Hacienda Venecia (Café Tour) from Manizales

I encountered a British cyclist heading north on my way torwards Manizales. He told me that he had stayed at Hacienda Venecia and really loved it. I did not stay there, but I can tell that it would be comfortable in either the hotel or hostel areas. If you are looking for a peaceful setting, you will find it here. I just went on the coffee tour, which I found to be very worthwhile.

They will pick you up at your hotel for the tour. The tour itself is a combination of history of coffee, a tour of the farm and equipment used at the farm. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the history as well as current business environment of coffee. 

We  started gathered around a table where talked about the history and business. We also learned about different bean qualities and factors that affect those qualities. This quite interested.

Different aromas for identifying results of a crop:

We then toured the grounds where we saw the beans and talked about the cultivation.

Our guide, very knowledgeable:

We saw some of the equipment used in the processing of the beans

Different qualities of beans:

The hotel area:

Outside the hostel:

Finally, we had lunch at the hostel; a peaceful setting where we saw these humming birds.

Manizales - Nice city up high in the cafe region

Manizales is definitely worth stopping if you are traveling on the north / south route. It is very nice city with some spectactular views. According to Pablo Neruda, it is a fabricante de amaneceres (manufacturer of sunrises), because of how the clouds, sun and mountains change through the day. Again, all of the people I have met have been very friendly; as has been the case throughout Colombia so far. If you like mountain hiking, then the tours to the east of Manizales are a must.

First day in Manizales, I mainly rested. I was pretty tired from the day before. I also had some mechanical issues the day before. Fortunately, I was able to find a bike ship nearby the hotel that had the exact things I needed. They had my bike fixed in less than 10 minutes. If you are downtown in Manizales and looking for a bike shop, I can recommend ALMACÉN DE CICLISMO EL POLLO GONZÁLEZ at Cr22 14-69. I then walked a bit and finally ate dinner at a decent Italian Restaurant (Spago) on the other side of town.

My second day was jammed pack with items (each of these below is a separate blog post):

1) I went to Hacienda Venecia (Café Tour)

2) I took the Aero Cable to the other side of Manizales.

3) I walked to Panoramic View from Chipre.

4) I did the Catedral Basilica tour

My third day I spent walking around Manizales. I did not do anything too exceptional.

I saved the best for last; a Tour to Nevado de Ruiz (a volcano in the mountains).

Medellín to Manizales

First day, very short ride: I had taken four weeks off and I had strained my back a bit, so I was not sure how well I would do. I was not sure how far the next hotel would be and given that I expected the next part of the route to mainly uphill, I decided to stop just past the city of Caldas, which is just outside Medellín. This turned out to be a wise move.

The next day, I spent most of the day on the uphill part towards Altos de Minas (Minas Pass). I was feeling pretty exhausted by the time I got there, so I stopped for lunch at Altos. The owner of the restaurant told me that it was pretty much all downhill from there to La Pintada. I dropped a full mile over the next 28km. This was fun, but my hands were completely worn out from the braking. I got a cheap, but sufficient hotel in La Pintada.

Given that I just dropped a mile, I had to make the trip back uphill as my destination was about the same height as Altos de Mina. Leaving out of La Pintada, I had a very steady, but also very low incline all the way to Irra; where I stayed the night in another cheap hotel.

From Irra, I headed to Manizales. Again, the ride was consistently uphill, but I was feeling pretty good. I reached a point where I had to make a decision about which direction to head: there is a north and a south road. I met some road bikers who told me that the north road is much more tranquil and had better views. The south road was more highway with not as good of view. I initially chose the highway route because I wanted to have more options for hotels, but as I got started I could see the shoulder was not very good and there was a lot of traffic. So, I reversed my decision.

I headed up the north (back) road, which turned out to be a good and a bad decision. It was good, because the views were fantastic. The bikers were correct that there was not a lot of traffic. From this standpoint it was good. However, it got pretty steep as I closed in on Manizales. At the same time, there were no hotels closer to Manizales, so I had to continue. I started feeling very exhausted. I was considering stealth camping; even checked out a few spots. Good thing I didn’t. I kept going. As I got closer to Manizales, the skies opened up. I could totally imagine my camping spot being washed down the side of mountain Indiana Jones style.

I stopped at a bakery while it was raining to try to figure out my options. According to everyone there, there were no hotels between where we were and downtown Manizales. It continued to rain and it turned dark; not good. I tried a couple of buses, but they did not want to take my bike. The bike with all of the gear was too much for taxi. So I decided to continue against the local advice. I got a little further and started talking with some other locals. They strongly advised that I not continue as I would be passing through some bad parts crime wise. About that time a bus passed and this time, he was helpful and allowed me to take the bike on through the back door. One of the locals jumped and suggested to the driver a hotel where he could drop me. This hotel was a little nicer than I had been using, but this was a very long day and I appreciated it.

Pictures from Caldas to La Pintada:

Pictures from La Pintada to Irra:

Pictures from Irra to Manizales:

Santa Fe de Antioquia - another day trip from Medellín

I made another day trip with a friend Jason who is in town from Miami. We went to Santa Fe de Antioquia. Santa Fe used to be the provincial capital of Antioquia before is was moved to Medellín. Santa Fe was built in the 1500's. Much of the original architecture and design survives. Given that it is about an hour and half from Medellín, it is also a popular weekend getaway destination.

We checked out a wooden bridge that was built in the 1880's over the river cauca:

We checked out the town. The building structures were quite interesting. It had a number of very nice hotels. I could definitely see coming back here.

Finally, I ate at a restaurant called Crepes and Waffles (doesn't sound like something you would do in a historic town). I had Hindu Curry Chicken (doesn't sound like something you would eat at a place called Crepes and Waffles), but it was excellent. I am still thinking about it today.

Guatapé and La Piedra Del Peñol (the Rock) - a day trip from Medellín

I made a day trip from Medellín to Guatapé and La Piedra Del Peñol (the Rock). It is about a two hour bus ride from Medellín to Guatapé.

First, the rock is a huge granite rock. I think Sugar Loaf in Rio de Janeiro has it beat. What is interesting about La Piedra Del Peñol is that it is a huge rock in the middle of no granite rocks. In Rio, granite is everywhere. There are some comparatively small granite rocks, but not many and none are close to the size of The Rock.

Climbing the rock is not a small task as it is 687 steps to the top and then a few more to the top of a man-made tower that sits atop. It is worth the climb, because when you reach the top, you are afforded a very nice view of the area.

The Rock sits in the middle of a large lake area created by the formation of a hydroelectric power plant. The lake looks like it has hundreds of islands. The lake area is semi-developed. Most of the housing there is pretty nice. There are some docks and a few boats.

An interesting dining/party boat. I think this would work well in Miami or Lake of the Ozarks. I am guessing this had to have been constructed on the lake as they would not have been able to move it on the roads.

Guatapé is a nice town. Unfortunately, I did not get very many pictures of the town. It has a lot of hotels and restaurants. I visited on a Wednesday night/Thursday day. It was somewhat quiet. I am guessing that the town is very busy during the weekends with a crowd coming from Medellín. If I get a chance in the future, I would like to try to re-visit Guatapé on a weekend.

One interesting characteristic of the town is that all of the homes and businesses have artwork on the side of the buildings. The artwork often implies something about the people living there or the type of business. It is generally 3D artwork, which I thought was kind of cool.

Guatapé and La Piedra Del Peñol: worth the visit!