A surprise visit – to Eje Cafetero and Cali

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted here, but the adventures continue. I spent some time in Pacho, Cundinamarca finishing up a manuscript for my second full length novel. Now that it’s done – I am in the tedious process of getting it edited and finding an illustrator.. Now, I am not the great American novelist and I have absolutely no illusions that I will find any mainstream sales success (no publicist, no large publishing house) but I have always believed that if you put in the time and effort to do something, finish it…

But, it was a relief to finally finish the book – and not have all the characters in my head all the time. That being said – there is always so much to do.. But we are taking a week to smell the roses and enjoy ourselves.. It’s a surprise visit for my significant other to see her daughter on her birthday. She lives in Cali – and she will be delighted to see her dad.

Since I’ve never been to the Cafetero or Coffee Region of Colombia, we decided to take a tour of it on our way to see her.

We left Bogota around 3:30 am.. We live in North Bogota, and our journey takes us south, so we have to cross the entire city first. (There isn’t a bypass though politicians have been promising one for the last 40 years.) By 4:30 we encountered traffic.. (If you haven’t been here – Bogota has a massive traffic problem – brought about by limited public transportation, a huge population of people who work on one side of Bogota and live on the other) and well, an exploding population, with a road system designed for a much smaller city. (In the 1990’s Bogota’s population was around 3 million, now in 2023 – we have close to that in Venezuelan immigrants with a total population of around 11 million).

But soon enough, we were on the open road.. Our first stop was Ibague in the Colombia state of Tolima. Culinary-wise, Tolima is best known for some of my favorites, Tamal tolimese and Lechona (stuffed roasted pig). (The links will take you to some older posts on these tasty Colombian dishes).

We stopped for some breakfast and a quick visit with family. (His, not mine, though I like to think of his large immediate family as mine). It was starting to get hot there by about 930 so I was glad when we hit the road again..

Now if you’ve never driven in Colombia – distances are very very deceiving. I recently got my Colombian driver’s license which requires you to take the full driving course to learn the Codigo de Transito, and clock your behind the wheel hours. Funny enough, I was rear ended while driving in the student car, which has massive green labels saying “student driver – keep back” – but that’s a story for another time.

The maximum speed limit in the country is 80 kilometers – but most of the time, you never get near it.. In the cities, the limiting factor is usually traffic – but in other areas, it’s the state of the roads themselves. There is always road construction. With a rainy and a dry season, you also get periodic flooding in some places.. Much of Colombia is high in the Andes mountains – with winding mountain roads – usually one lane in each direction. Add a couple of fuel trucker, semis (18 wheelers) and a whole bunch of motorcycles and cyclists – with people passing said fuel trucks, cyclists over double lines, on blind curves and all, you end up with an average speed of around 30 to 50 kilometers an hour.. (that’s less than 30 miles an hour for people like myself who weren’t raised on the metric system.) Sometimes it feels painfully slow.. But on highway 40 – it can feel dangerously fast..

*That time estimate is complete fiction..*

Unfortunately, due to the narrow roads, curves and such – I didn’t get many pictures of our drive – and it’s an unbelievably breathtakingly gorgeous drive.. You climb higher and higher in the mountains (which is delightfully refreshing with cool temperatures) with such a picturesque landscape, dotted here and there with fincas and small farms – but otherwise endless green trees, plants, grass and a wide open blue sky..

We continued on after a brief stop in Cajamarca (photo above) to Montenegro, where we spent the night. There are some cool things to see in Montenegro but we decided to relax a bit after getting up so early.

Sampled some coffee, walked around the plaza and swam in the pool. My companions were lights out asleep by about 730 that night. The next morning we headed off to the Valle de Cocora. If you’ve ever seen the kid’s animated movie. Encanto – it’s set in this part of Colombia..

*I love maps.. absolutely fascinate me, so of course – plenty of them in this post..*

The Valle de Cocora is part of the Los Nevados National Park and is located just outside of Salento. It’s famous for the large collection of Quindo Wax Palms, which are the tallest palm trees in the world. These palms are also part of the national identity of Colombia.

As part of the Nevados Mountain range, the palms are located at an elevation higher than Denver.. What does that mean, you ask? It means blissfully cool weather.. and lots of misty low clouds that drift in and out.

Today was the day that I realized that I am not a horse lover.. Not a horse hater either.. Wouldn’t want to knowingly eat one – and I used to get upset when they would sanction killing the wild mustangs when I lived in Nevada.

But I was never that pre-teen girl that was doing paint-by-number horse paints, or reading Black Beauty a million times (am I dating myself or what), and dreaming of owning a horse.. but I love animals in general, mainly feline varieties. Our neighbor used to graze horses in our yard when I was little in Virginia, and I have ridden before.. But not – horse crazy.

Ha.. So we decided to go on a “nice” horseback tour. I immediately felt uncomfortable, but hey – get back in the saddle right.. But it progressed to a freak out – and I ended up dismounting and walking (which is fine – I love a good walk/ hike). But it still surprised the heck out of me. I always feel like I am fearless.. Ha. Seabiscuit proved me so so wrong today..

Andres and his mom had a lovely time horseback riding.. Once my pulse went back to normal, and my feet were on level ground – I had a great time too..