From Metropolis to Cabaña — There’s No Time to Spare [Bogotá / El Caimo / Salento, Colombia]
My last post was devoted to first impressions about Colombia and with that, there wasn’t quite place to share all the great things Nat and I have been up to. And there’s so much! Colombia is a huge country with so many different landscapes and climates; even though we have 4 weeks here, it’s impossible for us to do it all, especially since we’re working the digital nomad life. But we’re taking advantage of those things we are able to do and it’s a pleasure to share our experience with you here!
Our first stop was the magnanimous city that is Bogotá. With a population over 8 million people — to give you some perspective that’s almost as much as New York and just about the same as all of Switzerland — and spanning almost 1.6km2, I think it’s safe to say we only saw a fraction of Bogotá in our 4 days there.
We stayed in the Zona G, which is a nice residential area known for its great restaurants. Our Airbnb was lovely with 24h security, which helped make us feel safe in our first encounter with Colombia — as much as it has changed over the past few years, this country still has a bad rep for being dangerous and that was definitely something we were acutely aware of. The great thing about the Zona G is that it’s hip without being overly touristy, unlike for example Parque 93. Slowly, we familiarized ourselves with the neighborhood, memorizing all the streets and corners since we didn’t want to be holding our cell phones out in the open. We explored several restaurants and coffee shops in the area, my favorites being Masa, where I had a delicious roast beef tartine, and Criterion, where we had two rather fancy but oh-so-delicious fish dishes. There were many other places we wanted to explore, like La Biferia steak house, which was recommended to us, but it was closed when we attempted to go and 4 days go by quickly…
Since I’m on the topic of food, we did venture in the touristy Zona T to have dinner one night at Andrés DC, the sister restaurant of the very famous Andrés Carne de Res, and it was magnificent in its carnivalesque, burlesque, theatrical glory. The menu was a work of art, the waiters were delightful and the band was fantastic. It was too loud to really chat but that left us all the more time to simply be in the moment. We got serenaded with a mariachi band, handed “Welcome to Colombia” lanyards and treated to delicious empanadas and steak. Mmmmm. A must-see if you’re in Bogotá.
Another must-see is the Museo del Oro. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not really a museum person, but I absolutely loved the Museo del Oro. We only had a lunch break’s worth of time to go through it, so we didn’t make it to the special exhibits (ironically on Vancouver’s First Nations, which we explored at the Museum of Anthropology just 10 days ago) or all of the 3rd and 4th floor sections, but I found the history of gold section fascinating, detailing how they work the metal, create the moldings and all the various engraving methods. I also really enjoyed the exhibit on gold’s symbolism and cosmology.
We took advantage of our time in La Candelaria to walk around Bogotá’s historic center. We snuck in a picture or two, still worried to take out our mobile phones/cameras in public, and I was pleasantly surprised at the city’s beauty. Some buildings, like the Teatro Colón and the Capitolio Nacional, are quite stunning, all enhanced by the striking mountains to the East. This neighborhood definitely has character and it was thrilling to walk through it.
Capping our Bogotá experience was hiking up the Monserrate trail. Standing tall and proud over the city, Monserrate is hard to miss and active hikers that we are, we weren’t about to skip it. We woke up early to climb it before our work day started and took advantage of it being a weekday to avoid the crowds. The hike up includes many steps, and since I didn’t mention it before, now’s a good time: Bogotá is located at a whopping 2640m in altitude — that’s almost double the altitude of Denver, CO, and actually double the altitude of my go-to ski resort back in Megève, France. So yeah, we got a little out of breath. And despite our egos getting slightly bruised by all the locals casually running up the steps for their morning jog, we were pretty proud to make it up in 50 minutes when most estimates we saw were more along the 1 hour-90 minutes mark. Seeing Bogotá from above stretching out for miles was extremely impressive. One of my favorites parts of our time there.
After Bogotá, we took Friday off for a long weekend in the Eje Cafetero, i.e. coffee country. We flew into Armenia where we got picked up by a wonderful man called Hernando who drove us to our cabaña on a finca by El Caimo. A finca is a farm in Colombia and ours was one of more than 30 in a corner called La Pradera. Our cabaña was just that: a hut made of bamboo in the middle of the estate. Our bathroom was down a covered stone path and was basically a circle split in thirds for a toilet, an open shower facing the plants and a sink. It was all very well kept and quite luxurious while keeping it real in nature. We heard every drop of rain, every bird and cricket chirping, and every rooster’s cock-a-doodle-doo’ing. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that we’ll always remember, with my favorite parts being taking a shower in the middle of nature at sunset and laying on the hammock outside of the main house in the afternoon.
Other highlights from our time in El Caimo were visiting the Apicola Oro bee farm on a neighboring finca and the Jardín Botánico del Quindío and its butterfly garden. Those of you who know me well know that as a child (and arguably also as an adult), I was and have been terrified of bees (and spiders). I’ve learned to appreciate what bees do for our environment and I am an avid consumer of honey, so with time I’ve admired bees’ work from a comfortable distance. Going to an actual bee farm and getting a tour of this particular farm’s bee hives felt like a huge achievement! But whatever it was for me, respect is far more due to Apicola Oro, who have been beekeepers for two generations and who clearly live this life with a wonderful passion. They sadly lost 80% of their bees last season due to the misuse of pesticides by a neighboring finca, and the father and founder is actively working to educate farmers and governments about this problem. We left with newfound knowledge and esteem for beekeepers everywhere, and I even found it in my heart to feel some love for all the hard-working bees which bless our lives with sweet honey, pollination and propolis, an impressive product you can actually purchase which has anti-bacterial properties, fights cancer, prevents cavities in addition to other useful health benefits. Go bees!
The Quindío Botanical Gardens, on their end, were a memorable experience mainly thanks to our guide, Dora. She gives tours 6 days a week, multiple times a day and still manages to express such enthusiasm and love for the gardens she tours, it’s absolutely wonderful. We learned about bamboo — or guadua as they call it in Colombia — saw a flurry of gorgeous hummingbirds — who apparently flap their wings close to 100 times per second! — and wandered through a huge butterfly garden where I actually held not one but two different butterflies on my fingers! I felt at one with nature and blessed to witness its incredible beauty and force.
We left El Caimo early on Saturday morning to head to Salento, another part of coffee country which is far more popular. Salento’s top activity is hiking the Valle de Cocora or Morrogacho Mountain. Filled with very tall bamboo trees and breathtaking views if you catch it on a sunny day, these hikes are no average sites. During our two days and one night in Salento, we enjoyed some down-time in this tiny but charming town, stopping by a French café of all places called Le K’fée which had delicious coffee (we were in coffee country after all) and a perfect lunch, and relaxing on a bamboo lounge chair in the Mundo Nuevo finca, a friend of the finca we were on the day before. This finca lies a little off the main streets of Salento and has a magnificent view of the valley, better than all the actual vistas around town. We felt so peaceful, it turned out to be a big highlight of our time in Salento.
Another highlight was the hostel we stayed in: Coffee Tree Boutique Hostel. Of all the hostels I’ve stayed in, this may be my favorite. It had a great vibe, friendly, helpful staff and a healthy, balanced breakfast to boot. I highly recommend them.
We concluded our time in Colombian coffee country with the famous Cocora Valley hike on Sunday morning. We only had 4 hours to complete it as we had a flight to catch to Medellín that afternoon, and we were up for the challenge. Thanks to our friends at Coffee Tree, we knew about the separate entrance to the hike that basically took us clockwise around the loop instead of counter-clockwise, giving us the biggest, most beautiful views of the valley right from the get-go, when it was still gorgeous and sunny at 8AM. It was also the faster way around the valley as the steepest part was met downhill. I don’t know why everybody doesn’t do the hike this way, but regardless, we were very pleased with our itinerary and graced with impeccable weather at a not-too-crowded time and aside from a small but terrifying incident with a wild horse (who knew what you should fear most in Colombia are its malicious male horses!), our Valle de Cocora caminata was perfection.
Having satisfied our thirst for the outdoors for now, we headed to Medellín with much anticipation to experience this raved-about city, a hub for expats and nomads like us. Flying in through the mountains to see Medellín in all its splendor, nestled in the Aburrá Valley of the Andes, was extremely special. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an awe-inspiring city from the air. Now we are here for 2.5 weeks and can’t wait to continue our adventures.
I’ll sign off with a quick throwback to our last weekend in Vancouver, where our friend Matt took us to Joffre Lakes. Another unforgettable hike, this one in -18 degrees Celsius (~0 degrees Fahrenheit), Joffre Lakes was the perfect way to cap our time in Canada.
Hasta pronto, amigos, for more on our Colombian travels!***
