The Coffee region and Medellín

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Based on the information we had received from other travelers, we decided to go to the small town Salento to discover the coffee region. Many people go to Manizales, but I usually prefer smaller towns rather than big cities. We stayed in an eco lodge, which was basically just a hostel outside of the town. The owner of the hostel also owned a coffee farm close by, where we received all the explanations about the production process. We also went to the valley Cocora in the National park Los Nevados. A day trip, that ended up to be a little bit more difficult than we were expecting. The hike of 5 km seemed much longer ! Fortunately, we could use the boots provided by the hostal to step through the muddy paths.

From there we went to Medellin, a very modern city. This did not feel like South America. I thought for a second even that I was in the United States. Huge buildings, nice squares and a lot of people on the streets. We were in Medellin for "la fiesta de las flores". We went to the Jardín botanico, for the occasion decorated with flowers. Wandering in the city by night was very beautiful, especially "la plaza de la luz". Unfortunately, we do not have any pictures because we were told that it was rather dangerous to carry valuables at night in the old part of the city. We also went to the teleférico, which took us to a place from where there we had a very beautiful view over the city. After a few days, we decided to leave. Next stop was the Caribbean coast and we definitely wanted enough time for this !

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