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