Yay! Coffee!!

I think we can all agree that coffe is good. And Colombian coffee is excellent. Not only that, but everyone I talked to raved about the beauty of the Zona Cafetera, Colombia´s picturesque coffee producing region. So here I am in Salento, a small town in the heart of the region.

The main square

View of the valley

 The local specialty, trucha con patacon. Trout served with a deep fried plantain crepe. Yum!

The perfect cup of coffee...

 Streets of Salento

The best view I`ve ever seen from a butcher´s counter...

Foggy walk to a coffee plantation

...And the coffee plant itself...

Don David and Don Elias, the old boy running the all organic coffee plantation.

Naturally, I got caught in a diluvian rainstorm walking back... The path (below) basically turned into a stream. It was raining so hard I couldn´t even manage to take a decent picture.

Natuta

Even Bigger City

Bogota is HUGE. Around 8 or 9 million people spread out as far as the eye can see...

My first two nights in Bogota, I tried couchsurfing for the first time (basically, you get in touch with someone you think you might get along with and if the feeling is mutual, they let you sleep on their couch/guest bedroom as a kind of cultural exchange. More about the concept in this New Yorker article). Camilo (below) was kind enough to host me for 2 nights in his very cool and central apartment right in the old district of Candelaria.

It was really cool to hang out for a couple of days, for example C. and his friends invited me along to a friend´s house party on the first night! See you in New York soon man!

The two cats in the apartment eventually warmed up to me: Noah, below, very cute but a little devil. A bit like the kitten in Garfield actually. 

And Bertram, giving my backpack an inspection...

Great view from the apartment onto Monsterrat, the moutain top dominating Bogota.

Other view onto Montserrat

Now  the view from Montserrat...

Self-portrait in blinding sun...

I was there for May 1st, which means big labor demonstrations....

View of the Candelaria (old Bogota)

Some funny street names.

Dog face street

Ghost street

Bogota is a very cool and fun city. Loads of great bars, restaurants, museums... I ended up spending a whole week there! Next stop is the rural coffee region for a total contrast...

Big City

Medellin is the first big city I´ve been in for a while (around 2-3 million people) and I must admit there´s a certain level of comfort in being there: people in suits walking out of office towers... supermarkets (with prices on items!)... museums... an elevated tram system... and everything else you´d expect from a big city. But as far as cities go, it´s quite gritty and not visually charming. Not to say it´s charmless, it´s full of character and characters but there´s no eyecandy like a Granada or Cartagena (no pictures unfortunately...). It´s the kind of place yuo need to stay in for some time in order to fully appreciate and discover.

The whole city is in a valley, surrounded by hills/mountains.

Spot the only human walking in this shot...

I took the next bus...

Artist Fernando Botero is the local boy done good and he happened to have a show on the passion of christ (a constantly recurring religious theme) while I was there. Medellin´s Botero museum is basically all donations of his work as well as pieces from his own collection. A generous man...

Outside the museum is a Botero sculpture extravaganza

I went on a museum binge, as the Natural history museum had a cool show with amazing sculptures. My top 6 below:

 

Next destination is also a big city, the capital Bogota.

Full Medellin picture set here