Ah, this coffee region: for now the most beautiful area we saw from Colombia!
To bring you back in the bath (ah-ah), let's start with... a QUIZZ!
What was the last event related in our last post??
- We ate a big burger and 2 bunuelos each!!
- Arthur found in Circasia the best shoarma ever, denied the Luxor of The Hague and therefore bought a house in Circasia
- We left Orlando's house after one nice peaceful week
- We did our coming out: we are vegetarian
Yeah, you are good!! We left Orlando's place (we may have eat burgers and bunuelos too, though). And then spent our last hour in Circasia, the small village close to Orlando's finca. The charming central place of Circasia has this colonial touch we enjoyed almost every day, when going to our favorite coffee place...
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| Ooooowwww!!! |
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| Woooooaaaaaa!! |
| Of course that's not us but we were in the same situation. Just we were the lucky ones: inside! |
When waiting for the bus to Salento, a Willy passed-by and we took the opportunity to jump-in. Already sitting in: Carsten, Carla and their two dogs. I felt bad to squeeze them on the back benches... Until 15 minutes later, when 3 other people joined: one sat in the front and two were standing on the edge of the back of the car...
Well, so close to each other, we engaged the conversation!
He is German, she is Colombian, they met in Miami. And decided to take their chances in Armenia, in one of the most beautiful area of Colombia: the Quindio!
A beautiful hike around and to Salento
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| Sexy hiker... |
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| Dirty boy! |
Ow, and of course we had no water and no food! So we bought some. But since we didn't had any back pack (...), we had to carry everything in plastic bags. Here you go: the perfect little hiker!!
And boy that was worth it!
We were 13 in total: 6 humans and 7 dogs! All crazily happy to hike there.
We first started with an easy part, just flat - to warm up the flip-flops, yeah! Following the river, we had some very nice views. Just have a look below...
We first started with an easy part, just flat - to warm up the flip-flops, yeah! Following the river, we had some very nice views. Just have a look below...
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| So we started! Perfectly guided by Carsten, who walks and bikes the area so much that he knows it very well |
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| Natural Jacuzzi |
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| Resting on a warm stone |
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| Nice to cool down! |
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| Yep, there were quite some dogs!! |
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| A finca along our path - wanna buy in the area? |
So we were flip-flopping nicely when suddenly Carsten stopped and said: "Now, we go that way!"
Eeer...in this bottleneck??
From then, the path became steeper. And slippery - especially with flip-flops (ok I stop talking about my flip-flops). So we climbed higher and higher, until we could see what we already walked: we enjoyed a beautiful panoramic view!
We finally reached the top!! And admired the deep view of the valley - and the steep climb we still could feel in our legs!
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| Carla looking back on our performance! |
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| View from the top - WOW! And see the river? You may find the stone where Arthur was resting - right, with a bit of work... |
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| Same, on Salento's side - entrance of the village. Welcome! |
Time to visit Salento itself!!
Salento is a small village perched on top of a mountain. Which is already a nice advantage, for you can enjoy an amazing view. But that's not all... Salento is a charming place, known for its well maintained colonial houses... Have a look by yourself...
All these emotions gives you hunger - so, time to eat!! YES! Another specialty of Salento: trucha! (= trot / forel / truite).
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| A kitchen - outside, of course... Aaaah those warm regions... ;-) |
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| Walking down to Salento centre |
All these emotions gives you hunger - so, time to eat!! YES! Another specialty of Salento: trucha! (= trot / forel / truite).
We headed on the central place and had our lunch. That was GOOD!!
Yes, as you can see, the size of the meal plate is quite huge and very well filled! Which is also typical from Colombian culture - as far as we eat, and since we eat a lot, I think we are fair judges... :-)
On the picture: Arthur enjoying his trucha, in a delicious preparation,with a huge patacon!
Moved by our very-very-very-sad story (no warm shower and you know, it's hard to find good coffee for our morning, and-and-and...), Carsten and Carla invited us to spend one night at their place, in Armenia. First, we arrived for lunch and have been welcomed with a delicious Colombian meal: sancocho, salad, platanos, bananas, rice!!
After such a meal, we crashed on their couch, all relaxed, and answered all our emails, updated the blog (yeah!), aaaand no use to say that we just emptied their coffee supply :-)
After such hard work, we needed... to eat. So we went out for the night... And what a great night!
We went crazy (whooohoooo!!): ate Mexican (don't ask) and... drunk some tasty beers from... Germany and The Netherlands!! YEAH!!
Well, ok, we like to discover new cultures but let's be honest, on some aspects, you just can't make it.
When we talk about what we miss the most here, the following list comes:
Arthur: Dutch bread, shoarma, saucisson (French dry sausage)
Anaëlle: French cheese, galettes
Back to Armenia! After dinner, we enjoyed a perfect sleep-time in a huuuuuuge bed (huuuuuge!!! We almost lost each other!!). After such a good and relaxing time (and a warm shower), we were ready to jump on our bicycles. And reach our next destination: Rio Verde!! Where Michael and Nathalie were waiting for us - and... they waited quite a long time...!
At the tenant's house, Mike and Nathalie prepared a typical Colombian meal.
We then headed on Michael's house and installed our mattresses for the night, we had no clue of the environment and the view around.
The magic happened in the morning, when we woke up... and opened our eyes on an amazing view upon the mountains, above the trees...
... and on, and on, and on...!
From here you don't see but there is another house, hidden behind the vegetation.
And this is only one mountain side... There is another one!!! Where we went, hiking on a narrow path, since the existing path that linked the main road to this side of the property has been covered with a thick amount of soil, after a landslide - quite common in Colombia, with the amount of water hurtling down the mountains at rainy season.
Below the two other houses towering the mountain view...
During the day, we could hear workers singing in the bananas and platanos fields. We also met this guy, who would drive the main path to collect the bananas and platanos grapes cut by the workers and put together along the path.
So we thought: why wouldn't we help one day, before we leave?
So we did!
The following day, we strapped a big bucket around our waist and went down the fields, to help collecting coffee beans.
We were three: Arthur, Nathalie and myself. After 3 hours, all proud, we gathered our collections!
Result: one third of a bag (the one Arthur empties on the picture below).
Just to compare: one worker, in average, collects 2 of these bags each day... OK, we definitely need to train!!!
Still, we had some coffee beans to work on. So we went back to the tenant house, where the cleaning process starts...
First, you have to peal the coffee beans. So you empty your bag in the machine below.
Then, you retrieve the pealed beans and you through them in a big bath of water.
After a couple of days (about 3 or 4 if I recall well), you check if the coffee beans are ready for sell. How that? Well, you rub some beans in your hand. If it's ready, it shouldn't been sticky. If it's sticky, it means that the sugary protection film between the peal and the bean has not been washed enough yet or eaten by the fermentation process.
The beans were ready! Of course, those ones were not the one were collected but previous ones, being under water for a couple of days.
So Mike took a shovel and filled about 4 of these buckets with coffee beans.
Next step: finishing the washing with clear water. To achieve that, we threw all the beans in this water-lane you see on the left, where Nathalie is. Then, they opened a tap and let the water flow in the lane.
At the end of the lane, two wooden shelves block the water. They keep them closed until the water reaches the top. Within this time, we stirred the beans in the water, to clean them. The beans stay down when the dirt and residual peal float. Mike then take out the top shelve and let the water sweep everything but the beans away.
Time then to take out the second shelve and flush the beans with new clean water. The beans flow down the lane and after the corner: surprise! A big pool!!
From this big pool, Mike retrieved the clean beans and put them in a bag, to be sold the same day.
Et voilà !! That was a very cool day. We loved to learn so much about coffee production - and business :-)
To celebrate this, we went down to Rio Verde and enjoyed an excellent bite together with Mike and Nathalie, near the river.
Aaaahhh that was soooo nice...!!!
This time though, we went back with a bus :-D
Time then to say goodbye, after a good night of sleep, and to head on to the next destination...
Bye Michael, bye Nathalie and thanks so so SO much for your hospitality! And Mike, our heart is with you ;-)
Oow it's already the end... But don't worry: next post within the 2 weeks coming! And quite some experience to share:
Cheers amigos!!!
On the picture: Arthur enjoying his trucha, in a delicious preparation,with a huge patacon!
A night in Armenia
After such a meal, we crashed on their couch, all relaxed, and answered all our emails, updated the blog (yeah!), aaaand no use to say that we just emptied their coffee supply :-)
After such hard work, we needed... to eat. So we went out for the night... And what a great night!
We went crazy (whooohoooo!!): ate Mexican (don't ask) and... drunk some tasty beers from... Germany and The Netherlands!! YEAH!!
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| Erdingers and La Trappe ... ... ... ... Ow sorry, and also Carla, Anaëlle, Carsten and Arthur |
When we talk about what we miss the most here, the following list comes:
Arthur: Dutch bread, shoarma, saucisson (French dry sausage)
Anaëlle: French cheese, galettes
Back to Armenia! After dinner, we enjoyed a perfect sleep-time in a huuuuuuge bed (huuuuuge!!! We almost lost each other!!). After such a good and relaxing time (and a warm shower), we were ready to jump on our bicycles. And reach our next destination: Rio Verde!! Where Michael and Nathalie were waiting for us - and... they waited quite a long time...!
Two days above the trees
In Armenia, we met Michael, a Colombian guy of 25, who spent most of
his life in the US. And who offered us to visit his finca and stay there for a couple of days! So we made an appointment with him and Nathalie, his (really cool) girlfriend.
| Where we may apply for, one day... |
To prepare our trip to his place, the wise asses that we are (too) quickly checked on the map: “Yeah-yeah it’s there!” Hop! Therefore, after those nice
days with Carla and Carsten in Armenia, we naively jumped on our bikes and hop! we biked
in the direction of Mike’s finca!!
Or let’s say we intend to do
that…
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| Somewhere, in between somewhere and somewhere |
The first 30’, sure we managed
well. But then, there was this round-about where we couldn’t find the right
name of the right city we had to head on. So we guessed. We shouldn’t have…
Too bad though, since when we
asked people, they confirmed without a doubt that we were in the right
direction. And knowing the information we provided in our questions, they
didn’t lie: there was a small area called “ Las Camelias” in the direction we
were heading on.
But there was no finca
Las Camelias, since this finca was… 40 km
further than were we were then!!
OK. Time to show you the path we took vs. the path we should have taken...
Yeah, now you get it... Outch! So we did what we want to
avoid as much as we can: cycling by night. Quite a challenge in Colombia,
believe us!!
Thankfully, FINALLY (!!), we reached Mike and
Nathalie, at Rio Verde! We were all happy and safe and ready to cool down. Buuuut we didn’t
get that we still had to climb to his finca…
And since there was no bus anymore for them, we decided to walk together, with the bikes. And all the bags attached to the bikes. And all of this uphill... Aaaand it was
not 10 minutes walk, neither 20, but one hour and a half!!! But believe it or not, it has
been an absolute fun climb, marked by the sudden drives of Mike and Nathalie to… run uphill!
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| My hand grabbing Arthur's pants (only) to secure this special drive |
Then we've been lucky: for the last kilometers, a
Willy took us up – yeah!! Quite challenging too, since Nathalie, myself and the 2 bikes were inside, when Mike and Arthur had to stand up outside and hang on the back of the Willie...
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| Nathalie in the Willie, clugged behind the bicycles |
I tried to take some pictures but without explanation, you just think some hand tries to undress Arthur :-) - nice!!
Well, if you go up this post, you'll see the picture of the guys standing up behind a Willy. Same thing, at night. And for Arthur, a première!!
But ow-ow-ow, it’s not the end!
We now had… to go down! Down a very steep and slippery path, in the dark. But a path that finally brought us… to heaven :-)
At the tenant's house, Mike and Nathalie prepared a typical Colombian meal.
We then headed on Michael's house and installed our mattresses for the night, we had no clue of the environment and the view around.
The magic happened in the morning, when we woke up... and opened our eyes on an amazing view upon the mountains, above the trees...
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| View from Mike's bedroom |
The life in a finca
As for many finca, there is more than one house in Michael's property. There is the house owner, the house for the tenant and houses for some of the workers, including showers and toilets. Quite huge!
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| The tenant house |
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| The main path with Mike's house on the right |
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| This same path going on and on through the immense property... |
From here you don't see but there is another house, hidden behind the vegetation.
And this is only one mountain side... There is another one!!! Where we went, hiking on a narrow path, since the existing path that linked the main road to this side of the property has been covered with a thick amount of soil, after a landslide - quite common in Colombia, with the amount of water hurtling down the mountains at rainy season.
Below the two other houses towering the mountain view...
... and this is the view:
During the day, we could hear workers singing in the bananas and platanos fields. We also met this guy, who would drive the main path to collect the bananas and platanos grapes cut by the workers and put together along the path.
So we thought: why wouldn't we help one day, before we leave?
So we did!
 |
| Collecting coffee beans |
The following day, we strapped a big bucket around our waist and went down the fields, to help collecting coffee beans.
We were three: Arthur, Nathalie and myself. After 3 hours, all proud, we gathered our collections!
Just to compare: one worker, in average, collects 2 of these bags each day... OK, we definitely need to train!!!
Still, we had some coffee beans to work on. So we went back to the tenant house, where the cleaning process starts...
First, you have to peal the coffee beans. So you empty your bag in the machine below.
Then, you retrieve the pealed beans and you through them in a big bath of water.
After a couple of days (about 3 or 4 if I recall well), you check if the coffee beans are ready for sell. How that? Well, you rub some beans in your hand. If it's ready, it shouldn't been sticky. If it's sticky, it means that the sugary protection film between the peal and the bean has not been washed enough yet or eaten by the fermentation process.
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| Mike in the coffee bath (told you!!), checking if the beans are ready |
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| Check OK! Beans ready to be washed |
So Mike took a shovel and filled about 4 of these buckets with coffee beans.
Next step: finishing the washing with clear water. To achieve that, we threw all the beans in this water-lane you see on the left, where Nathalie is. Then, they opened a tap and let the water flow in the lane.
At the end of the lane, two wooden shelves block the water. They keep them closed until the water reaches the top. Within this time, we stirred the beans in the water, to clean them. The beans stay down when the dirt and residual peal float. Mike then take out the top shelve and let the water sweep everything but the beans away.
Time then to take out the second shelve and flush the beans with new clean water. The beans flow down the lane and after the corner: surprise! A big pool!!
From this big pool, Mike retrieved the clean beans and put them in a bag, to be sold the same day.
Et voilà !! That was a very cool day. We loved to learn so much about coffee production - and business :-)
To celebrate this, we went down to Rio Verde and enjoyed an excellent bite together with Mike and Nathalie, near the river.Aaaahhh that was soooo nice...!!!
This time though, we went back with a bus :-D
Time then to say goodbye, after a good night of sleep, and to head on to the next destination...
Bye Michael, bye Nathalie and thanks so so SO much for your hospitality! And Mike, our heart is with you ;-)
Oow it's already the end... But don't worry: next post within the 2 weeks coming! And quite some experience to share:
- The discovery of an other little paradise
- Our night under Avatar's tree
- Our "coup de coeur": CALI!! A great city, where we spent an afternoon in a university... in a classroom... at the teacher place! Ow, and just know that Cali would absolutely be THE city we would chose to live in so far!!! Be ready to read from it.
- Popayan, beautiful colonial town - but still Cali has our preference ;-)
A&A
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