop on the street Media Luna

NEXT STOP: Tayrona National Park

Guatapé

2 hours outside of Medellin is a quaint town called Guatape. This place a is a big tourist attraction because of the colorful houses, the surrounding lakes, and this huge rock so randomly placed (has many theories about how it got there, from a volcano to a meteorite).

Tourists can climb the 649 stairs to the top of Peñón de Guatapé (a rock about 200 meters high). From the top there is a beautiful view of the surrounding lakes.

From the top of the rock

Lunch; Bandeja Paisa; fried trout, fried eggs, plantain, salad, beans

PHOTOS FROM THE TOWN:

La Feria de los Flores

The biggest day of the week long festival is the desfile de los silleteros (parade of farmers and rural villagers from Santa Elena who come down from the mountains carrying flowers on their back throughout the parade). These campesinos carry a "Silleta", which is a traditional wooden structure used for transportation and has a big part of Paisa (people who inhabited northwest Colombia) history. On this wooden frame, they unleash there creativity and decorate it with flowers of different designs and colors, which are cultivated in Santa Elena. 

The history behind the "Silleteros", started when the farmers of Santa Elena, realized that these wooden frames could be used to transport and sell their flowers in the city of Medellin.

The parade was really unique & I am glad I got to be part of such a huge day in Medellin. By the end of it, I didn't really want to see another flower. As you can imagine (for the biggest event of the year for a city), it was sooo busy. A few people that I went with from the hostel had their stuff (cameras, wallets) pick-pocketed instantly. I wasn't able to take good photos either (some of these photos are stolen from Google images.)

The crowds and the pick-pocketers weren't the only downfall for us. We stood near the end of the parade since we arrived late. The participants in the parade were super tired. There were actually a few people being carried out on stretchers. These campesinos are tough, but I can't imagine how hard it must be for them to carry something that sometimes weighs as much as them(all the way through the parade & then some).

After the parade, we were waiting in line to buy food, when a lovely Colombian family (husband, wife, and their 11 year old daughter), started talking to us. We all connected instantly, and all went out to a bar  (at a supermarket... yeah, weird, right?) Nonetheless, it is always nice being able to spend time with locals.

Medellin, Colombia

After waiting 3 hours at immigration in Ecuador just to get my exit stamp, I finally walked over that bridge and into Colombia. It's always fun entering a new country and getting a new stamp on the passport. Fortunately, I met some other gringos in line to help kill the time and eliminate some stress that goes along with crossing the border. After having some confusions of what day it was (it is quite hard keeping track of days while traveling), I changed my mind and decided to take a directo bus from the border town of Ipiales to get to Medellin for the weekend and the start of La Feria de los Flores ("Flower Festival" - the most important social event for the city which is every year.) It is a week long festival full of events, concerts, parades, and exhibitions.  

Santuario de Las Lajas

I had about 7 hours to kill in between buses. The border town of Ipiales, Colombia is a great place to kill that amount of time. 15 minutes outside of the city is a beautiful church (Santuario de Las Lajas) built inside a canyon.

a view point of the church

My bus left at 7pm that night, and didn't stop for food until almost 1pm the following day.  We stopped at some restaurant, where I finally had a chance to get some food (after going more then 21 hours of not eating), I ordered Bandeja Paisa, which is a traditional dish consisting of chicken, fried plantains, fried eggs, refried beans, and avocado. While on the subject of food, I would like to mention their love of cheese here in Colombia. Fruit and cheese. Chocolate with cheese. Ice cream with cheese. I did fall in love with the Obleas, which are waffers with arequipe (similar to dulce to leche or caramel), and of course, cheese.

 


After a long ride, I finally got to Medellin, where I met up with Duffy and Lewis (two guys that I did Peace Corps with) at the Palm Tree Hostel. This hostel I would highly recommend. Here you will get the friendly, warm intimate feeling where you will likely befriend & spend your time hanging out with everyone in the hostel.  The great staff and warm enviroment make up for the not so comfortable beds (only downfall).  

My first night we went to a concert, the Gypsy Kings, a band from Spain who sing Bamboleo, Bamboleo. The following day I went with some Danish girls up the cable cars (a transportation service developed to reach the suburban areas in Medellin) to Santa Elena.  Santa Elena are where all the flowers come from for the festival.
 
Below are some photos from the Flower Exhibition in the Botanical Gardens: