Manizales to Cali - Pereira, Armenia and Buga

The bulk of the ride from Manizales to Cali could be described as downhill or low grade uphill in a valley between two ranges of the Andes mountains. The scene pictured above was reminiscent of the foothills of California only with wet land.

Pereira – No Need to Stop

I decided to stop for a day in Pereira since it is one of the larger cities in the Café region. Pereira seemed like a decent city; better than I had expected. I had been warned by several people that Pereira is a dangerous city. I did not feel that it was so dangerous, but it may have been more dangerous than I felt as more than one person warned me not to go in certain directions. Pereira is a working town and does not have many tourist destinations. This taught me a simple lesson: I do not need to stop in every town. I should really only be stopping if there is something known to see in that town.

I learned another lesson in Pereira: pay very close attention to your things. I got my bike shoes stolen, meaning I was going to have to ride from Pereira to Cali without bike shoes. I was getting ready early on Sunday morning to leave. I thought I had an eye on all of my stuff, but I had some difficulty getting my geared tied onto my bike. During those few seconds, a homeless guy snagged the shoes. The lesson: some people are not just homeless; they are working. Their job is to steal your stuff. My job was to not let him steal my stuff. On this day, he outperformed me.

Armenia – Passed Through

When I arrived in Armenia, it was cold and raining. It was also Sunday, so most businesses were closed. Armenia seemed like a nice town, but I did not have any real reason to stop. So, I continued on about 15km out of town where I stopped for the night.

Buga – The Basílica de Milagros (Miracles)

I am either getting stronger as a rider or the lower altitude / flatter is ride is helping out a lot. From a performance standpoint, I felt stronger on this ride since starting this journey. That is good sign. I made it past my intended stop of Tuluá to Buga.
Buga is town known for its church. In the 1570’s, numerous people claimed to see the image of Christ in a nearby river. The Bishop from Popoyan sent emissaries to investigate these claims; ultimately declaring these sightings to be miracles; hence the name Basílica de Milagros. Buga is nice town. I would not consider it a primary destination. If you are passing nearby or looking for a day trip from Cali, however, it is worth a visit.


In Pereira, I found this cemetery interesting:

Also in Pereira, the shoe shiners union:

The rest are from the basilica in Buga:

Manizales - Tour to Nevado Ruiz and Visit to Termales Otoño

I went on a tour to Nevado Ruiz. Nevado Ruiz is an active volcano just east of Manizales. The above is not Nevado Ruiz. It is a smaller volcanic mountain nearby. At the time of my visit, they were not allowing visitors any closer to Nevado Ruiz due to volcanic activity. Even so, this tour rocked!

We started our day riding a tour bus up the mountain. We stopped for a typical breakfast. On the way up, the scenery was magnificent. It started with steep, deep green mountains. As we rose in altitude, the flora began to change. We saw four distinct floral environments: the deep green mountains changed to the Páramo, which then gave way to the Super Páramo at about 4200 meters, which then gave way to the Tumbas (the tombs) at about 4400 meters (about 14,400 feet). A person could spend and enjoy an entire day at each one of these eco zones.

We finished the day with a dip in the volcanic waters at Termales Otoño, which turned out to be a very relaxing way to finish the tour.

Deep, green eco:

Here you can see the beginning of the Páramo. There is still a lot of green, but there is more upper altitude brush type vegetation;

These next two were taken fairly close to each other at about 4000 meters in altitude and are both representative of the Páramo:

This next one shows the Super Páramo which begins at about 4200 meters. Notice the very limited vegetation:

Finally, Las Tumbas (the tombs) at about 4500 meters (I am not sure). Here it looks like we are visiting another planet. The volcano pictured above is just to the right.

Additional pictures of the trip:

Manizales - Catedral Basilica

The Catedral Basilica in Manizales is definitely worth the visit. I think I spent US$10 which included my tip for the guide. In this tour, you get to visit very close to the top of the cathedral, which I think is pretty rare in most tours. The views are spectacular.