Uber was a lifesaver for us in Medellin. They are reliable and cheaper than taxis and the cars are always clean and air-conditioned. Our Uber driver to the Medellin bus station looked like he was 15. Even at 630am traffic was horrendous and the 7km trip took the better part of 30min. The bus station is right next to the inner city propeller aircraft airport. Our “bus” turned out to be a 15-seat minivan. Reminded us of our Intrepid days. We got away at 8am and headed up high into the surrounding mountains. Most of the 5.5hr drive was all twists and turns. Spectacular mountain scenery reminding me much of Peru and Bolivia in 2011. That’s the Andes for you. We made a banos and lunch stop half way through and we were glad to see Manizales around 2pm. Manizales (Pop 455,000) is a mini Medellin built on several mountains and valleys but with a difference. Instead of thin high-rise apartments we have favela style shacks on top of each other. Just how people climb up and down to these is besides me. For the more modern apartments there is a metro cable car just like Medellin.
Manizales has an average elevation of 2160m and was founded late in 1849 by a Spanish expedition of 20 people who got trapped here crossing the Andes. The city is described as having an "abrupt topography", and lies on the Colombian Central Mountain Range (part of the Andes), with a great deal of ridgelines and steep slopes, which, combined with the seismic instability of the area, has required architectural adaptations and public works to make the city safer. Even though Manizales has this very difficult topography, there are many coffee plantations in its fertile lands. Manizales is regarded as the coffee capital of Colombia. The city is located near the volcano Nevado del Ruiz, which has an altitude of 5,321 meters (17,457.3 ft) but we could not see it because of constant heat haze. Despite the elevation it still gets hot and humid during the day but nights are cool and comfortable.
Antonia and I dumped our stuff at out hotel just behind the central plaza – terrific location but really noisy. We embarked on a 2-hour walk of the city centre which is perched high above the rest of the city on a plateau. It is a busy place with lots of one-way streets and few grand or old buildings. We visited the following places over 3 plazas: Simon Bolivar Plaza (Palacio de la Gobernacion, Basilica Manizales, Museo del Oro), Carrera 22 Main Road, Parque Caladas, Immaculate Concepcion Church, Metro Cabke car from Fundadores to Los Cambulos return. The Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral is huge but the highlight was easily the cable car ride down from the plateau into the valley suburbs. Terrific views of the entire city from the cable cars – so much so – it was not necessary to send up my drone !!! After our walk we visited the supermarket and headed home to enjoy some blog time. After sunset we ventured out to enjoy the city square under lights and collected some Churasco steaks for dinner back at the hotel with DIE HARD to introduce Antonia to Bruce Willis (who she did not know) but sadly she did not like the movie.
The next day was coffee day. Not a cup. A whole two days on a plantation with tour, local food and overnight. Our car pickup was waiting at 9am to take us 17km (35min) to the plantation down in a valley at 1350m elevation. Lush green jungle with steep drops just steaming in the sun – perfect for coffee trees. We stayed at the HACIENDA VENECIA plantation, which has been around for almost 100 years – a family affair in its 5ht generation !!! We stayed in the so-called “Coffee House” – a very cosy and colourful big house with 10 rooms, a living area, dining area, fully equipped kitchen and even a nice swimming pool outside surrounded by hammocks. Heaven. I wasted no time. It was approaching 10am and already I could feel the hot sun and humidity so headed off on my 10km through the steamy plantations along several dirt roads that I had mapped out the night before in Manizales. By the time I got back I was bushed. The heat had taken its toll on me and it was a slow run due to the heat combined with several hills but now was the right time so I could enjoy the next day with a big brekkie and poolside nearly all day !!! I got back in time for a quick nap before lunch at 1pm. We enjoyed the popular local dish known as AJIACO, which is in fact a watery soup with heaps of chicken breast and potato – delicious and not heavy. This area also loves a coleslaw style salad with lemon grass and lime – absolutely delicious and refreshing. After lunch we embarked on a 2.5hr tour of the plantation with 5 other older guests from Germany. Our young female guide, Laura did a great job explaining the plantation, the three coffee making processes used here and their customers. Laura is in fact and Agricultural Engineer which focuses on the mechanised processing of agricultural products and she decided to specialise in coffee making. She explained the three coffee making processes with actual hot tastings of the results of the three for comparison. She then took us on a big walk through one of the plantation blocks and to the processing centre which is highly automated. The first thing that hit Antonia and I was the size of the operation when compared to the small high quality plantation we visited in Boquete PANAMA, home of the prized Geisha Coffee Variety. Colombia is all about commercial scale volume.
Here is what we learned from Laura:
1. The WASHED (LAVADO) method is the first of 3 processing methods and the most used for volume: hand-pick berry, remove two seeds with mucllage (sugar rich gelatinous layer), wash mucllage off with water, dry seed under dryer, de-husk seed to reveal “green bean”, roast green bean to coffee bean.
2. The HONEY method is the second of 3 processing methods and the second most used for less volume but more berry flavour: hand-pick berry, remove two seeds with mucllage, dry seed with mucllage intact under dryer, de-husk seed to reveal “green bean”, roast green bean to coffee bean.
3. The NATURAL method is the third of 3 processing methods and the most used for quality: hand-pick berry, dry entire berry under dryer, remove two seeds from dried up berry, de-husk seed to reveal “green bean”, roast green bean to coffee bean.
4. Arabica is the most grown here and in Colombia and comprises 160 varieties. We tasted 2 of them.
5. Colombia produces mainly medium roasted beans.
6. Washed is the most bitter, Honey tastes sweet with more acidity and Natural is the least bitter with rounder berry flavours with chocolate overtones and is 50-100% more expensive than the others.
7. Hacienda Venecia covers 160 hectares with approx. 5000 trees per hectare = 800,000 trees.
8. Each tree produces berries every year enough for 350kg of green bean.
9. Trees here are pruned annually to last 20yrs and then replaced by new seedlings.
10. Hacienda Venecia’s biggest customer is the USA with their coffee available for individual purchase via Amazon but most is exported as green beans to roasting houses in the USA. Next biggest customer is an EU consortium.
The top three exporters of coffee in the world are: 1) Brazil 2,652,000 tons, 2) Vietnam 1,650,000 tons and 3) Colombia 810,000 tons.
After the your it was time to buy some coffee for home presents and hit the pool to cool down. Poolside drinks. Perfect. A lovely sunset followed by dinner at 7pm with the Germans. Lucky for us there was an Irish lady who could interpret. The conversation centred around IT and its future especially in developing nations. Antonia and I then retired to a movie given our isolation here.
We had the best sleep here. So quiet. We woke to the sounds of many birds and enjoyed our first full brekkie of cereal, fruit, yoghurt, toast and the best omelette to date of ham, cheese, tomato and onion. And of course the Hacienda Venecia coffee – loads of it. There is a machine in our living area and you can drink all you want gratis. The day was ours at leisure until our departure at 4pm. Mainly poolside with intermittent sessions on the laptop for me and mobile for Antonia. Blue-sky day with plenty of heat for that last minute tan before Australia. At 4pm we made our way back to the same hotel in Manizales. Dropped off gear and hit the supermarket to replenish what we had consumed on the coffee plantation. Some drinks and blogging back at the hotel. At around 630pm we walked to the adjacent central plaza to pickup the same hot food as before for a movie time dinner. This time it was LORENZO’S OIL produced in 1992 by none other than George Miller. Antonia loved it. A great way to finish our coffee plantation experience before heading to the big smoke capital of Bogota tomorrow – our last land trip and destination of this epic adventure…
Enjoy the sites and smells of coffee in the coffee capital of Colombia of Manizales…
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