Miss Universe

Here's something i forgot to blog about. A few weeks ago was the Miss Universe pageant and there was lots of hype in Colombia because the runner up was from Colombia (actually from El Poblado the same neighborhood that i lived in for 5 weeks). Also interesting that 4 out of the top 5 were latinas...Venezuela won.

Colombia i will miss you...

So my 2 month stay in Colombia is over. Really i could stay there for much much longer but unfortunately my visa expired and life is waiting. It was an unforgettable experience which i am so happy i was fortunate enough to finally do.
What made the trip was the people i met...i made some really cool friends and a special someone i will never forget. Thanks Colombia, i will miss you.

Coffee and Volcanos

After a memorable time in Cali, Soeren and i headed north to a city called Manizales where we based ourselves from. The city itself is pretty cool...extremely hilly and filled with universities...you can definitely feel the university vibe while walking down the city streets.

The following day we visited a Hacienda de Cafe (Coffee farm) where we had a private, 2-hour tour of the entire place. We got to see coffee production through the entire cycle and finally enjoy some fresh colombian coffee from beans we had just roasted. Did you know that one coffee plant produces 1kg of coffee beans per year which sells for anywhere between $0.50 and $2.00 (depending on quality)? haha...the best thing was that then entire tour was in spanish and i understood everything!

Our final day, Soeren and i took a trip to Nevado del Ruiz. The weather wasn't great, so no beautiful views, but we did manage to make it to 4850m. In the end we were rewarded for our efforts with a long soak in a hot spring.

Salsa & Soeren

What does Salsa and my buddy Soeren from Dublin have in common? I encountered both in Cali. Cali is Colombia's Salsa city and i got to see quite a bit of it. I arrived before soeren, and was lucky watch a football match which included a team from Cali - the street party afterwards was awesome! Soeren and I didn't do too much in cali, as there isn't much to do (except dance salsa of course) but it was warm weather and chillin was the name of the game. I also met a really cool Calena via couchsurfing who showed me a few new dance moves (gracias katherine)!

Highest Palm Trees i've ever seen!

My first quick stop after leaving medellin was Salento. It's a really small town next to a Palm Tree invested valley called Valle de Cocora. I spent the day hiking with an australian buddy through this beautiful place. Most of the land has been cleared by farmers except for Palm trees which remain due to their protected status. It's quite surreal to see 60m high palm treas standing at various elevations along a mountain side with nothing but grass around them. Also, we stopped an a mountain house and got to see various species of hummingbirds feeding. Nice to be out of the city and see some nature!

After 5 weeks...good-bye Medellin

Sorry...im catching up on the blogging...

After 5 weeks of living in Medellin, i took a deep breath, a few good bye kisses, some "see ya later dude" 's and i left my colombian sanctuary to checkout some more cool before my visa expires.

I gotta say, I love Medellin and it will always bring back warm memories. Of course this bias is always present when one gets to live in a new cool place for a short period of time so take it with a grain of salt. ...I'll be back :)