Varuna Hotel Manizales

... Soooooooo, my buddy Leo and I were headed to the grocery store and saw a bunch of kids on the main road. So what did we do? We walked toward the kids. As we got closer, the kids start running at us. Well, in our direction. As we got closer, we noticed and odd smell. Leo asked what it was but I had no idea so we kept walking. Then we started noticing that all the kids were crying. Hmmmm. About 10 feet later I stopped walking and told Leo to turn around ...

... While it's a fairly simple process it's obvious that masters, like Raphael, really know what they're doing and what goes into making a great cup of coffee. In addition to this process Raphael also took us to the nearby "panella" factory where we saw sugarcane, also grown in the region, turned into blocks of solid brown sugar. It's this soft brown sugar that the Colombians put into their coffee and drink black and strong. While the factory wasn't going to pass ...

... not sure how he knew that we were lost). However, with the prior experiences we had in Santa Marta we choose to ignore him. But finally we had to stop again for directions and it became so obvious that we had no idea where we were. Sure enough this motorcyclist shows up and asks if he could help us. He told us he would take us there for free and sure enough we went through the tunnel and up the hill we were at out campsite in 10 minutes. We had 360-degree ...

... on the edge of the main city centre. We attempted some dialogue with a receptionist there who gave us a program of the festival de theatre, what we had come to see. We found that there was a street performance just about to start, and after some confusion eventually found out that this was actually being performed at El Cable, where we had just walked from. We then hurriedly jumped in a taxi and went immediately back up Calle 23 from where we had started an ...

... exciting, but it was a nice enough town, with lots of shops and a big church.

We found a taxi a little before 2 and headed out to Rio Blanco. The driver had no idea where it was. He took us to some totally unrelated place first, and then he stopped at Agua Manizales (which runs the park) for directions. Eventually we got there, where we met up with our guide.

She was fairly ...

... the nearby volcano of Nevado del Ruiz, an active volcano that I actually studied briefly at university. The reason being that around 1985 it erupted in rather spectacular fashion and melted part of the glacier at the summit. This caused a lahar which whooshed down the slopes and wiped out the village of Armero and its 25,000 residents. Admittedly this may seem a rather morbid reason to visit the place but I see more as a continuing interest in my studies. So, without thinking, I ...

... den of iniquity! We managed to find a place to stay, which turned out to be right beside some kind of underground discotheque with the hardest bed I've ever slept on. I imagine there would be better matresses in prison than in that place. We were tired after a long day so had some burgers and beer before retiring for the night.
Today we had to get up super early to get breakfast in, take ...

... via a connection in Panama City and met my dad there. At Bogota, I met the first of many primos (cousins) that week - Amanda, the daughter of my Tia Theresa. She was lovely and I was encouraged that my Spanish conversation seemed to be holding out pretty well. After my first amazing Colombian meal of many - lunch consisted of a delicious steak and the most delicious guanabana juice (my new favourite fruit) - we took the 30 minute flight to Pereira where my family ...

... good of a time, but I am happy to say that I was proved wrong. We visited Hacienda Guayaba in Chinchina where a guide toured us around the plantation, explaining the origin of coffee (mostly speculative) and how it came to be a major force in Colombia (some speculation). Although the slash-and-burn method of clearing land for coffee plantations was once popular, they are now moving back towards shade-grown plantations. I ...

... to offer. They were quite excited by the itinerary and said it would be quite unique as no other overseas operators were doing very much in this part of the country, and the possibilities were excellent. Having been in Colombia for 6 weeks before made it a lot easier to make decisions, and discuss the options available. The following day I set off on a tour to Los Nevados de la Ruiz, a national park with a unique biosphere and ...