Coffee Country

Four weeks in Colombia and I think it’s time to move beyond Bogotá. ‘Beyond Bogotá’ is the title of a book I received from my bro Aidan for Christmas about a journalist who was held captive by Colombian guerrillas for 11 hours a while back, but I’m hoping for a different kind of ‘Beyond Bogotá’ experience. For several reasons being based in one location for a period suited. It facilitated a solid training routine and allowed me to work on a few pipeline projects. Can’t reveal the detail of these projects just yet – everything in its own time. It also suited Sharlene as it allowed her to learn Spanish. It was now time for a true holiday – to enjoy the sites, broaden our horizons and relax. Of course training is still important, but the beauty of running is that you can do it almost anywhere.

We weren’t exactly sure where to visit next.  We know we want to eventually hit the north Caribbean coast, but which route there?  Three weeks is not a lot of time to explore a country the size of the UK, France, and Germany combined so sacrifices were required. We never considered the Amazonian basin – guess the main reason is that it remains a very dangerous area from several perspectives. It’s a vast jungle area occupying about one third of Colombia’s land mass – this means it’s impossible to police and an ideal drug cultivation neighbourhood. The drug agriculture industry and guerrilla activities go hand-in-hand and kidnapping remains a popular pastime for the locals. The second main danger comes from the natural inhabitants and I’m not talking about the crocs, snakes, jaguars or piranhas. The insects there are nasty little disease carrying pests and we are only partially inoculated.  The cost of getting there and around is also prohibitive as flying is the only option and guides are essential.  The reviews from visitors were mixed – guess it’s an amazing experience, but you have to put up with so many irritations on the route.  The pacific coast was also ruled out, primarily due to time constraints. It sounds like an amazing place, but the road infrastructure is non-existent in places meaning flying is the primary form of transport.

Coffee Country

That left two route choices – west via Zona Cafetera or north east via Boyacá.  The eastern route has more extreme sport options around San Gil, but it would be a waste to visit Colombia and avoid coffee country. The western route would also make a trip to Medallín possible. The bus journey west was going to take at least 7 hours as it’s on a different mountain range, meaning winding roads down one range and more of the same up another. A short flight was the logical choice, particular as internal flights are relatively cheap in Colombia. €60 each and we were on our way to Manizales. Naturally I was a little anxious boarding the flight after our recent turbulent travel experience, but there’s only one way to conquer the fear – quickly back up. The plane was a little 20 seat propeller plane – not ideal for nervous passengers. Thankfully the flight was uneventful. I actually really enjoyed the spectacular views from the low flying aircraft.  There were regular changes in direction, as if the pilot was avoiding clouds and mountain peaks. Landing on an unlikely mountain ridge landing strip was particularly amazing.  A road didn’t seem possible here, let alone an airport. It's the Colombian way – normally mountainous regions have their towns in the valleys, but Colombians like build on high ground. Ideal for the altitude seeking running geek J

Manizales is a bizarrely located university town. Its main street is a mountain ridge with all other streets dropping down. It’s a good party city with the student vibe, but otherwise there doesn’t seem that much to do. Essentially it’s a starting point for tours to several nearby nature and thermal bathing parks. We stayed overnight in a relatively basic hostel (www.hostalpalogrande.com) – good for the pocket as it was only €20 for a private room. Meals in Manizales were also economical – three course meal, including fresh juice, for €2. Beat that McDs. We spent the next morning trying to figure out what to do next. The difficulty with travelling around Colombia is finding quality information. Websites are almost non-existent and when available are frequently out of date. Even the normally reliable Lonely Planet is misinformed in places. Thankfully our hostess was a mine of information & wanted to become best buds with Sharlene. Most of the tour operators leave at 6pm, so we missed the boat there as another night in Manizales would be a waste. Car rental for a few days seemed like the thing to do to give us flexibility to visit areas in our own time. Our hostess enquired at the local rental on our behalf and shortly after we were on our way. Unfortunately car rental proved expensive. The cheaper car options available were without insurance. The search for other operators was fruitless, so it was essentially going to cost the guts of €80 per day. Lesson learnt: For renting a car in go with a worldwide company and rent from a big city – less than €40 per day is possible from Bogotá. We eventually opted on public transport and decided on Salento as our destination.

Solento

Travel to Solento involved a three hour trip to Armenia followed by a 30 minute local bus, but on arrival you could sense it was worth the effort.  It’s a quite country village a world apart from the hustle and bustle of Bogotá and Manizales.  The Plantation House (www.theplantationhousesalento.com) was our destination – a hostel run by an English guy and his Colombian wife. We were shown a room, which was basic, small, and beside the communal area. Thankfully Sharlene asked if they had other rooms available as we were then taken to a second building and shown a much better room. Another lesson learned. We ventured down the small town that evening for a soup and trout meal at Lucy’s restaurant, again for only €2. Trout is a local speciality here as there are several farms in t neighbourhood.

Café Jesus Martin - probably the world's best coffee

Next morning we went for a run through the Corcoro valley. I was determined to get a very long run in to recover the weekly mileage total after two relatively easy days. I would run for 3km and then double back to meet Sharlene – this continued for about 12km primarily along an uphill dirt road until we reached Corcoro. It’s a little tourist hamlet surrounded by amazing scenery. We stopped for a quick drink and then Sharlene jogged back, while I continued up the valley. By the time I returned I had clocked up 35km. My longest run in 2011 to date, taking over three hours due to the hills. For the rest of the day we just wandered around Solento. We got a mini coffee tour at the Plantation House – I now know the 24 step laborious process of coffee making. We then went to the most amazing cafe – Cafe Jesus Martin (www.cafejesusmartin.com). Reviews suggest it’s the best coffee in the world and it would be difficult to argue against it.  The owner roasts his own coffee and is meticulous. The coffee and home-baked brownies were divine – a must visit if you’re ever in the neighbourhood. It’s a hip place to hang out – something you would expect in a bohemian city neighbourhood, but not in remote Solento. That evening after our evening consumption we just hung out at the hostel with an English couple (Matt & Mel). They had just been back from a 5-hour hike from Corcoro, which they highly recommended. We were slightly gutted since we had made the journey up the valley without seeing the main attraction. No worries, we had time on our hands the next day to repeat the journey.

Corcoro Valley (with highest palm trees in world)

Next morning we got a quick breakfast and again went towards Corcoro, leaving at 9am. This time Sharlene went via 4x4 up the valley and I set out on foot, keen to get in more running. Sharlene would have about a 45minute head start on the national park hike, but it was a 2½ journey so I had time to catch up. It took one hour for the uphill 11k dirt road to Corcoro and then onto the hike route. At about 10:50 I caught up with Sharlene. She was hiking with a couple (Austrian guy & Pilipino girl) we had met the previous day (it’s a small place).  By 11am we had reached the half way point of the hike (Acaime nature reserve). It was a great hike/jog up. There were several river crossings, often with little more than a few logs wired together to help you across. There was one particularly amazing rope bridge – similar to what you’d expect from an Indiana Jones movie.

Acaime Hummingbird

The nature reserve was home to several hummingbirds. The idea is to watch them while taking in a chocolate con queso (hot chocolate with cheese). You have to pay about €1 to enter the reserve and entry comes with a drink of your choice. I opted for a refreshing orange juice instead of the hot chocolate. Given that we had completed the first part of the journey so quickly we decided to lengthen the hike and venture further up to a waterfall. It was a difficult, but enjoyable, 5km hike. The waterfall wasn’t Niagara, but the views of the sporadic clouds amongst the mountainous jungle background were spectacular. There was a map at the falls, suggesting a circular route was possible around the mountain peak so we continued further. After about another 3km we reached another signpost suggesting otherwise. We were now in the depths of the Los Nevados volcano park and a long way from home. Retracing our steps was the only safe option, particularly since we hadn’t met other hikers in hours and it was due to get dark at 6. We were also extremely low on food – 200g of raisins, some corn break, a banana and a half bar of chocolate is all we had on the entire hike – slightly under prepared J  We were literally making the raisins last by taking a few at a time. It’s frustrating to retrace steps, but there were route variation options for the return trek. Our first variation was a relatively short deviation via Mirador look-out tower – worth it for the views. The second deviation was via ‘La Montagne’. This was a more challenging and risky deviation – challenging as it’s a further 500m climb, risky as it was approaching 4:30pm meaning we had 90mins to complete a recommended 2½ hours hike to make the last 4x4 from Corcoro at 6pm. If was a tough climb up, but we were rewarded with spectacular views and also a soda drink from a local farmer with a pastime of getting the written details of every hiker to pass his land. We jogged down along the dirt road from the peak, timing our journey back to perfection.  All-in-all it was an epic 9 hour journey.

We certainly deserved our pizza dinner, followed by hot chocolate from Jesus Martin.  Excluding the hike it was another 100 mile training week. No tempo session this weekend to allow the body to recover.  The hills are hard work, but slower pace actually allowed the body to recover a little – it’s speed that kills J Leaving Solento in the morning, not sure where to next ...