Cali and Manizales

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Hi all!

So we've had a bit of a gap since our last post, the reason being we're having a great time in Colombia! Yes, you heard that right. Try and put aside your misconceptions if you have them about Colombia for awhile and check out the cool stuff this country has to offer! We must admit that the government funded commercial for tourism in Colombia (which is really taking off right now) couldn't be more accurate: "The only risk is wanting to stay."

Cali:

After crossing the Ecuador-Colombia boarder we continued on by bus to the city of Pasto where we would spend the night to break up our bus journey. The next morning we did another 8 hours before reaching Cali, our first Colombian destination. Cali is known for 2 things: Salsa clubs and plastic surgery. Apparently it has the greatest density of plastic surgeons in all of Latin America so people flock there to get boob jobs, face whatevers and also butt implants! We quickly realized that what we had heard was definitely true as we toured the city on our first full day. Cali isn't the most picturesque city so we just spent the afternoon touring around a bit but nothing special to report. There isn't a lot to do in Cali until nighttime rolls around. Arriving late on a Sunday, unfortunately our only chance to go out on the town would be a Monday as we only planned for 2 nights in Cali. However, Colombians love their Salsa so we were able to get word of the place that is popular on a Monday (yes, a Monday) and so we headed there for a pretty good group from the hostel we were staying at. This was a true locals dance club and a great experience. We were able to witness first hand a true Colombian Salsa club with no other tourists aside from the group of 8 or so that we came with to clog up the works. A few things that made this club scene totally different from Canada: 1) people legitimately danced (not just because they were hammered haha), and it was Salsa so it was awesome to watch for us! 2) no drinks on the dance floor- like I said, people were there to dance 3) people didn't drink that much- aside from 2 guys we saw passed out, no one seemed to be drunk (again, you can't dance Salsa well if you're drunk. And last but not least, we left the club at 4 am and there were still plenty of people there, ON A MONDAY. Not sure how any work gets done in this country. That's all to report from Cali. We left the next day on a bus to Manizales which is right in the heart of the Colombian coffee region.

Manizales:

After 9 hours and 1 broken bus we reached Manizales. To our surprise the hostel we were staying at had only been open for 4 weeks so we were the 80th and 81st guests ever! The hostel was beautiful, all brand new and just a great layout, including hot tub. One of the best hostels we have stayed at for sure. For our first day in Manizales we did a tour to Parque Nacional Los Nevados which is about 1.5 hrs outside of Manizales. Aside from the potential for great scenery, the main purpose of this trip was to hike above 5000m ASL. We hadn't been up that high yet, and getting above 5000m is something few people have the chance to do. So we set off with 8 or so other people from our hostel and one other, drove towards the park making various stops for pictures, and then finally began our hike at 4800m ASL. In total the hike would only be 1.5 km, and a 300m gain in altitude (sounds easy right), but at 4800+m ASL this was grueling! If you need further proof, ask Ben. He spent multiple days above 5000m ASL and hiked longer than 1.5 kms. We had spent plenty of time around 3500-4000m ASL in Bolivia and that was tough but fine. This hike was really tough. You basically are just putting one foot in front of the other, walking nearly as slow as humanly possible. For anyone who knows anything about heart rate, I (Greg) of course took mine multiple times out of curiosity and it was usually about 160 bpm while walking at a snails pace. It's truly amazing how strong of an effect the altitude has on your body. I learned a lot about those effects in university, but it's an entirely new experience to feel them first hand! Our final altitude (5125m ASL) was reached a bit over 1 hr later (yes, that's 1.5km in over an hour haha). The views from the top of the volcano which we hiked on unfortunately did not cooperate, nor did the views of the surrounding area due to heavy cloud and rain/snow that started to fall once we reached out highest point. Not a huge deal, the day really was about the 5125m ASL and so we quickly hiked back down to the starting point, dried off a bit and then loaded back into the car. We then drove back to Manizales where we chilled out at a set of thermal pools for a bit to warm up after the rains. That night we spent in the hot tub drinking Colombian beer with a group of Dutch guys we met on the tour that were staying at our hostel- overall a great day!

Our second day in Manizales we drove about 25mins outside of the city and went on a tour of a coffee plantation (the brand and name of the plantation was Hacienda Venecia). Colombia makes the best coffee in the world (according to many) and so this was a truly authentic Colombian experience! After a tasting, we learned all about the coffee process, from beginning to end. Next we took a tour of the plantation itself followed by a tour through the processing plant where the skins of the bean are removed, sorted, etc. This was pretty interesting and involved many more steps than we had realized. One thing we were surprised about was the extent to which the good coffee is exported. Essentially 100% of the best beans are exported. The broken beans, etc., are what stays in Colombia. And all this time I was drinking coffee for the first time because we were in Colombia and it's actually second-rate! We then took a quick tour of the rest of the plantation which was full of the owner's dogs, horses (including a 10 day old horse), peacocks and tons of birds of all species. It really was a beautiful place. The group of us enjoyed a great lunch (with unlimited coffee of course) and then everyone went back to Manizales for the night.....except for Laura and I! It seemed we were the only people who realized we could stay the night for an additional cost at the guest house on the plantation. So, we got to enjoy the afternoon and evening to ourselves all alone in this incredible peaceful setting. We did nothing more than lounge in the hammocks reading and took an occasional dip in the pool. After dinner the one staff member working left us the guest house to ourselves (it was big enough to fit 17 guests I believe). We had a great time just relaxing and taking in the truly unique environment we were in.

After heading back to Manizales the next morning we took a walk around the city near our hostel and then spent some time catching up on Skype with friends/family. The following morning we caught a 9 hour bus ride to the capital city of Colombia (and one rich in history we would find out), Bogota.

Until next time,
Gregory and Laura

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