On to Colombia....

We crossed into Colombia in a city called Tulcán. tulcan was not a very hectic or crazy town as many other border towns have been, and we were lucky enough to find a man that drove us from Ecuador to the bus station in Tulcán. Normally, when you get a cab, it is a long drawn out process of stopping at one immigration, catching another taxi or walking to the next immigration then trying to find your final ride into Tulcán. We were also lucky enough to find a bus that was going to Armenia about  two hours after we arrived. Actually, it was going Calarcá, a city right next to Armenia. We called the family that we were going to meet and said that we would be there the following morning about 8:30am.

Colombian coffee beans

The bus out of Tulcán gave way to some spectacular views and some extremely steep canyon roads that we flew up and down and around other cars that the bus driver felt were going to slow. It was no help that on one of these scary corners, the guardrail had been knocked down and apparently it was a car because the damage was quite substantial. I really have no idea what went over the side, or if anything actually did, but I was happy that darkness was falling and I could only see out of the window down into a seemingly dark and endless abyss for a short time thereafter.

A flower in the Parque de Cafe

We arrived to a rainy Calarcá and hopped on a bus to Armenia. We were about an hour early and had no idea what to do, so we looked around for a phone in which to call our hosts. Two men that had been riding on the bus noticed our look of being lost and a bit confused and proceeded to get the information from us and made the call on their own cell phone to let them know exactly where we were. The people here were so incredibly nice, it totally astonished both of us. So many people have the idea of the dark and dangerous Colombia, and while I am sure there are people like that around, I have to say that everyone we met were absolutely wonderful. They were all so helpful and very giving. The man that had made the call returned about 20 minutes after he left us to see that we were doing ok and to let us know that the people should be here in about 10 minutes.

A palm tree, isn´t it cool how it grows??

Our hosts, Zulma & Fransisco, were very kind and seemed to make it their duty to tend to our every need. The only problem with staying here was that when we had met them in Argentina, they had offered their home at the same price that we were paying there in Mendoza...which was $20 a night. Well, they charged us $20 a night...but it was per person..so we were paying $40...or double what we paid in Argentina. Being on a budget has caused us to sometimes miss out on some things that we would like to do and that is disappointing, but being on a budget and thinking that you are paying something only to find out that you are paying double is really upsetting. When we found out, it put a damper on our experience because we had not paid that much for a room in our entire trip! In fact, had we known that was the cost, we would have gone straight to Bogota and spent more time there.

Colorful bird

Well, regardless of that, Armenia was a nice place. We visited the Parque de Cafe which was like the Disneyland for coffee. It was really interesting to see how the coffee was grown and processed and how it came to be the coffee that we drink. The people at the park were great and explained everything so well...in Spanish...it felt great to understand, but if we didn´t, they did their best to try in English. The amusement park itself was nice as well, and while it didn´t offer the immensity of Disneyland, it was a nice park to walk around and see the rides. Another aspect about this park that we really enjoyed was how they had not leveled the surrounding forests to create a huge theme park, but rather, they have used the surrounding forests to make it an educational experience as well. We tried the coffee a few times and were on quite a high buzz by the time we left the park...but we had a great day!

More beautiful vegetation

The last day was raining and we went into the center of Armenia for a walk around. It was pretty crazy with so many street vendors selling so many different things, but we just walked through it all and enjoyed the crazy atmosphere.

The next morning we caught an early bus and headed to Bogota.

Parrots in the Parque de Cafe

The vegetation was beautiful

Wild parakeets

The Parque de Cafe from above

No wonder why I couldn´t sleep!!