Manizales Hotels
|
  | |  |
Road to Manizales
Entry 79 of 85 | show all | print this entry |
We left Bogota on the 9th Jan to head to Manizales where there is a big coffee festival with parades and celebrations everyday. We took a day bus because we were told the night bus could be dangerous with possible hijackings on the highway.
Due to closing of the main highway because of mud slides, our 6 hour bus journey ballooned to 12 hours. Instead of arriving comfortably at 7pm to look for a place to stay, we arrived at 1am. Fortunately, I met Julian, a local who was on the bus with and returning to Manizales to spend the festival with his family. He was the only person on the bus who could speak English albeit somewhat broken.
- Do you have any family or friends in Manizales?
- Nope
- Do yoiu speak any Spanish?
- 'poco espaniol' (very little)
He gave us a look of disbelief.
'ok, let me call my family and we try to find you a place to stay. It is too dangerous in the city at this time. My brother will wait for us with his car at the bus terminal'
Because of the festival, the guest houses and hotels were very fully booked. The only hostel in the city only had about 40 beds and was completely full. The only place they could find for us was a twin room for a whopping $53 USD. Quite expensive for Colombia and our budget. But we were stuck and perhaps lucky to even have a place to stay. We took it.
So after a 12 hour plus journey and exhausted, did we just check in and go to sleep? haa....read on.
We dropped off our bags and jumped back in to the car and soon found ourselves at a local bar with 8 of their friends waiting for us to drink and party! They were very curious about us and very friendly: tourists are few in Colombia and even fewer in Manizales.
What a great place. Everyone was dancing Colombian style. Boy and girl would hold each other while rapidly shaking their asses rythmically to the music. Just like Shakira! (Yes, she is Colombian)
We had beer and countless shots of Aguadiente, a local liquor that has a minty taste to it. Not too strong, just under 30% alcohol. Although it didn´t help our cause to stay somewhat sober due to the fact that we haven´t eaten anything since lunch at Bogota! Loosened up, I got invited to dance with a beautiful Colombian girl with cheering locals around me. Vamos!
The night ended around 5 am where I only remember collapsing onto my bed. There could not have been a warmer welcome here in Manizales.
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries by jjwong, from Colombia or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
19 votes 
