Eje Cafetero - Colombia's coffee heart

Colombia - THE coffee producing country, the country with very big and beautiful coffee regions, what else did I have to do then visit the most famous one? I had the wonderful luck of my best friend from Iceland, Laufey, being in the country as an end of her South America trip.

After researching all the internet for different tips, listening to friends who've been to Colombia I picked out the best spots for us and the time we had to discover this w
onderful part of Colombia.

For our trip we only checked Armenia, Salento and Valle de Cocora. Here a small disclaimer there is a lot more to see like people have recommended me the "Parque del Café" which is a Theme park with rollercoasters and different information about the production and preparation of coffee. There are a lot of cute villages where you could stay for a few nights in a real "finca" (=farm) in Villages like Finlandia, Quimbaya or Montenegro. If you do some research there is a lot of blogposts on that topic.

Here a map for you to check out the different spots we visited (click to make it bigger)

Back to my/our trip so because Laufey was already in Cali we said we'll meet in Armenia as it was the most central for where we planned to go as well. On the list were visiting were a typical Coffee finca and visiting the wonderful  Valle de Cocora that is part of the Los Nevados National Natural Park since 1985. Honestly since Chile I really learned that planning everything in detail how it people really do normally in my culture, is really not necessary for most travels in Colombia. When planning to go to Armenia I took a night bus from Bogotá at around 21:00. I heard different opinions on how long the bus might take - from 6-9 hours they told me everything. In the end it sadly took me less time. I am saying sadly because I knew that the earliest Laufey could be at the terminal would have been 8/9 am. On the other hand it was very good that the bus took less time as the airco was really strong and I was not really prepared for this as the climate in the coffee area is pretty warm (more or less humid and between 20-27°C). Anyhow after arriving at 4am in Armenia I tired to rest a little bit in the only café in the whole terminal that was open, sipping on one small coffee for about two hours and getting a cup of "avena" (=porridge milk but with oat flour).

Finally around 9am I met with Laufey and we got into a taxi to the center of Armenia. While in the taxi the taxi driver actually helped us to find a hotel. He asked if we had a place to stay and we said no, then he said well I can bring you to one that is in a safe and good location and pretty cheap. Once we arrived there we got a double bed room for 50.000COP (~ 15,50€) for the room with breakfast for both of us. Next to the nice room and offer they also offered us different trip we could take from Armenia. One offer was about the "Parque del Café" the other one was to the coffee farm "RECUCA" which lies close to a small village called Barcelona [https://www.facebook.com/recucaoficial/]. Recuca is a coffee farm that is made for people to get to know more about the region, history and more infos about how coffee is produced. Because if our shortage of time (about 4-5days for all our plans) we decided to take the tour in the coffee farm as we could take it easily after having a breakfast in the city.

Finally back together eating yayyy

First we arrived really well and put our stuff into the room we left for a typical Colombian breakfast in a small bakery close to our hotel. After that we came back, got ready and left to take the bus to Recuca. Back at the terminal we entered one of those middle big busses that cover around 16 people. Once the driver told us we were at the place to get off to walk the rest to Recuca we got off and were blessed by blue sky and a street  that was covered at the sides with big banana plants. the around 2.5km to the farm we walked as we really felt like enjoying the weather, views and the silence. After more than half a year being able to share all the stories personally was really amazing and we could connect on a different level in the nature.

when you have a lot to talk about 2.5km walking are nothing

 

Enjoying my coffee with a view

feeling more Colombian than ever

Once you arrive at Recuca you will be welcomed by people in the traditional clothes offering you a first cup of "tinto" which is black coffee sweetened with panela. Until the next "recorrido" (=tour) was starting we could enjoy the view of the back terrace and drink the delicious surprisingly soft coffee. The three hour tour started with some explanation about the traditional dresses of men and women. As people from Quindio (the state in which Armenia lies) are also considered to be "Paisas" they have a very flirtatious way of telling stories. Please don't get me wrong - it has not a lot to do with flirting in the western kind of way but more "flirtatious" with everyone, men and women, young and old. Further the guys that told us the stories about how back in the day coffee was collected and how life on the farm was like was also super funny and including the whole group. Just listening and watching of course are way too boring for those "Paisas" so next on the plan was getting active, putting ourselves in those blouses and skirts and learning some typical dances as well as taking many different pictures around the very traditional looking area of the Finca. All tour guides were happy to help us out to take pictures together in the nice and classic looking scenery.

Getting in touch with the traditional clothing was amazing but of course that wasn’t what we were there for - finally we got to taste freshly made coffee. In addition they also explained us how to make colombian 1st class coffee the best way. It actually reminded me a lot about how we make coffee in many parts of Germany. In the farm they used a cloth as a filter, but the commonly used paper filters are also fine. Then one has to pour 100°C in a circling motion over the coffee, waiting until the water is running down. Then you can repeat pouring down water on the coffee in the same motion again. This is important because if you just pour the hot water 90° down it will burn the coffee. Black first class coffee from Colombia can be drunk comfortably without milk or sugar *normally Latte Macchiato full of sugar drinking person speaking*.

this is the typical way to pick coffee beans. To my side you
can see the only other German of the group, from Stuttgart

Rito del Café 

In the end we also had the opportunity to shop some local coffee from the farm itself, of course I also picked out some presents for family ;)

To round up the whole Eje Cafetero experience we ended the tour with a typical late lunch “Bandeja Paisa”: Rice, minced meat, chorizo, platano, arepa, egg and as a drink “agua panela” with lime. A delicacy I definitely will miss once I’m back in Germany.

Chorizo, rice, arepa, minced meat and platano. Yum!

Before all the group went to eat I took a quick solo pic of the restaurant area. Love the colours

Thanks girl for visiting the country of my heart. I hope you liked it <3

After some pictures with the beautiful view we made our way back to Armenia to get a snack in town and visit the service and look at the beautiful light decoration of the town.

Love the view of Colombian mountains

Using the light for some amazing sun shots

Stay tuned for my next blogpost about the other part of our trip to the Valle de Cocora, THE National park of wax palm trees.

Muchos Besos,

Leonie

Ecuador - the most unexpected trip of my life

Quito 2018

16/01/2018 this day for me started with a visit in the Colombian Migration. 

A small throwback to when my 90 day of a tourist visa ran out – here in Colombia as a European citizen you can enlarge the visa for another 90 online as one has 180 each year. In my case it worked out really well and I thought in 2018 I could do the same – online – as I had other 180 days for 2018. And as I have an occupation in a university here so I thought I won’t have to leave the country for a day just to renew my visa. Well in the end it turned out to be like that - I had to leave Colombia within the next 36 hours, because if I didn’t, I’d have to pay a fine for not leaving the country on time. 

Praying to god to send me a solution later that day I was actually able to find a very cheap flight to Ecuador for more or less $200 for the next day which was the last one to stay in Colombia with my tourist permission. And like this I had the great opportunity to discover Ecuador for a few days. To my greater luck I even found a very nice couple on Couchsurfing that could host me for the three nights in Quito and who helped me out getting to know the city and more of Ecuador.

DAY 1:

On the 17^th I arrived in Quito around 6 p.m. and once I arrived at my Couchsurfing hosts home it was already 8:30 p.m. We only shared a meal together and then I went to sleep. The next day I went out to discover Quito and the best way seemed to be one of those common hop on hop off busses with two floors and a cool view above the streets of Quito. To help me out a bit Cindy, my host, brought me to a very nice church – the Basílica del Voto Nacional – honestly a MUST SEE if you are in Quito. Further this church was located very central so I could continue with the bus tour after. So I started to get to know Quito by discovering all nice spots of the church such as the main church, the Santisimo (the Holy sacrament where catholics keep the communion and which represents the holy place in the church where Jesus is most present), and the tower from which one has a very beautiful view above the city of Quito.

El Santisimo was the most beautiful place of all

 

Finally arrived on top and it is definitly worth all the stairs

The very "safe" way to get to the tower

After a wonderful and calm time in this impressive church that reminded me a lot on the Notre Dame, I went down to one of the main squares. After a small search for this central spot I encountered it thanks to the nice help of Ecuadorian police which makes the center of the city a very safe place. 

 

Loved this sandwich!!

At the Plaza de la Independencia I found the station of the bus easily and figured I’d still have 45 minutes until the next bus will pass. I took that time to look at another church located right at this square – the Catedral Metropolitana de Quito – also a very beautiful church where it sadly is prohibited to take pictures. After that I had a tipical sandwich in a café next to the church and the opportunity to finally catch some Wifi.

Plaza de Independencia

At around 3 p.m. I started my hop on hop off bus tour, that in the end wasn’t coined by a lot of hopping, but more sitting on the upper deck of the bus to discover in the last full 3h tour around the city. It was actually a very easy and fast way to get to know the hotspots of Quito, including the La Virgen de El Panecillo, also known as the Virgen de Quito. This statue is located on a hill in the middle of Quito qhich gives you a breathtaking panoramic view above the city. The tour was very nice in the sense of taking us not only to the most important sightseeing points but also letting us explore the hill for around 30 minutes before continuing the trip. Around this are you can also find nice locals which are selling all kinds of souviniers. Personally I really enjoy buying memories from the places I’ve been to so some magnets and other cute stuff from Ecuador and Quito couldn’t be missed.

The tour costs $15 and if you want you are also able to buy tickets online at http://quitotourbus.com/quito-city-tour/

Gringo bus like in every city - PLUS Wifi

The city showed itself from its best side with a rainbow

La Virgen de El Panecillo

Amazing Panorama photo of Quito I could take from the hill

At night I decided to go to Baños the next day. My hosts told me it is around 2,5h away so I thought that is really doable considering I just had one day to go back and forth.

DAY 2

My second (proper) day in Ecuador I spend in the beautiful town Baños – a must do when you’re in Ecuador. Different than my hosts expected it took me around 4h to get to Baños as on the way the bus was stopping in a (felt) frequency of 10 minutes to let out or pick up passengers on the way - Hello Welcome to South America. The positive side of taking the bus was that taking buses in general in Ecuador is very cheap. For my 4 hour trip I paid $4,50.

To arrive as early as possible I arrived at the terminal at 5 a.m. and took the bus at 5:20. We arrived at Baños around 9 a.m. First thing at the terminal was a guy offering me tours and bringing me to their agency. Normally I wouldn’t follow such people right away but as I had no time to lose this was the best and fastest option. They offered me a waterfall tour and the tour to the tree house with the famous swings (Casa del Arbol). After lowering the price from $25 to $20 with the argument that I take both tours with them (#whatlivingincolombiataughtme) I figured I had one more hour to finally get a breakfast and then start my first tour to the waterfalls. 

My breakfast was typical Ecuadorian: Fresh Mora (blackberry) juice, hot milk that I could either make myself a coffee with milk or a hot chocolate with, “full grain” (integral) bread with butter and jam and to round it up like in all northern south American countries: scrambled egg.

3 hour Waterfall tour:

At 10 a.m. I was ready to get on the Chiva – a common Ecuadorian and Colombian vehicle that is decorated from the outside and is normally known as a party bus kinda thing. In the last row I had a nice view to the back of the bus and I was accompanied by a very friendly elderly Ecuadorian couple.

Our first way went over a small bridge over the main river “Pastaza” which had a very impressive view. After we continued the trip by going through a tunnel that led us to a smaller waterfall that is supposed to make your hair grow faster – sadly the weather was not on my side - too cold - but once I want longer hair I definitely have to come back :D . Further down we encountered a rock that has the shape of Jesus’ face – when touching the wall they told us you can make three wishes and within the next years they will become true. 

Can you see Jesus?

On our way to the next waterfall we had the opportunity to do zip lining for $10 – even though I am like the most anxious person in the world I jumped over my shadow and did it. For around 20 seconds I hung on a string more than 100m above the ground. At first I was super scared but as the guy getting me ready really felt that he just send me off fast than I could think about it twice and in the end I LOVED IT!!!

I did it!!

 

El Manto de la Novia

Further on the way we saw a waterfall called El Manto de la Novia which is a waterfall of 60 meters height and which we could see a bit closer taking some sort of “cable car” which in the end was actually more scary than the real zip lining I had done before. 

  

After sufficient selfies from the cable car we went further on to the last and most famous waterfall called “Pailón del Diablo”, which until now is one of the biggest waterfalls I’ve seen in my life. All the scenery is very impressiveand beautiful, and with the stairs build right next to the waterfall it reminded me a lot on a Asian scenery. There you definitely will get wet – to my luck it also started raining when we were about to leave and as the car is open it was a rather cold experience. 

 

arrived and my hair was still dry at that point

...and here it wasn't dry anymore - Pailón del Diablo

Resume of the first tour: Damn why am I here just for one day?! There is a lot more I would like to do!

 

2 hour Casa del Árbol tour

My second tour as to the Casa del Árbol and its Columpio del Fin del Mundo (Swing at the end of the world) – one of the most known places in Ecuador. Passing by a view sport to see Baños from above we continued our trip to the Casa del Arbol. First thing to do there is of course to take one of the 4 swings you can find in the area. Even though the weather wasn’t the best with rain once in a while and many clouds I was able to take some nice pictures and enjoy the view. If you’re lucky arriving there with good weather you will also be able to see the volcano close to the spot.

THE foto from the Casa del Árbol

All in all, my so unexpected trip to Ecuador was a full success and I am keen to get back to it as soon as I can. If anyone thinks about a trip around South America I can tell you do not miss the spot.

That’s it for now – hopefully some clearup also for all following me on social media and who were wondering what I was doing in Ecuador after visiting so much of Colombia. In addition for sure I’ll write some posts about the different areas around Colombia I have visited before in the end of December and January. I hope you liked this rather long post. Let me know what you think about it.

Muchos Besos,

Leonie