4-25
We took a bus from Medellin to Peirera and then another bus onto Salento, a village in the heart of the Coffee Zone, which has a very famous hostel (called the Plantation House) run by an English/Colombian couple. The bus ride through the mountainous coffee zone was gorgeous (and wild) and we arrived into Salento at sunset, but in time to get a fresh troute meal.
4-26
The couple who run the hostel, own a small organic farm called Finca Don Eduardo. In the morning, we took a tour of the coffee farm which was both hilarious (as the English guy was a character) and informing. We went through the whole process from seed to plant to fruit to preparing the bean to drying to roasting. We learned about the different types of coffee and how it is sold worldwide and selected and such. Of course at the end we tried a cup...Even straight from the organic farm using the best species of coffee plant, I will stick with hot chocolate!!
Today we were asked to be extras in a telonovela (soap opera) for a colombian tv channel that was to be filmed in Peirera. They offered us free lunch, free transport, and 45 dollars in cash to do it. It was very tempting and I thought it would be really cool; however, we are kind of short on time here so we had to choose between doing that or doing the coffee tour. Since we came to this region in part bc of the coffee, we chose to do the tour instead, thus squelching my chance at spanish soap opera stardom..
In the evening we talked with the very helpful couple who ran the hostel. We were invited to their home and had some questions as what to do next. There were 3 things we wanted to do (climb the cotopaxi volcano in ecuador while visiting a cool lake up there, do a 3 day trek in Los Nevados NP near Salento, and visit the interesting giant statues in San Augustin. We weren´t sure which one to give up nor which were feasible due to long journey times on slow roads. In the end we gave up the Los Nevados trek bc we figured it was the least unique, in the same region as we are now (so not experiencing a new area) and we have and will see lots of mountains. It was a tough decision, but we just didnt have the time.
In the evening we went out and played one of colombia´s favorite "sports"...Tejo. It is somewhat similar to horseshoes. You throw these metal, fairly heavy, roundish objects. Not discs, not a ball, somewhere in between. You throw them at a square box that is slanted and filled with clay. If you get the object stuck in the clay, you get one point. In the clay are also 4 small triangular envelopes of paper filled with gunpowder arranged in the center. If you hit one of these, there is an explosion!!! and you get 3 points. If you get the object stuck between all the papers, you get 6 points. It´s quite exciting with the gunpowder and all. If often makes the paper shoot up and flame. As Elisha reckons, they would love it in Montana. It´s free to play, you just are obligated to buy beers while you play.
We took a bus from Medellin to Peirera and then another bus onto Salento, a village in the heart of the Coffee Zone, which has a very famous hostel (called the Plantation House) run by an English/Colombian couple. The bus ride through the mountainous coffee zone was gorgeous (and wild) and we arrived into Salento at sunset, but in time to get a fresh troute meal.
4-26
The couple who run the hostel, own a small organic farm called Finca Don Eduardo. In the morning, we took a tour of the coffee farm which was both hilarious (as the English guy was a character) and informing. We went through the whole process from seed to plant to fruit to preparing the bean to drying to roasting. We learned about the different types of coffee and how it is sold worldwide and selected and such. Of course at the end we tried a cup...Even straight from the organic farm using the best species of coffee plant, I will stick with hot chocolate!!
Today we were asked to be extras in a telonovela (soap opera) for a colombian tv channel that was to be filmed in Peirera. They offered us free lunch, free transport, and 45 dollars in cash to do it. It was very tempting and I thought it would be really cool; however, we are kind of short on time here so we had to choose between doing that or doing the coffee tour. Since we came to this region in part bc of the coffee, we chose to do the tour instead, thus squelching my chance at spanish soap opera stardom..
In the evening we talked with the very helpful couple who ran the hostel. We were invited to their home and had some questions as what to do next. There were 3 things we wanted to do (climb the cotopaxi volcano in ecuador while visiting a cool lake up there, do a 3 day trek in Los Nevados NP near Salento, and visit the interesting giant statues in San Augustin. We weren´t sure which one to give up nor which were feasible due to long journey times on slow roads. In the end we gave up the Los Nevados trek bc we figured it was the least unique, in the same region as we are now (so not experiencing a new area) and we have and will see lots of mountains. It was a tough decision, but we just didnt have the time.
In the evening we went out and played one of colombia´s favorite "sports"...Tejo. It is somewhat similar to horseshoes. You throw these metal, fairly heavy, roundish objects. Not discs, not a ball, somewhere in between. You throw them at a square box that is slanted and filled with clay. If you get the object stuck in the clay, you get one point. In the clay are also 4 small triangular envelopes of paper filled with gunpowder arranged in the center. If you hit one of these, there is an explosion!!! and you get 3 points. If you get the object stuck between all the papers, you get 6 points. It´s quite exciting with the gunpowder and all. If often makes the paper shoot up and flame. As Elisha reckons, they would love it in Montana. It´s free to play, you just are obligated to buy beers while you play.
1 comment:
Loved the coffee tour! So interesting and humorously entertaining with our Englishman tour guide. What a character!
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