Cartajena was as beautiful as the other places we saw in Colombia. The walled old part of town dates back to the 1500’s and is filled with colonial buildings, squares, streets and of course doors.
It’s also a modern city on the coast which means lots and lots of coastline and beaches.
Even the coffee shops and restaurants were Instagram ready.
Why yes we are in fact coffee lovers.This might be the prettiest banana bread I’ve ever eaten.Fanciest cocktail presentation ever.This happened in my kitchen in Seattle once.
Doors, Doors and more doors.
Walking around the old town, I went door picture crazy.
Move, wait don’t move. Smile, no, don’t smile.
Even Jeff caught door photo fever.
We spent three nights in a huge Air BnB which was great except for the party busses which drove up and down the street blaring music all night.
Damn you youngsters staying up late enjoying yourselves!
So many new types of fruit to try
Can’t wait to try all of these. Maybe I don’t like exotic fruits.
When we tired of the old town we went to a hotel by the beach. Even the hotel welcome chocolates were picture ready.
The really spectacular beaches were a boat ride away on the nearby islands. We stayed on the mainland where the beach was still nice.
Jeff: We should go to that island. Sheryl: Or we can keep sitting here then go have tropical drinks by the poolMango seller: Even I think they should go to that island.Poolside tropical drinks won out.
And then we flew back to Panama City. This was our first trip to Colombia but hopefully not our last.
650 stairs? No problem. 6,500 tourist climbing them with you? Problem
Our guidebook and everything we read on the internet warned that if you want to climb the Piedra del Peñol to do it early. But it’s hard not to linger when you have a delicious breakfast overlooking a lake with both coffee and hot chocolate.
I’m not much of a hot chocolate drinker but this was truly amazing. It was made with local chocolate, sugar cane and milk.
Only 6 more cups of this and I’ll be ready for those stairs.
Breakfast took longer than planned then the tuk tuk was more colorful than speedy.
On the drive there it looked like this.
Oh, look, there are three or four other people going up the road
Turns out that was the back way. For the equivalent of a US dollar we were able to have our tuk tuk driver go all the way up to the ticket area where there were a lot more people.
This seemed to be more people than live in Panama City.
I did take a moment to read the rules.
No ice cream or fruit allowed? What kind of stairs are these? What am I going to do with the pineapple I brought along?It couldn’t possibly be like this the entire way could it? Yes. It could. We were waiting in a line while climbing stairs on a rock.
When we got halfway up we not only lost patience but I got a glimpse of the stairs down. While not crowded, there weren’t a lot of hand rails and my balance is terrible.
Jeff: At least it’s a nice view. Sheryl: Can you carry me down the stairs?
We decided to cut it short, skip the rest of the way up and head back down.
I said a little prayer to get me down in one piece.
I’m not kidding when I say I’m bad on stairs.
Sheryl: Jeff, can you go in front of me and take a picture. Ok now can you come back up here and hold my hand. I’m stuck and can’t move.
When we got back down I told Jeff I felt bad I cut it short for him. He informed me he never wanted to go in the first place. If I had looked at the selfie we took at the beginning I guess I would have figured that out.
We were both happier when we were down at the base away from stairs and other people.
And then we ate a steak, chicken, and pork chop lunch.
Vegetarians avert your eyes.
Is it worth going? Yes if you go early. Many people go as a day trip from Medellin which is two hours away. If you get up early and don’t let hot chocolate distract you, it would be a nice hike up.
Was is worth it with so many people? No, but that might just be us. No one else seemed to mind or turn back early. But then we also knew more coffee and hot chocolate awaited us at our hotel.
Guatape is a small very colorful town two hours from Medellin. We opted for a personal driver to get there this time.
I look drunk, but it’s just being drunk on the comfort of a private driver.
Carlos, our driver was so nice. He didn’t even seem to mind when got lost in our way to our hotel.
Carlos: You guys are great. Let’s take photos. Sheryl: You are our new best friend. Jeff: Can you come back in three days and drive us back to Medellin? Carlos: No way. Sheryl: why do you hate us?
But then again, he said he was “busy” when we asked him to drive us back three days later. So maybe he did mind.
boutique hotel depending on your definition of boutique
We stayed at a “boutique” hotel a bit out of town. The setting overlooking the lake was boutique.
Boutique view
The room was definitely not boutique. After one night sharing a double bed we felt every one of our 55 years.
You snore. I only slept for one hour.You snore louder. I only slept for half an hour.Breakfast was boutique
During breakfast the hotel owner sensed our poor night’s sleep, or overheard us fighting about if we should mention that we were supposed to have a king bed. She wasn’t able to move us to a room with a bigger bed , but one with more beds. Eight.
The room, not boutique.
Getting into town required a tuk tuk.
Driver: Even I barely fit in here.
The town was a dazzling array of brightly colored buildings. But, we were not the only ones visiting. There are a lot of other tourist on day trips from Medellin.
Sheryl: Go away tourists. I want to be the only one here doing this. Move away from the doors.
I could have taken 4,000 more door and wall photos, but we decided to sit down away from the craziness of the touristy town square.
Jeff: How many tourists behind me? Sheryl: None, they all caught their tourist bus back to the city. Jeff: Great and you are done photographing doors? Sheryl: um…yes
Of course when the other tourists left it gave me a clear view of other things to photograph.
CatsFlower advertising Churches
Gudape is a beautiful town with the lake and colorful buildings. But, the main attraction is this giant rock which we planned to climb the next day.
Sheryl: That looks fun. Jeff: you hate stairs. Sheryl: I read there are only 650.
Medellin is a huge city with a lot of things to do. We didn’t do any of them, but it was good to know we could.
We mostly hung out in the Poblado neighborhood. It’s full of beautiful trees, cute cafes and high end restaurants. There is even a river running through it.
How many city neighborhoods have waterfalls?
The flower festival started the week after we were there, so lots of flower arrangements.
Not what I’d expect in flowers but pretty nonetheless. We gave this dude money. Tightrope walking at a stoplight with your own rope deserves some pesos.
El Pablado is known for its nightlife. But Jeff and I opted to have drinks on our Air BnB balcony.
Not too shabby of a view from our balcony Jeff and Sheryl happy hour Colombia style.
We did go to the Botero museum and plaza. The Uber let us off in an area that was full of people, like more people than I think even live in Panama. The Uber driver pointed to where to go and told us it was full of thieves. I didn’t take my phone out so no photos. The Botero Plaza had less people.
This is the not crowded area. Jeff: Can we go to the museum yet? Sheryl: I still have 20 more statues to see.
The Botero museum had a great display of his paintings which are all the same style. The museum building had a window overlooking the plaza. I was surprised when the window and door opened to a small balcony overlooking the square.
Worth getting trouble for this shot.
The security guard was even more surprised to see two American tourists standing on the balcony. He was not happy.
After getting on trouble at the museum, we treated ourselves to some of the amazing food in Medellin.
We didn’t see all that the city has to offer but we liked what we did see and loved the temperatures which were about 20 degrees Fahrenheit cooler then Panama City.
Jeff: Medellin, beautiful, vibrant and impressive. Sheryl: Is my hair still curly in back?
The first photo and last photo were taken at the same time by our Uber driver. He posed us and took several angles. Either he’s driven bloggers before or taking a photography class.
When I started working for Starbucks in 1999 I didn’t even like coffee. But, now all these years later I love drinking it, and have always wanted to see how it grows up close.
But not at 9:00am!
Although I didn’t want it enough to sign up for an early morning tour. Let’s not be crazy. Instead we called around the many nearby farms until one agreed to do a last minute tour at a reasonable hour.
Fanny and Mario own Finca Milena where they grow coffee, bananas and run a hotel.
Fanny arranged a tuk tuk to take us to their farm.
Take this up a mountain on an unpaved road? Um…ok.
It was a bit scary to be riding up a mountain in what was basically a golf cart.
At least this is the scariest part.
Unfortunately the tuk tuk couldn’t make it up the last steep part of the road to the farm. And, well, neither could I. Mario, the farm owner met us and watched as Jeff pulled me up the road
Good thing that walk to the house is over. That was the hardest part.
Once I caught my breath and unclenched my hand from Jeff’s arm, I was able to take in the beauty of the mountains and see the town of Jardin below.
They gave us hats which I think is for the sun or just for photos since it was cloudy.
This isn’t really my color do you have any hats is gray?
When they passed out knee high rain boots I got a bit nervous but thought this must also be for photos.
Five month old coffee baby tree.
Mario explained that coffee trees take two years before producing coffee, then are good for five years, then need to be replaced with new trees.
Jeff asked a bunch of questions. We looked out at the valley saw some coffee trees in the distance and I thought great excellent tour. Now let’s sit down and drink coffee.
Dude, why do many questions?
But no, we started out on a very steep, muddy hike. I have no photos of the hike since it took all three of them to get me up to the trees.
The coffee plants were interspersed with banana trees. Mario explained that growing bananas took less labor to harvest.
The bags around the fruit are to keep insects off. The blue color is just because that’s how they come.
I should have wrapped myself in a blue bag. I got really bitten up.
Mario showed us a plant that still had a coffee flower and some green unripe cherries.
Since it was still three months to harvest time (October through December) there weren’t any red coffee cherries to pick.
Oh well, good tour lets go drink coffee.
Turns out there weren’t any here. But, up the mountain and across a bridge made up of a piece of wood there were some.
Oh crap
Jeff and Mario pulled me up each step and then Jeff walked backwards on the wooden plank brigde while holding my hands. And finally there were plants with ripe beans. We got to work.
This tastes like an unripe coffee cherry.I like unripe coffee cherries.I’m so good at this. I’ve already picked one.If I hide behind this tree I won’t have to help Sheryl down the mountain. Sheryl: Look at all the cherries I picked. Mario: She picked three. I picked the rest.
I have no idea how they got me back down but I miraculous arrived back at the farm intact.
Guess these weren’t just for fashion. This either sorted or washed the berry part from the bean.
Mario showed us how they processed the beans from sorting, to washing, to fermenting.
I made it back in one piece.
And then we got to taste coffee. This was coffee the had come from their farm and roasted in town.
Sheryl: That was fun. Jeff: My arms hurt from pulling her up a mountain. Mario: We should have charged more for the tourJeff: Sheryl needs more photos for her blog. Can we go back up there? Mario: I’m out of here.
When the tuk tuk came to take us back to town Fanny helped me back down the steep road.
Hiking up to the trees was hard and scary but so worth it. I am so glad I got to see first hand what goes into making the coffee I drink each morning. Mario, Jeff, Fanny and our guide (I forgot his name) made it possible for me to experience it. Without them I wouldn’t have even made it up the road to the farm.
