Traveling in the Coffee Region of Colombia

Dear Readers and Fellow Bloggers, before you write me off as the worst blogger on the PLANET because I NEVER update, let me just mention that I have posted 15 different posts since Saturday on my other blog. (www.hoyengradoquinto.blogspot.com--no comments, please!) So there. I actually do blog. Just not for you.*

Anyway, without further ado, here is perhaps the most important post I have ever written: What to do in the Coffee Region of Colombia! Where should you go? What should you see? Where should you stay?

When my family was here (3 weeks ago now, how did that happen??) we did a lot of fun things. They were really only in Pereira for 6 days, and I had to work 3 of those days, so I had to make the most of the time we had together. We missed some really crucial things in the region, but I think I showed them the best that the Eje Cafetera has to offer, anyway. I researched for weeks before their arrival, and I feel confidant in my suggestions below.

Eje Cafetera means "Coffee Triangle." Although coffee is really grown throughout Colombia, the region where I live is considered the primary coffee growing region. My little city, Pereira, is actually the industrial and financial capital of this region, and its largest city. The three departments that make up this region are Risaralda, Quindio, and Caldas. I live in Risaralda. The other major cities are Armenia and Manizales. Cartago is a reasonably large city that is a few kilometers away from Pereira, and Dosquebradas sits across the large Viaducto (our bridge) from Pereira. Because of this, the metro area surrounding Pereira is actually quite large. But enough about that...

If you ever come to the coffee region, you'll probably want to stay in Pereira. It has the largest bus terminal with connections to the surrounding region and the rest of Colombia, the largest airport in the region, a decent night life, reasonably good shopping, two McDonald's, a Domino's Pizza, and, possibly the most important aspect, a giant NAKED statue of Simon Bolivar. (This is actually one of the few things that we skipped when my family was here!) In addition, Pereira has the most moderate weather (Manizales is quite a bit colder) and fewer earthquakes (Armenia is known for its earthquakes), and it has a lot of varied accommodation options. If you are looking for hotel recommendations, I think Hotel Anvamar and Hotel de Pereira are the best and the safest. They are also the most expensive. There are also a few hostels, haciendas, and more moderately priced hotels in the center. Most destinations in the region (Santa Rosa de Cabal, Manizales, Salento, etc.) are reachable by bus in less than an hour. (Manizales is just a bit further.)

So... what should you do?

1. Go to Salento.

Salento is by far one of the best destinations in the coffee region. The little village is quaint, cute, safe, and fun. This is where Colombians go when they visit the coffee region or if they want to get away for a day. It's around 45 minutes away from Pereira, but if you want to stay overnight I would recommend the Plantation House. Their website has a lot of great information, and they have very reasonable prices. I contacted them with another question, and they were VERY helpful. Anyway. Salento is a great base for exploring the Valle de Cocora (more later), and it has lots of cute little restaurants and artisan's shops. One of my favorite places is a little cafe near the end of the main street. It doesn't open until 4, and I don't remember the name, but it's easy to find. Great juice teas, and make sure to use the bathroom... it's awesome.

2. Take a jeep to the Valle de Cocora and eat trout and/or patacon with agridulce sauce.

The Jeep Willys are really easy to find in Salento--they sit on one side of the main square. As soon as they have enough passengers, the drivers depart for the Valle de Cocora. It usually takes around an hour to get there. Once you arrive, eat lunch. It's fantastic. Warren loves the trout, I love the patacon. It's worth the ride, no matter what.

After eating, you can hike or ride horses through the Valle de Cocora, or you can just take pictures and head back to Salento. The trail head is marked (ask around if you need help), and horses are available on the road outside the restaurants, as are Jeeps to take you back to Salento.

One important tip: If you go to Salento on the bus from Pereira and don't plan to spend the night, make sure you make a reservation to go back to Pereira at whatever time you want to leave because the buses fill up quickly. You'll need to be at the bus around 20-30 minutes before it leaves, too, or you won't get a seat!

3. Go to the Termales de Santa Rosa.
Termales is Spanish for hot springs, and Colombia has a fair share of them, especially in this region. Although many are good, I would recommend Termales de Santa Rosa, not for the food or anything, but for the authenticity of it. It was the first place to set up shop, and it is actually cheaper than San Vicente, which is its main rival. To get there, you can take a bus to Santa Rosa de Cabal and then take another bus to the Termales de Santa Rosa. When we went, our second bus was a chiva, which was a great experience.


When the chiva dropped us off, it actually dropped us off at a more commercial "termales." We hiked up the hill 1 km to get to the "real" Termales de Santa Rosa, and I think it was worth it (despite the tour groups... try not to go on a three day weekend, or on a weekend at all). The entrance fee is 24,000 pesos, but you can also spend the night at the hotel, which grants you access to some private pools. I haven't done it, but I imagine it would be very enjoyable.


The hot springs don't offer a lot of activities, just hanging out, getting facials, "hiking" up to a waterfall, massages, you know, basically torture. It's a great way to spend an afternoon or evening. I've posted some pictures to give you an idea of what it looks like... please note that Termales de Santa Rosa has both cold and hot waterfalls, which can be fun to run between!






That's it for today... but tomorrow I'll be posting about coffee fincas, Juan Valdez, the Jardin Botanico in Pereira, Exito, Parque del Cafe, a trapiche, and a few other things... so make sure to check back tomorrow!

*Also, my fifth graders comment WAY more than you people do. Just saying. ; )

Salento, at the end of a very long week.

Warning: This is a very long post, please do not feel obligated to read it in its entirety.

Hello everyone! It's been a very long week in Colombia. Today will end our first two weeks here, but it seems as if we have been here much longer than that. This past week was really busy, especially considering we had Monday off!

Last Monday Warren and I went downtown and really enjoyed wandering along Circunvalar. It's one of the main avenues in P---, and a lot of shops, night clubs, bakeries (pastry shops), and hotels line the street. At the bottom of the street in P--- Plaza, a mall. We had gone there before, but it was dark and it was also right after we arrived. Monday was much more pleasant because it was a holiday and it was daylight. Almost everything was closed, except for a few of the stores in the mall. It sounds strange, but we felt much safer and enjoyed ourselves a lot more since there were very few people on the street. I think we both feel confident enough to go downtown at night now. Last Monday we also wandered in to Exito, which is sort of like a Super Walmart on steroids. They sell everything from fresh baguettes to motorcycles to computers. We stocked up on the necessary snacks, etc. For $46 we got a ton of fruit and vegetables, sweets, bread, snack food, and 2 bottles of wine. Also, we gave in and bought Oreos.

On Tuesday we were back at Liceo Pino Verde. We started our first pronunciation class on Tuesday, and that generally went well. I am lucky to have great resources that the ELI let me borrow. Our schedule for the coming weeks is as follows: On Monday/Wednesday, we teach 9th-11th graders Speaking and Pronunciation from 3:15 to 4:30. On Tuesday/Thursday, we teach 6th-8th graders the same subject. We have about 28 people in the Tuesday/Thursday classes, and only 11 in the Monday/Wednesday classes. On Saturdays we have English play time, and we have two different sessions, 8:30 to 10 a.m. and 10:30 to noon. We have around 24 students in each group.

Anyway. On Wednesday we interviewed the 11th grade to help prepare them for upcoming standardized tests. It was really fun to interview them because we had to ask them questions about their goals and plans for the future. They are really interesting students. One of the students I interviewed wanted to major in literature (Spanish lit, of course) and had studied abroad in New Zealand. We had a great conversation! All of the students speak English well. It's really fun to realize that students in the USA and students in Colombia share so many similarities. We also attended the 11th grade's English class that afternoon, and they got to ask us questions. They asked a lot of questions I expected (Are you from the same Springfield as the Simpsons? Why do you watch so much reality TV?) and a lot of questions I didn't expect (Is Missouri empty? Do people really live there? Warren, what do you think of Colombian women?) It was quite enlightening.

Thursday was by far one of the worst days I have had in Colombia. I had to get up at 5 a.m. and I didn't go to bed until midnight on Wednesday because I was preparing for a pronunciation workshop that I had to present at 7 a.m. Thursday morning. I'm definitely not qualified to lead a pronunciation workshop, but Diana, our boss, asked me to, and I didn't want to disappoint her. I spent a lot of time re-reading my textbooks and planning what I wanted to present. The workshop actually went really well. I was surprised by how much I had actually learned about pronunciation (and how useful my textbooks really are), and the teachers all said they had learned a lot. Even so, I was exhausted the entire day, and it made me pick up on all the little things in Colombia that make me angry. (For example, the differences between the administration and the teachers and how each are treated.) Thursday afternoon we got home really late (almost 6!) and Stellita told us we had been invited to a dinner hosted by the Parent's Association. At first, I really didn't want to go, but Warren and I hadn't been invited any where yet, so we decided we probably needed to go. The dinner was held at a tapas restaurant in Pin., a really nice area near Circunvalar. I showered and got dressed up before we left, so I felt a lot better. The dinner was really nice. Everyone spoke Spanish, but they made an effort to include us. It was great to be out with adults again.

On Friday morning I gave the pronunciation workshop to the teachers who hadn't come on Friday. It went even better than Thursday, and I had gotten plenty of sleep. LPV doesn't really teach pronunciation. I think this is partially because the teachers are mostly native Spanish speakers and they aren't confident enough to teach it on their own. After the workshop Diana asked me if I could do another one, but for the next one she wants us to teach the teachers correct pronunciation! : ) We also started testing the 5th graders on Friday, but so far the students are struggling with the tests. It has math questions on it, but the questions are supposed to gage English skills, not math skills, and the math questions are hurting the students' scores. It's a bit of a problem.

Friday afternoon Warren went to UniCentro, the largest mall in the area, with a student and the student's mother. I stayed home, because I was sick. I blogged a bit about this on Friday, because I thought it was funny. I probably should have listened to all the worried people on Friday and gone to a doctor, but more about that later...

Saturday morning Warren and I had our English Play Time sessions. I was really sick, but forced myself to go. The students were terrible for both Warren and myself. Partially because I was sick, and partially because the 1st-3rd graders are wild little monkeys, Diana helped me with the second session. During this time, I discovered:

1. Colombian children do not learn how to play Duck, Duck, Goose.

2. When Colombian children learn Duck, Duck, Goose, they love it.

3. Colombian children will play Duck, Duck, Goose for 45 minutes if given the chance.

4. Diana is a genius. She suggested that we could use minimal pairs in Duck, Duck, Goose to help little kids learn the difference. (A minimal pair are 2 words that only have 1 sound that is different, like bit and beat. So in her version, it would be "Bit, Bit, Beat!")

On Saturday afternoon we slept and I tried to recover. It didn't really work, but Warren did his best to put up with my whining.

Sunday was fantastic, despite the fact that I was sick. Andrea and her sister took us to Salento, which is this sleepy little town high up in the mountains in the Quindio region. It's supposed to be a tourist town, but the only tourists are Colombians. The drive was great. It was the first time we had been out of P---, and we were able to see coffee fields and flower farms. The mountains here are beautiful, and the views are just amazing. We ate lunch (okay, Warren and our hostesses ate lunch) in the valley below Salento. Warren had smoked trout (a whole fish, head included) and patacon, which is a deep fried plantain chip that was larger than his plate. I had mora, or blackberry juice. Warren loved his food. I've never seen him enjoy anything as much as he enjoyed the trout. I, on the other hand, loved the conversation. We talked to Andrea and her sister, Juanita, for a long time. Andrea described what life was like only 8 years ago. People in Colombia could not leave the city, even if they owned a farm or a home in the country. It was too dangerous because of the FARC, the drug lords, and the paramilitary. They would stop cars driving past, and if the passengers were rich, they would kidnap them. Andrea's mom was even kidnapped for a little while! Andrea described how scary it was, and how limited they were. She explained that now that the current president, Uribe, has cleaned up the country, they feel free. They can go to the country on the weekends. They can drive to Salento. They are safe, and they don't have to worry about being kidnapped. Andrea really likes Presdient Uribe, and she also really respects the Colombian Army. We saw a lot of army men while we were in Salento. They were on the road, and every time we passed Andrea would say, "Hola chicos!" She was obviously proud of them. I know I'm not Colombian, but I'm proud of them, too. They make me feel a lot safer, of course, but I really admire what they do. Colombia isn't a safe place to be in the army, and I know that they don't have the same benefits American military people do. Without the Colombian army, Warren and I wouldn't be able to safely travel in Colombia. Also, it has made life in Colombia much better. Eight years ago, people lived in fear. Now they can be worried about fashion or about education, they can buy homes in the country or take trips to the Amazon. I think that a lot of the social problems here will probably also start to improve. I know that they are talking about environmental issues, and I'm sure that as the country becomes more stable, they will also address the rich-poor gap and other problems.

I digress. After we had lunch we went to Salento. It's a very quaint town, and we were told it was very traditional. The houses are painted in bright colors, and many of them have cute little balconies. There is one main street, and it is lined with little souvenir shops. The shops primarily sell jewelry, coffee related foodstuffs, and things made out of the giant bamboo found here. We bought a lot of little things, and I got 3 new pairs of earrings. (Which, by the way, are crucial to Colombian fashion. Women always wear long, festive earrings.) Visiting Salento was a lot of fun. I was still feeling a bit sick, but the weather was warm and we really enjoyed our trip. I put up all the photos on Facebook, but for those of you who don't have access to Facebook, you can see the photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/MelodyStratton.

Today I am going to the doctor. I was instructed to stay home from school, and I am going to see a doctor who has children that attend LPV. I really didn't want to go to the doctor, but I've been sick with no signs of improvement since Friday, and I think Stellita is ready to drag me there if I don't go willingly.

I'll blog about the trip to the doctor later. I also want to blog about Stellita, but I think it might have to wait a bit. I want to get a picture of her first!

I hope everyone is well! If you have time, I would really appreciate it if you left a comment or a little check next to interesting, cool, or funny. I'm not trying to get attention, but Warren and I want to know how many people are reading the blog. If there are a lot of you, I'll definitely try to write more often. (Especially since no one wants to read such a long entry after 3 days with no entries!)

Have a good day!