Carretero Hotel Manizales

... br>The riot was over education however, the rioters we not the college kids. They were high school and middle schools. The government here is thinking about making the universities private so that will mean that less people can get an education. Smart kids to riot.


That following weekend, Leo and I headed to another city named Manizales for the weekend. We hopped on a bus/van and headed off for a weekend adventure. Let me quickly tell you how ...

... and health inspections any time soon it was fascinating to see (and eat) first hand.

Several days and a hundred cups of coffee later however we needed to leave. The quantity of coffee we had consumed over the three days meant we were sufficiently buzzed to have run to the bus station, but Raphael graciously drove us. While we wish we could have taken the dogs with us (particularly Matthaeus with whom a deep spiritual bond was formed) we had to make ...

... barely control. We decided to call him Hannibal due to the evil looking muzzle the dog wore. Personally, I want to be sure that the dog was not let loose during the night as he looked vicious and I didn't really want to run into him on one of my evening toilet expeditions.

The next day will be a day we won’t forget. We all decided to treat ourselves to the Eco Parks full package which included all the activities plus a few others at another ...

... ago. We had to look hard but eventually found a trio of Argentinian comedians performing in a nearby plaza. Even though the dialogue was in Spanish, the act was extremely comical and easily understood. It lasted an hour and then we caught another taxi to the main Plaza de Bolivar in the centre. This Plaza is dominated by a huge dark looking church that reminded me of Notre Dame. We had a quick look inside, it was typical of churches throughout Colombia, huge ...

... of hummingbird feeders, though hummingbirds have lost some novelty at this point.

We went to Zona Rosa for dinner, and it looked like a pretty fun area. We found some good vegetarian food at the crepes and waffles chain. We were also amused when, after struggling to order in Spanish, our waiter said "or, we can speak in English if you like". It's a good thing we didn't say anything bad.

... expecting. Still, I can cope with that. It didn't take long for me to realise that, actually, we weren't going to be climbing the volcano but would instead be spending most of the day on the bus. So I settled in and got comfortable and we began the long ascent towards the National Park. We stopped regularly along the way to allow us to "acclimatise" to the increasing altitude... impossible when our final altitude is a quite respectable 4,800m. Still, we had some breakfast that helped to ...

... for coffee afterwards to chat more about the city, we ate chicken in a chicken restaurant, and then it started to bucket it down so we didn't get to see anymore!
The girls have just left to get their plane back to Barranquilla so I'm alone for the night before heading to Medellin tomorrow. I've been told it's about a four hour journey through the mountains, so I'd better go charge my iPod!

... The thing that first struck me about Colombia was how GREEN and mountainous it was.....it is truly beautiful. At Pereira airport my Tia Lucy, Tia Theresa and cousin Paula were all there to pick us up. Within seconds I felt their love, kindness and utter madness filter through in absolute tons worth. As soon as we entered the house of my Abuelita, I met my Tia Amparo who lives there with my cousins Paula and Alejandro. The gorgeous Malu also greeted us - the resident ...

... that this might be because of consumer demand, but apparently the locals don't like it when the creeks dry up once all of the trees and bamboo are removed from the hills. The older generation even composed songs to pass on the lesson to the younger ones, which our guide sang. Our guide also explained the maintenance of the trees, the careful hand-picking methods, and the drying and sorting of the beans. To put it ...

... It contains a volcano that rises above 5,000m and the scenery all around looks like you have just landed on the moon. The day was quite foggy at first but when we got high enough we broke through the cloud and the views were truly spectacular. We climbed slowly up the volcano for about an hour, not to the top but up to the snow-line. At that altitude itīs important to climb slowly but consistently. But it was incredible, the snow ...