Coffee and snowcapped mountains
Trip Start
Sep 23, 2010
1
81
366
Trip End
Jul 13, 2012
Where I stayed
Mountain Hostal
Manizales, Colombia
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Cat had a bit of a rough night (hot and cold sweats, sore throat and a swolen, stiff neck) so we had a bit of a lie-in, had breakfast and then Cat went back to bed. Me man, go hunting for food! Well I walked down to the supermarket to buy some supplies for lunch and dinner. When I got back we had some tomato soup and cheese bread for lunch. Later in the afternoon it started raining really hard, so I persuaded Cat to come downstairs and watch a movie, (GI Joe) which was good old futuristic beat 'em up. For dinner, I made meatball bolognese and then we went back to the room, had a shower and settled in for another movie (this time on the laptop, Social Network) and then got some sleep.
21st Apr.
Another well needed lie-in till 10am and then up for breakfast (french toast or as we call it eggy bread). After finding out that the Rio Blanco ecological reserve (Hummingbirds) office was closed for the rest of the weekend (itīs not even the weekend yet!) we headed in to the centre, walking at first and then catching a bus which wasnīt as far as we thought. Once in the centre, we had a look at the churches, Cathedral and main plaza which has some amazing sculptures as does most of the streets leading to it. As Manizales is quite hilly, there is a cable car that runs between the centre and the main bus terminal. So after an ice cream, we boarded the cable car and enjoyed some lovely views of the city. At the bus terminal we decided to check the availability of buses to Medellin for tomorrow and found out that there arenīt many, so we thought weīd wait and see how we got on trying to book a hostel. We caught a bus back to the hostel via the supermarket for a few more supplies and a relaxing afternoon. We watched a movie, (Preditor 2) and then made dinner, (BBQ Pork stir fry) and after that we watched Oceans 13. We then caught up on some internet stuff and then got off to bed.
22nd Apr.
Got up at 8.30am, had breakfast and then headed out to town. As Cat was feeling much better we walked all the way in and discovered that it is quite far and were glad we took the bus yesterday. In town we noticed little traffic, but there were more people around in certain areas, carrying religious statues. By the cathedral there was an outside service being held with lots of praying and singing. We carried on through crowded streets until we reached Plaza de Toros de Manizales (bull ring), which is not as impressive as the one in Bogota but it is still nice. From there we walked up to Chipre, (the highest neighourhood in Manizales) and then on to Los Colonizadores monument. The top of the monument is nice but the trail of bulls behind is even more impressive and attention to detail is amazing. The view from there was pretty cool too even with the low cloud. We then caught a bus (just as it started to rain) to Bosque Popular, a huge park within the city. We got off the bus opposite the park but also where the road was blocked by a land slide and put on our waterproofs and walked across the road to a muddy path leading to a bridge. Just as we crossed the bridge the heavens opened and we took shelter in a little ranger post with a very friendly ranger (Sebastian) in it. We chatted with him for half an hour or so until the rain had eased and then walked through the park to the top. At the top we caught a bus back to the hostel and settled in with an afternoon film (Duplicity) and then made dinner. After dinner we had a shower and then packed ready to leave tomorrow and after watching Hotel Babylon we got off to bed.
23rd Apr.
Got up at 7.30am for an early breakfast, checkout and then caught a taxi to the bus terminal. We managed to catch a bus to Medellin at 9.30 (well it left at 9.50, but we are in SA) and were soon winding through the mountain roads in a thunderstorm! We can really understand why some roads get closed as there were plenty of landslides on the one we were traveling on.
