by Jane | Jun 28, 2014 | Ecuador, Hotels, My travels |
So what does Latacunga have to offer apart from the natural beauty of the area?
There is a tiny but cute museum known as Casa de la Maquesas where a little old man un-padlocked each of the doors for me, switched on lights and proudly showed me around. I never quite fathomed out whether I was visiting outside of the opening hours or whether he had just not bothered to open up that afternoon, but it housed a few interesting objects in a lovely old building.
The museum curator and Mama Negra
The gentleman tinkled the keys on the various pianos and organs and opened doors and drawers of the exhibits and talked at me the entire time in Quichua. I didn’t understand a word he said!
There are numerous churches, pretty parks and squares, a lovely ice cream parlour and when the clouds lift, the Cotopaxi volcano can be seen on the horizon. The streets in the old town are narrow and most have cobbles and the buildings are made of stone. At night the old fashioned lamps glow with warm shades of yellow, green or orange and look so inviting. I was out walking after dark and felt completely safe in the surrounding streets. The Hostal Endamo is situated a block or two from the main square and is very close to a cute little park.
After some initial confusion at check-in I was shown to my room. The room was small but neat and tidy with a flat screen TV on the wall and somebody had done some towel art, which I always appreciate. There was a nice wood effect parquet floor, thoughtfully placed electric sockets and lights and a tasteful picture. The bathroom fittings looked new and it all smelt really clean and fresh.
My small but perfectly adequate room
Access to the hotel was through a restaurant and once I was settled in, the ladies on reception were keen to find out why and how I was travelling. Or maybe they weren’t but I was keen to practice my Spanish and I told them anyway. And they were very polite considering I had just turned up on the doorstep and they asked me lots of questions and practised their English.
I was offered lunch in the restaurant which was really very tasty. I had soup, a main course and a little pastry as well as a juice. It was busy at lunchtime with many business people dressed in suits dropping in to eat. The owner and manager, Enrique Naranjo told me the following day that the restaurant can seat thirty people but will also double up as a conference suite suitable for up to fifty people. It was long and narrow but with the roses and tablecloths it was welcoming and it was certainly popular.
The restaurant at Hostal Endamo
The following day at breakfast, the owner and manager sat with me and explained about the history of the hotel. He has been here for five years and has been doing a lot of work to the building. He very kindly gave me a tour of many of the rooms which are situated within two blocks. The front of the hotel containing the garage (parking for guests is VERY useful in these narrow streets) and the restaurant with some rooms above is a modern addition to the structure. Behind the restaurant, the reception can be found in a roofed courtyard close to the kitchen. A large water-feature plays here and stairways lead up to the much older part of the hotel.
Reception and its water feature
There are twenty three rooms which range from the smaller once such as the one that I was in, through to some family rooms and some suites. Enrique is also converting a room to a self-contained unit with a small kitchen for guests who want to stay longer. All of the rooms have new bathroom fittings and are tastefully decorated and all have natural light and ventilation. There are no nasty fans in the bathrooms – they all have windows to the outside or to the central atrium. And they have shower gel dispensers too which is always a nice touch.
The relaxing lounge area at the top of the hotel
At the top of the hotel there is a peaceful seating area with panoramic windows and views to the surrounding mountains and the Cotopaxi volcano. There is also a ping-pong table here should you wish to get active. The whole area is enclosed with light plastic roofing which keeps the place warm. At the top of the front building of the hotel is an open roof terrace with a 360 degree view of the town and the volcano.
And Latacunga?
I read somewhere that Latacunga has the highest concentration of barber shops per capita in Ecuador. That is very possibly true – they are everywhere, but it also appears to be the hub for embroidery shops – you know the ones – places that will embroider your tracksuit or polo-shirt with your business name. There are banks of these shops here with machines busy whirring away and shiny tracksuits and trophies in their windows.
Sun setting on Cotopaxi viewed from the roof terrace
Latacunga also has an airport and I was told that the only planes which fly in and out transport flowers or broccoli. The surrounding hills house poly-tunnels growing mainly roses which the region is famous for. I expected to see little cargo planes using a small runway, but walking around the old town I actually ducked as a huge plane, one step down from a jumbo took off, its undercarriage still down as it appeared to just miss the rooftops. The blast from it set off all the car alarms. They must grow one hell of a lot of roses here.
What Latacunga doesn’t have – take note any entrepreneur – is decent coffee shops. I found just one and that one was disguised as a bar – but the town does have some very nice ice cream outlets and I felt it was my duty to sample as many of the flavours that I could on several occasions.
Half the population here are wearing the latest fashions – the other half (the women) wear traditional dress of coloured skirts, knee-high white socks, green trilby hats and fringed shawls. These clothes are not confined to the older generation either – I have seen many teenager girls draped around their boyfriends sporting white socks and hats – but maybe I am simply ignorant and it is these girls who are the height of fashion.
The roof top lounge area and its pool table
Latacunga is a traditional town with few tourists but I liked it. It is a perfect town away from the craziness of Quito but close to Cotopaxi and Quilotoa.
Best bits:
- If you want to relax, head up to the roof of the Hostal Endamo with its comfy seats and great views – take your camera at sunset
- Lunch at the Hostal Endamo is great
- Enrique and his wife are a lovely couple – very friendly and smiley
- Try an ice cream or three at Nice on the corner of Santo Domingo square
- Just wander and relax.
Note:- Whilst I received complimentary accommodation at the Hostal Endamo this did not influence my opinion or review in any way. I have portrayed an honest picture of my stay
by Jane | Jun 24, 2014 | Colombia, My travels |
I sometimes wonder if I am travelling and viewing the world through rose tinted glasses. I am constantly amazed by the sights and the people that I meet but I do worry that I am portraying a skewed image for you. I know that I am a ‘glass-half-full’ sort of a person and I long ago decided that I would live every day looking at things with my holiday goggles on. By that I mean that I go around with my eyes wide open and REALLY look. Yes, that might be a dustbin lorry crawling along the road in front of me but check out the ballet of the bin men as they coordinate the rubbish collections with the dumper truck and watch the banter between them as they work. Check out the fancy tile work on some of the ordinary suburban houses or snoop over a wall and see what funky furniture some people have in their gardens.
who couldn’t fail to be happy looking at this pot
Do you remember the story about Pollyanna? She was an infuriating little individual who always saw the good in everybody but she was a happy little soul and ultimately she lit up the lives of everybody that she came upon. I can bitch with the best of them (although lately I don’t do this very much at all), but I am far calmer now than I ever was and quite simply, I am happy to try to find the good in things. I may be accused of sitting on the fence but there are always two sides to every story and with human nature as it is, there will always be widely differing opinions on everything and everywhere, so who am I to find fault with anything?
So – to Cali. I really want to say that this city was amazing and beautiful and cultural and friendly but I am struggling. There were plenty of things to see and I stayed with a great family and I also spent a few days in a fantastic hostel but Cali is not in my top ten of places to visit. It is however, in the top ten (or seven, or five, depending on which report you read) of the most dangerous cities in the world but I don’t think that that has distorted my opinion either.
suburban living
I initially came into Cali because I had arranged to live with a family and teach/chat in English with Alej the daughter who is at university, but unfortunately my visit coincided with her important exams so most of the time she had her head in her books. I spent a lot of time with her mum Alba who was determined to feed me up on traditional Colombian grub and I have to say, was a very good cook. I had my own room in the modern apartment which was in a purpose-built block within a secure gated complex in the sprawling suburbs of the massive city. Cali is huge and hot and swelters in humidity, so much so that some evenings everybody would just take to the streets and sit outside on benches or under trees to get some respite from the heat inside apartments with few air con units.
colour in Cali Zoo
Together me and Alba visited Cali zoo which is actually not too bad at all as far as zoos go. There they are doing a lot of work to ensure that the enclosures are as animal friendly as possible and steadily upgrading them. The highlight for me was a white tiger with her three six month old (orange) tiger cubs. They were so naughty and were causing their mum no end of trouble but my camera battery chose to die just as we found them. Just like a domestic cat she would occasionally round them up from the field where they were exploring and box their ears or carry them and dump them unceremoniously in a corner, before they would climb over her or romp off again as soon as her attention was fixed on another of her disobedient offspring.
La Ermita
On another day we visited the city centre where we saw the pretty little church of La Ermita and we walked around some of the parks and then went inside the small gold museum. The collection here was pretty impressive, and like many other museums in South America it was set inside a bank. I also travelled around on the Mio system – it was similar to the public transport in Lima and Quito but I never quite got to grips with it as the maps never matched up to the route that I took, so maybe this added to my feeling of disquiet.
While in Cali I also spent a few days in a fantastic backpackers hostel where I had a salsa lesson from a professional dancer. Well, wow! I learned more in that hour than in nearly a year of trampling around in my class in the UK. What a difference a strong lead can make! Although since that lesson I have been out on several occasions and I have found that most latino men can dance and can make me, who has two left feet, look as if I sort of know what I am doing, that lesson was magical and I really DID feel like Baby in Dirty Dancing.
ancient gold pieces
On my first night in Cali at the hostel I went out for some food after dark but I turned back within ten minutes, shocked by the number of homeless people who were sleeping on the street. I was literally stepping over bodies, sleeping, not in doorways but sprawled on the pavements. Most were snoozing quietly but I didn’t feel safe at all, so grabbed a couple of packets of crisps from a small shop and fled for my hostel. I met up with M on the Sunday and together we went into the city centre. It was deserted apart from tramps, beggars and drunks and we very soon made our way back to the safety of my hostel where we could sit and chat in the shade. I later found out that the city centre is a bit of a no-go area on a Sunday when all the shops are closed and the homeless take it over.
sometimes you need to chill
In the hostel, which had hammocks, a swimming pool and a good bar and was an oasis of calm in a crazy city, I bumped into a traveller that I had met the previous month in Ecuador. It always tickles me when I find somebody else that I know – this continent is so huge and whilst there is a recognised ‘back-packer circuit’ many travellers criss-cross and design their own bespoke route, so it is odd to find somebody by accident again.
At my hostel I also met a travel blogger who was in Cali with her Colombian fiance and a friend. Both ladies have teaching jobs in a school in a nearby town and they were visiting Cali for the weekend. The Open Minded Traveler was the first real-life travel blogger that I had met and I was really excited to chat to her and to find out about how she was making the nomadic lifestyle work for her. Check out her blog here and discover how she also turned her back on normality to embrace a life of travel, uncertainty and happiness. Subsequent to our meeting I have found out that she and her fiance are now expecting a baby so maybe she will not be quite so nomadic as she once was, but she has a real gem of a partner and I know that she will be more than happy to settle down with him in Colombia although I hope that she will continue to write.
The lions seemed content
So how can I sum up Cali? Well, if you like salsa you should certainly visit but I personally found the city to to be edgy and scary and I am a lot happier going out in the evening in other cities and towns in Colombia. The zoo is worth a visit and the town centre and the parks which could be done in a day (but not on a Sunday) – but then personally I would jump on a bus and go south to Popayan or north to Medellin, both of which I loved. I don’t like to admit that I don’t like a place as there are so many facets and my philosophy is to see the best in everything if I can (like Pollyanna). I liked the hostel and my home and host family in the suburbs and I am so pleased that I met the Open Minded Traveler and her fiance and friend. Medellin has its share of problems (more of these later) but the homeless, drug addicts and drunks in Cali were so very visible – even bathing and washing their clothes in city centre fountains that I personally found it quite disturbing.
As a side note, I have been to India where the poverty is off the scale and whole families live and sleep on the pavements but I never found it as unsettling as in Cali. Maybe that was because there were whole families on the streets in India with women and children in family groups who were there because of the grinding poverty. In Cali I suspect that the majority of the bedraggled, unkempt men (there were women on the streets in Cali too but they were more discreet) were there as a result of drink or drug abuse and they seemed to take an unhealthy interest in two women strolling around.
by Jane | May 31, 2014 | Colombia, My travels |
We arrived in Popayán at eight in the evening but our cab driver was unable to get us close to our hostel due to road closures. Assuming this would be because of roadworks we were amazed to discover that the entire town centre was closed off and the streets were packed with spectators who were waiting for a procession.
Me and M and now our new friend Pablo tried making our way through the crowds with me bashing small children on my head with my rucksac and M taking out toes and ankles with her humungous wheely case.
The roads were lines with police and soldiers but one eventually took pity on us and hoisting M’s case onto his shoulder opened the barricades and hustled us down the centre of the road.
Popayan at night
Feeling like penguins in a zoo as EVERYBODY watched us and still puzzled, we walked down through the middle of the roads which were edged with silent crowds four deep until our policeman eventually got us to our hostel which was just a quadra from the main plaza and on the procession route. After checking in, we were thrilled to discover that our dorm had a balcony overlooking the street, so we went out and stood there and we waited to see what on earth was going to happen.
These things are VERY heavy
Out of the dark (by now it was nine thirty pm) a drove of drummers appeared and with enough noise to raise the dead they thudded and hammered their way very slowly past us. They were followed by a brass band and squadrons of soldiers, police, and then little groups from each of the major churches in the area who were all carrying massive religious icons which had been decorated with flowers and gigantic candles. They would walk a few steps and then pause to allow the bearers to rest on long wooden poles balancing the whole thing in a very wobbly way on the ground – these things were massive – and then they would set off again. The crowds by now had lit their candles and were patiently and quietly watching. The whole thing took over two hours to pass us by, but actually it took more like five hours for them to complete the whole route of the town, snaking around and up and down the streets. The following day I saw posters which instructed any observers to observe and participate in total silence in order to preserve the spiritual and religious meaning of the occasion. The silence, apart from the drums or the bands was initially eerie, broken only by the sound of marching footsteps and the occasional organ music (organists were rather bizarrely wheeled along on little carts playing church music to accompany some of the icons).
scouts from Cali on a pilgrimage
When we finally got out exploring the town the next day we were all really pleased to discover that we had rocked up during the Semana Santa celebrations. It turned out that Popayan is renowned throughout Colombia for having the best processions which mark the death of Jesus. Like Bethlehem at his birth, there were few rooms left at the inns and those that were available were overpriced but despite this we ended up opting to stay for three nights.
an impromptu geography lesson
With Pablo we walked down to the old stone bridge and then we climbed high up to the park which overlooked the town. Here I stopped to chat to a group of scouts who were, as always, immaculately turned out in their uniforms, despite having walked over the past week from the city of Cali on a pilgrimage. We all took photos together and then we continued up to the top of the hill where there was a huge statue and lots of people milling around.
icing sugar buildings
On our hike up I had given away a tub of green mangos with salt to a group of three little girls who had been sitting on the grass, and later, whilst we were sitting in the sun and admiring the view, they came over to talk to us. We then spent half an hour chatting to the eight, nine and ten year old and we even had an impromptu geography lesson when Pablo (Picasso) drew a picture of the world and we showed them where we had all come from. Pablo was from Chile, I was from the UK and M from Poland, and whilst the girls knew where Chile was, they didn’t know about the UK or Poland. They were adorable and so interested and interesting, and as usual, it struck me how we expect people to know all about Europe or the United States, when in fact, their more important and relevant world consists of Latin America.
the children’s parade
Semana Santa week marks a major holiday in Popayan with all of the churches stuffed full of cages of icons and hordes of people flowing in and out to view them. Armies of priests were directing proceedings as every day the icons were re-decorated with a new flowery colour theme and all of the public buildings and university buildings were open with free exhibits and squadrons of volunteers manned doorways and stalls, keen to give tourists guided tours of their respective spaces.
The processions would kick off in the late afternoon with the children who carried tiny versions of the icons and then the grown up versions would begin at about eight-ish every night. People would wait patiently whilst the procession curled its way around the town, often walking alongside with their candles. The children especially must have been exhausted by the end of the week because it seemed that the entire town plus all the tourists stayed up until midnight each night. Music and dancing were supposedly banned during this time but we did find a little salsa club which turned the music up and got swinging once the tail end of the parade had passed its doors.
its tough showing tourists around your university
Popayan is a very pretty town and not the first that I have been to in South America which is called the ‘White City’ but unlike those other towns this one really does deserve that reputation. The buildings are a sparkling white and at night under the floodlights appear to be made of icing sugar. The town reminded me of a film set made for a children’s programme with its cobbled streets, little balconies and ice white churches and at every corner I expected to see some TV presenters dressed up in bright clothes or dancing teddy bears.
We had to change hostels after two nights and find another, and we did end up sharing a room in both places with the most weird American guy that I have met yet, but to give him his due he was out there travelling solo. Dorms can be strange spaces and these had extra beds crammed in to accommodate the hordes, but even so, in my mind, your own bed is sacrosanct and you do not perch on the end of somebody else’s unless invited to do so first.
At the beginning of the week a bomb had exploded by the roadside on the way into Popayan and as many of the government and high ranking officials were attending the celebrations, the place was swarming with heavily armed soldiers and police, toting big automatic machine guns. I am a firm believer that guns should be removed from communities and police forces should not be visibly armed such as in the UK but it is very strange how quickly you get accustomed to seeing so many weapons on the streets. And they are not neatly holstered either but held ready for firing in many instances. And coming from the UK where knives are also not tolerated or allowed it is odd to see so many people walking along swinging machetes – although now that I have been using one on more than one occasion I have to agree that a machete is possibly the best tool ever invented.
In many countries, Semana Santa and Easter is a bigger deal than Christmas and I was very pleased that we spent it in one of the best towns and experienced the atmosphere and saw the processions. After three nights in Popayan we were to continue to head north and to Cali where me and M would go our own ways for a couple of weeks. I had arranged to stay with a family here and M was off to stay with friends of friends.
by Jane | May 26, 2014 | Colombia, My travels |
the veranda at the Casa Quimbaya Outdooors
the view from the balcony
you just can’t tell how steep this is
the glass shower cubicle
colourful balconies
Diana and her partner who run the Casa Quimbaya live outside Armenia on a farm which will soon be available as an alternative hostel to the one in town and they had invited me and M to spend a night there.
The house which will be named Casa Quimbaya Outdoors it is just a twenty minute bus ride south of Armenia on the road to Barcelona.
Another unique hostel, this is the only one where you can stay on a farm outside of the immediate vicinity of Salento which has several farm/hostels.
We left our big rucksacks at the town hostel and hopped on a little local bus towards Barcelona. The bus driver duly dropped us off at a roundabout and we walked for about ten minutes along a small lane to the house at the end of the track.
Only built ten years ago the house appeared older with wooden floors, stairs and a wrap around veranda. There will be several rooms and sleeping combinations available to visitors but the highlights have to be the large living room with comfy cushions and chairs, the veranda, the gardens and the peace and tranquility.
Out here, breakfast is included in the price of accommodation unless you opt to camp in the level camping area in the large garden and there are plans to cater for lunches and dinners too if required, although guests will also be able to use the kitchen. We ordered out that evening from a local restaurant (the Don Alfredo) that delivers for a nominal charge and we enjoyed the typical food of the region sat around chatting.
When we arrived the sun was out and brightly coloured tropical birds darted around the trees and bushes in the garden and you couldn’t hear any traffic noise at all. Me and M were walking around the garden just looking when we came across Jose, the man who lives next door, feeding his goats. Holstering – or should that be sheathing – his machete, he offered to show us around his and Diana’s land. Leading us down the steepest of slopes he proudly showed us his banana plants and avocado trees. Clinging on for grim death so that we didn’t slide down the hillside into the river at the bottom we followed him around, keeping a wary eye out for tarantulas, snakes and tigretos (little tigers – but he may have made that one up to scare M). Like many very steep but cultivated mountainsides in Colombia, the land is not terraced but little pockets of earth are scooped out and the trees grow in these, giving the impression of a hanging garden from a distance as the trees appear to hover on the impossibly sheer slopes.
Whilst I remember, I have to tell you at this point about one ace little feature that the hostel had. There was a massive shower cubicle in the upstairs bathroom with floor to ceiling glass windows. It was like showering out of doors and it felt very liberating and free. I just trusted Diana when she said that nobody would be around and looking up at that window from outside!
you can just see M at the base of the tree
Whilst in the area we took a day trip from Armenia to Salento. This attractive little town is on every backpackers list and for good reason. Set in the coffee region, fincas and ranches are dotted about the hillsides offering accommodation and coffee tours. The town itself has the prettiest, most colourful buildings, with the ones near to the main plaza containing hostels or little artisan shops. Unlike a lot of places on the tourist circuit these shops offer a wide range of good quality and different local products.
Because we only had one day we didn’t linger in the town but as soon as we could, we jumped into the back of a jeep for the ride up to the Valle de Cocora
After arriving at the base of the valley, me and M signed up for a horse trek up into the forest. We plodded along a stony track and through several rivers for an hour and after we had finished we asked our guide if he could take us on foot to the best viewpoint for the valley in the limited time that we had.
There is a four hour trek advertised but we wanted to be back in Armenia that night so we were happy when our guide agreed to take us up through the private farmland to the top of the valley. After a strenuous climb we found ourselves above the magnificent wax palm trees that the valley is famous for. These trees grow up to sixty metres tall and they can live for two hundred years. They grow on these grassy hillsides, randomly spaced apart and I believe that I am correct to say that this valley is the only, or one of the few places in the world that you can find them. We sat on top of the hill in the sun for ten minutes until the mist came down shrouding the valley in its grey droplets and dropped its damp veil over our world.
dancing in the mist
After slipping and sliding back down the hillside we sheltered from the rain on the veranda of a farmhouse where we were offered agua de panela to drink. This hard to describe drink is an infusion made from sugar cane pulp like a sort of tasty tea and is drunk all over Colombia. We sat on stools made from cut off tree trunks, watching chickens scratching about in the rain and watched by two wide eyed toddlers from the safety of the kitchen doorway.
Back in Salento we tracked down a curry house – my first curry in months and then got the bus and rattled and bounced back to Armenia.
Our room at the Casa Quimbaya Outdoors was set off the rear courtyard and had brightly coloured bed covers and big patio windows out to the garden. In the evening we sat around chatting and reading whilst Diana’s partner, who is a very talented musician gently played his guitar and sang. If you want a few nights peace and quiet and away from the busier hostels, come and stay at the Casa Quimbaya Outdoors. By the time that you read this, it will hopefully be up and running and ready for visitors and is not so far off the beaten track that you feel isolated or secluded.
one of the bright rooms at Casa Quimbaya Outdoors
pretty Salento
As I travel around South America I am looking for my most favourite place. I had thought that it was Peru until I moved on. I don’t think that it is going to be possible to name one place or one area or even one country, but I know that Peru, and the north in particular, will remain very special to me.
I have felt the safest travelling in Ecuador but the people in Colombia are the smiliest and they will chat to anybody. Here in Colombia my favourite largish town has been Armenia, the small town has been Amaga and the best city is Medellin (although I will be visiting Cartegena soon), and I do hope to return later this year and check out all the bits that I have missed. I also hope to return and to revisit the coffee farm that I spent a day at (I am currently writing an article for that epic day) and I will return to Ecuador and Peru too.
by Jane | May 15, 2014 | Colombia, My travels |
lemon trees
After the intense searing heat of Cali it was lovely to roll into Armenia. There were more mountains but there was a subtle difference. The air smelt like an early summer’s morning in England when the promise of a beautiful day steals in with the dawn. Cut grass, pollen and rich earth smells attacked our sense of smell and although it was still hot the heat was not as spiteful as in Cali. The people, as everywhere in Colombia are just as quick to laugh and to chat and if you ever ask for directions, people always drop what they are doing and actually take you to the correct bus stop or to the supermarket entrance.
We arrived at our hostel, the Casa Quimbaya which is situated in a residential area at the top end of Armenia and then ensued half an hour of crazy Polish babble as M discovered that Cecilia who works on reception was also originally from Poland. As is often the way in Latin America my email requesting a reservation had not reached its intended audience but luckily there were some beds free in a dorm and we checked in.
Cecilia gave us a guided tour and our dorm was situated down some steps behind the kitchen and the laundry. It resembled a cave with just two sets of bunk beds, a wall of large storage lockers and an en suite bathroom, beings small and narrow, but it was painted a bright white and was very clean.
We threw our bags inside and headed straight for the cafe downstairs and some lunch. We settled on a sandwich each and a coffee. My sandwich contained chunks of hot chicken and vegetables which had been stir-fried in a light sauce, stuffed inside a large roll and with oodles of cheese on top and served with banana chips.
the lovely cafe/bar
After lunch at the Casa Quimbaya hostel me and M decided to check out the Museo Del Oro. We even got ourselves an unexpectedly heavily armed escort for part of the way from one of the soldiers who had been standing guard outside the barracks that we passed. He had doubted our ability to find the museum but he actually managed to get us even more lost than we had been before by taking us down the wrong street.
a gold ornament
When we finally got to it, the museum was quite a nice surprise. It was a large brick building surrounded by lush gardens but best of all it was free to enter. We wove our way around the long corridors learning about the history of the region and its indigenous people, and we marvelled at the gold ornaments and jewellery. Luckily for us, the Quimbaya people buried treasure with their deceased which prevented those dastardly Spaniards from getting their greedy little hands on them and melting the necklaces down into gold bars.
We had arranged to go out salsa dancing that evening and we waited for our friends in the coffee shop while we listened to a great duo who played and sang while we drank a glass or two of red wine. The hostel has some really cool live music here four times a week and with candles flickering on the tables and many locals joining guests it is a cool place to hang out. There is great wifi here, a computer for guests to use, stacks of cupboard space in the dorms and spacey lockers for valuables, some of which also contain charging points. There is a large kitchen and laundry area and the reception is manned twenty four hours a day.
live music in the bar
The Casa Quimbaya is currently the only hostel in the true sense of the word in Armenia and it is situated on a corner plot just one street back from the main road. From the front it looks like any other suburban house but if you go around the side you will find the entrance to the open air cafe and coffee shop. This large space is where you can buy breakfast (I recommend the Ranchero eggs), hot sandwiches, snacks, drinks and of course coffee. So many places in Colombia serve disappointing coffee – they export the best beans – but here at the Casa Quimbaya they sell decent stuff and they have daily recommendations written up on the blackboard.
Anyway, I digress. Our friends Mateo and Brian caught up with us and we set off to the local club, Sky Blue where me and M were treated like celebrities by a group of very sweet eighteen year olds who were desperate to practice their English and wanted to show off their salsa, reggaeton, merengue and bachata moves. If you don’t know bachata check it out – it is hard to keep a straight face dancing bachata whilst being grilled about European culture by an eighteen year old. And it was all washed down with a box of aguardiente which we shared. Aguardiente is an anise flavoured drink derived from sugar cane and on the scale of alcoholic drinks hovers somewhere between tequila and rum but is nowhere near as dangerous as raki (I only need to say ‘wheelchair’ to some people at this point!). Bizarrely it is sold in boxes like wine which I reckon is so that it doesn’t smash and spill when you fall over. Thanks to my super talented salsa teacher in Cali I was now capable of holding my own on the dance floor so I didn’t disgrace myself too much despite dancing until three in the morning.
the clever mural on the wall of the cafe
The Casa Quimbaya hostel has staff that really care. One of the owners, Diana has travelled extensively herself and this comes across in the ambiance that she creates. Diana told me that she believes that people have an energy and they leave some of it behind in the spaces that they inhabit. You can’t buy this energy but her hostel and her farm contain plenty of it. Previous travellers have put their stamp on the interior with some cool artwork including a massive mural of two Quimbaya people painted on the back wall of the coffee shop.
Parque de la Vida, Armenia
The following day we joined our friends and Mateo’s mum and went for a long walk around the Parque de la Vida. This huge public park has walkways and a river with terrapins and fish in it, cascadas and flowers, a forest, bird and plants. We wandered around at dusk with what seemed like half the town and half of the world population of mosquitoes.
In my next post I will tell you all about our stay at Diana’s new venture Casa Quimbaya Outdoors, our horse ride and our trek in Salento
cascada in the Parque de la Vida
Note:- Whilst I received complimentary accommodation at the Casa Quimbaya this did not influence my opinion or review in any way. I have portrayed an honest picture of my stay
by Jane | May 12, 2014 | Colombia, My travels |
the cutest cabin
The day after meeting Lady and Jimena at the lake we left our biggest bags at Lady’s town house and set off with her and Jimena in a camionetta to the countryside. After trekking across a couple of fields we arrived at the cutest wooden cabin miles from anywhere. Think ‘Little House on the Prairie’ and you are some way to understanding what it was like. The entire cabin had actually been built by our red poncho wearing boatman from the previous day. After opening up the house and letting the sunbeams dance in the four of us went out for a walk. We hiked down the hills through lush green fields with cows grazing on the steep slopes ending up at the foot of an overhanging cliff. A torrent of water was spurting out from the top and spraying far out from the cliff before crashing and tumbling into the pool below.
how awesome is this
The sheer scale of the cliff, the thundering roar of the water and the surrounding mountains and volcano miles from any civilization apart from the odd farmer only highlighted our insignificance. Nobody said much for quite a while. This place was saturated with with a special feeling, maybe spiritual, but without anybody orchestrating it we just sat quietly on rocks or paddled slowly and thoughtfully in the river, we lay in the sun with eyes half closed listening to the sweet song of a pair of eagles which were soaring silhouetted overhead or we wandered around barefoot in the soft spongy grass.
quiet contemplation
As we walked further on we disturbed clouds of yellow butterflies which were massing around the fresher cow pats and which rose up around our knees. Lady wanted to take us to a huge ceremonial rock which had very old markings on it but we were thwarted by some angry looking bullocks in one of the fields. These menacing creatures stamped and snorted as we attempted to gain entry to their field so we had to admit defeat and return to the cabin.
Our spectacular eclipse
Lady made us the tastiest of soups and then we all chilled out around a campfire. With smoke stinging our eyes we ate popcorn and drank wine and chatted to the soothing background sound of Lady’s medieval music. Every so often the clouds rolled across the sky – the light from the full moon made them look like pillows edged with shiny silver silk ribbon. We could see the red planet Mars close to the moon and as the time came for the eclipse to begin we prepared ourselves. We collected some lovely fleecy blankets that Lady had in her cabin and rolled ourselves up in them on the slope behind the little wooden cabin. Just like earlier at the waterfall we spread ourselves out, happy in our own thoughts, occasionally dozing off or murmuring the others awake with a sleepy exclamation as the shadow of the sun crept across the moon. We counted ourselves so lucky because just as the shadow began to nibble away at the edge of the moon the clouds retreated. It took a few hours for the eclipse to become complete but because of the proximity of Mars, when the moon was fully covered by the sun’s shadow it glowed an amazing red colour. We lay there totally transfixed in the silence at three in the morning, staring up at the craters and shadows on the moon’s surface. Up and away to our left, the outline of the active volcano reared up into the sky. There was no light pollution, just the occasional squeak of an animal or the chirping of the crickets. After about ten minutes of the spectacular show nature drew her curtains and rolled the clouds back over the moon. Three of us took ourselves inside the cabin not realising that one of us was still rolled up on the grass inside her blanket. Jimena woke a little later, outside in the dark with raindrops thundering down on her face.
Had we followed our initial plan, me and M would have caught the bus out of Pasto earlier that morning. Instead we accepted an offer from two total strangers to join them for the night far from anywhere in the Colombian countryside. When I began my adventures last summer I wrote a blog entry about strangers and trusting people. Nearly twelve months on, I hardly had to think twice about accepting Lady’s kind offer. I am learning to trust my instincts. Thank you so much Lady and Jimena. What an amazing, very special, day and night.
