Glover escapes cold again and returns to Colombia and Mexico
Jan 8th, 2015, 03:41 AM
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Glover escapes cold again and returns to Colombia and Mexico
Trip report Colombia and Mexico 2015
Every year for the last 7 years we've been retired Mr Glover and I head someplace warmer than home in Washington DC for all of January and February. Having done a lot of planning for India 14 and having had a lot of family stuff going on in the summer/fall, we were late deciding on, and planning This year's trip, so we decided to do something known and easy this year. Hence we put together an itinerary of Colombia and Mexico, revisiting some favorites from previous trips and trying a few new spots.
Bogota - Flew to Bogota on December 28. Long day through Mexico City with a layover there. Spent two nights at the very nice Hotel Morrison 114 in the Santa Barbara neighborhood next to Usaquen. Slept like the dead both nights in big darkened room with comfy bed. Ate breakfast in their lovely breakfast room, great coffee, scrambled eggs, wonderful fruit and juice. Schmoozed the nabe later on. Managed to get some money and a Colombia Sim card for the cell phone. Claro - what a huge place and busy as any Apple store. Ate lunch outside in nice weather at El Corral, a Colombian chain. Felt proud that we'd managed to pull off the sim card purchase. Had dinner at a nice busy Italian place a few doors down from our hotel. With an Arabic name. Shamua. Sat outside with heaters on a coolish eve. We'd spent several days in Bogota on the last trip to Colombia 3 years ago and seen all the major sites. So felt content just doing a few chores on our day there this time.
Minca - Flew Bogota to Santa Marta on
ec 30 on LAN. Easy hour plus flight. Glad we weren't staying in SM, where it was ghastly hot. Instead we were met by a driver who took us up the mountain about an hour to Minca, a small town popular for birding and other outside sports, as well as river swimming and picnicing by day trippers. At this holiday season, the place was jumping with motorcycles and SUVs. We were met at the charming and crumbling Hotel Minca (an old convent so they say) by Erica, care taking the hotel in the absence of the owners. She gave us the briefest of orientations in Spanish. As we'd stayed here before,we pretty much knew the drill. Though we found out that the hotel no longer serves diinner. We had a beer on the delightful porch and enjoyed watching hummingbirds at the five or six feeders. It's hard to imagine a better place to view them. I had great fun making videos of them on my new ipad air2. Amazing results. Makes one consider just throwing away the camera. I took a brief walk around the grounds , saw a few birds, talked to the onlu other guests, two sisters from Penn State and El Paso, serious birders. Meanwhile Mr. Glover napped under the fan. Then we went off to scout out some dinner. We remembered a funky but good Parilla down by the river from our last visit. Alas we found it only serves on weekends. So we revisited another place on the river , No frills Italian - Sierra Sound. both had ho hum steaks, salty plain salad and the ubiquitous French fries. Enjoyed sitting by the river. Slept well, got up a little after 7. Enjoyed great coffee and hummingbirds on the porch, beautiful sunny day. Eggs,fruit,and croissants for breakfast. Hiked up the road that goes to El Dorado nature reserve (our next location). A beautiful walk. Saw some birds: rose breasted grosbeak, chestnut capped warbler, scarlet rumped tanager, summer tanager, saltator, flycatchers, and swallows. Got quite warm very quickly. Walked about 4 hours total. Had a burrito and beer at tiny cafe outside near hotel. Visited The Emerald Green Guest house out of curiosity. Colombia wife and Irish husband owner. Chatted with wife and owner, as well as British guest. They told us of some other good walks. Probably should have signed up for dinner there tonight NYE. Went back to hotel and showered under minimal shower, chilled a little, walked another road at end of afternoon. No birds but interesting to see another part of Minca. At dusk we again went in search of dinner. Aimed for a place called the Lazy Cat, but alas it was closed. Reluctant to go back to the Italian place, we committed to the oddest of parillas. Brightly lit space on street run bu husband wife. He cooked, she served. Senile grandma sat at table street side and talked to self and others passing by. It developed that the parilla was only serving hamburgers in various styles: Argentina, Thailand, etc. We ordered two beers and 2 Argentina hamburgers. He cooked them on a grill streetside. Pretty good but I only managed to eat half with the ubiquitous fries. Cost for burgers and 5 beers about $15. Meanwhile we watched the Minca world go by. An interesting scene. Lots of kids out.
Returned to hotel, thinking to do some Internet time, but alas no funcionna.
So decided to do trip report.
Despite long pants, sleeves and some heavy duty DEET, am getting red bites from something I hope is not the chikungunya virus carrying mosquito. Chikungunya is an emerging virus. 70,000 cases in Colombia since July. Lots of press about it here. You don't die from it, but you might feel like you want to, Some have said. By the time we returned to the hotel, a neighboring house had cranked up the volume on their Vallenato music to the max. That, along with guests singing badly at top of their lungs, continued until 4 am. I imagined one of them drunkenly tripping over a cord to finally pull the plug. And that was our NYE in Minca.
Despite lack of sleep, things looked better the next am. Chatted on the porch in Spanish with nice older man from Santa Marta about Colombia. Finally at 9 Erica arrived to open kitchen and provide coffee. Meanwhile we made friends with a delightful couple from Medellin who were visiting Minca to begin work on his family home that had been lost and then finally reclaimed after the war years. An interesting story and property indeed. We made a plan to meet them for dinner that night. They went off on long drive to a Tayrona Beach and we went off on an uphill hike of several hours along a road we'd not tried before. Didn't see many birds, but got some wonderful views of Santa Marta and the sea from mountain ridges.
Later we walked through the center of town with our new friends. We were delighted to discover that our favorite restaurant from our last trip Bururake was now open. There aren't many restaurants in Minca, and in our opinion this one is head and shoulders above the rest. Its seating area is small with an outdoor Parilla grill and kitchen. Great grilled meats and nice veggies too.
Turns out our new friends' property is right next door. So they enjoy talking some history with the young restaurant owner. A really nice eve all around.
Walked back through town at about 10:30 and all was quiet.
Got another late start the next am after lulling about at breakfast on the porch again. Decided to wait till it got cooler in later afternoon to go out again. Meanwhile did some Internet. Got started talking to a German couple who'd just arrived. Made a plan to have dinner with them that night at Bururake. We went off on another hike that had been recommended, the road next to the church. This one was ultimately a narrow path, gentle
Grade and dense forest. Saw some beautiful jays and just a few other birds.
Walked for a few hours. Then enjoyed another nice dinner with the Germans at Bururake, great conversation ranging from travels, to politics, to careers, and climate change. Stopped by to say goodbye to our Cololmbian friends who had been working on the property next door all day and were off with their son to get pizza. Walked Part way back to hotel with them.
Next day I dragged Mr Glover out of bed before 7 so that we could get in an earlier walk before leaving in the afternoon. We managed to get going by 8:30. We walked up a up a dirt rocky road that ultimately leads to a coffee plantation ("45 minutes" walking). We joked that the time frame was probably based on pace of young Germans or Swiss. We walked that road twice for way more than an hour and still only got as far as the "15 minutes more" sign. But it was a beautiful walk and we saw a gorgeous jacomar bird.
A sullen 11 year old became our best friend for half the walk as he quizzed us about the binoculars etc.
El Dorado Reserve - Back to the hotel to settle accounts, shower, and pack. A local driver then picked us up in a 4 x 4 for the bumpy drive from Minca up 4000 feet to the El Dorado nature reserve. This is one of the four nature reserves run by the Colombian organization Pro Aves that we visited 3 years ago. It's a fabulous location, at about 6500 feet and about another hour and a half up from Minca. There's a simple wood two story lodge with dining room, kitchen, and second story lounge and balcony. There are ten or so rooms with private baths dispersed in three other cabins, all wood. Grounds have beautiful tropical plants and of course many hummingbird feeders. This year we had a room with a balcony from which we viewed wonderful sunsets out over tropical plants and the Carribean below. On each of our 3 days here we got up early and took one or two walks a day, including an 8 hour walk one day up the main and really only road to the very highest place and radio cell tower. Along the wAy we had great views of the highest snow capped peaks of the Sierras. Unfortunately we didn't see many birds this time, perhaps time of year or lack of a guide contributed. We realized that besides providing excellent eyes and ears, guides are also useful to us because at this age we can EITHER watch our step on rocky roads to stay vertical OR look in trees as we go and risk falling. But clearly not both. We really enjoyed the food at El Dorado this time- great cook with lovely disposition. Had forgotten that soup is always a starter at these lodges, and what wonderful soup it was- Squash one night, spinach another, and Colombia's famous ajiaco another night. All the food was simple, local, well cooked and well spiced. The lodge was without electricity for 3 of our 4 days there. A minor inconvenience really as they have a generator and also make use of some solar power. On our third night there was a tremendous wind storm that started in the middle of the night and lasted well into the morning. A little scary in our wood cabin on the hillside in the high montane forest, as big trees banged against our windows. Kept us awake for a while! Lots of debris around the next day and a piece of the lodge metal roof on the ground.
On our final day we were up at 6 to eat breakfast and be driven back down to Santa Marta. The young Colombian woman who had been managing the lodge for four months and her visiting Italian husband accompanied us in a big 4 x 4 truck. They were off to visit her mom in Monterrico. We had a jolly conversation in Spanish and English for 2 /2 hours to the Santa Marta bus station. La Colombiana helped us find the most direct bus to Cartagena and we said our goodbyes. It was a comfortable enough 4 hour ride plus a short stop in Barranquilla. We were not entertained by a violent movie en route called The Expendables 3. But were entertained by the 3 vendors the bus picked up along the route. A very talkative guy sold knock off clutch purses, wallets, belts, and perfume from his large suitcase, maintaining a steady sales rap/promotion throughout. Another man got on with a big covered plate of hot obviously freshly made arepas. The third had a large coveres dish piled high with wonderful looking pastries. Though the food looked and smelled fabulous, we didn't indulge. We paid $15 each for that ride. Not bad. From the big and very busy bus station outside Cartagena, we took an easy taxi to the historic center and the same little b and b we stayed in 3 years ago.
Next up Cartagena.
Every year for the last 7 years we've been retired Mr Glover and I head someplace warmer than home in Washington DC for all of January and February. Having done a lot of planning for India 14 and having had a lot of family stuff going on in the summer/fall, we were late deciding on, and planning This year's trip, so we decided to do something known and easy this year. Hence we put together an itinerary of Colombia and Mexico, revisiting some favorites from previous trips and trying a few new spots.
Bogota - Flew to Bogota on December 28. Long day through Mexico City with a layover there. Spent two nights at the very nice Hotel Morrison 114 in the Santa Barbara neighborhood next to Usaquen. Slept like the dead both nights in big darkened room with comfy bed. Ate breakfast in their lovely breakfast room, great coffee, scrambled eggs, wonderful fruit and juice. Schmoozed the nabe later on. Managed to get some money and a Colombia Sim card for the cell phone. Claro - what a huge place and busy as any Apple store. Ate lunch outside in nice weather at El Corral, a Colombian chain. Felt proud that we'd managed to pull off the sim card purchase. Had dinner at a nice busy Italian place a few doors down from our hotel. With an Arabic name. Shamua. Sat outside with heaters on a coolish eve. We'd spent several days in Bogota on the last trip to Colombia 3 years ago and seen all the major sites. So felt content just doing a few chores on our day there this time.
Minca - Flew Bogota to Santa Marta on
ec 30 on LAN. Easy hour plus flight. Glad we weren't staying in SM, where it was ghastly hot. Instead we were met by a driver who took us up the mountain about an hour to Minca, a small town popular for birding and other outside sports, as well as river swimming and picnicing by day trippers. At this holiday season, the place was jumping with motorcycles and SUVs. We were met at the charming and crumbling Hotel Minca (an old convent so they say) by Erica, care taking the hotel in the absence of the owners. She gave us the briefest of orientations in Spanish. As we'd stayed here before,we pretty much knew the drill. Though we found out that the hotel no longer serves diinner. We had a beer on the delightful porch and enjoyed watching hummingbirds at the five or six feeders. It's hard to imagine a better place to view them. I had great fun making videos of them on my new ipad air2. Amazing results. Makes one consider just throwing away the camera. I took a brief walk around the grounds , saw a few birds, talked to the onlu other guests, two sisters from Penn State and El Paso, serious birders. Meanwhile Mr. Glover napped under the fan. Then we went off to scout out some dinner. We remembered a funky but good Parilla down by the river from our last visit. Alas we found it only serves on weekends. So we revisited another place on the river , No frills Italian - Sierra Sound. both had ho hum steaks, salty plain salad and the ubiquitous French fries. Enjoyed sitting by the river. Slept well, got up a little after 7. Enjoyed great coffee and hummingbirds on the porch, beautiful sunny day. Eggs,fruit,and croissants for breakfast. Hiked up the road that goes to El Dorado nature reserve (our next location). A beautiful walk. Saw some birds: rose breasted grosbeak, chestnut capped warbler, scarlet rumped tanager, summer tanager, saltator, flycatchers, and swallows. Got quite warm very quickly. Walked about 4 hours total. Had a burrito and beer at tiny cafe outside near hotel. Visited The Emerald Green Guest house out of curiosity. Colombia wife and Irish husband owner. Chatted with wife and owner, as well as British guest. They told us of some other good walks. Probably should have signed up for dinner there tonight NYE. Went back to hotel and showered under minimal shower, chilled a little, walked another road at end of afternoon. No birds but interesting to see another part of Minca. At dusk we again went in search of dinner. Aimed for a place called the Lazy Cat, but alas it was closed. Reluctant to go back to the Italian place, we committed to the oddest of parillas. Brightly lit space on street run bu husband wife. He cooked, she served. Senile grandma sat at table street side and talked to self and others passing by. It developed that the parilla was only serving hamburgers in various styles: Argentina, Thailand, etc. We ordered two beers and 2 Argentina hamburgers. He cooked them on a grill streetside. Pretty good but I only managed to eat half with the ubiquitous fries. Cost for burgers and 5 beers about $15. Meanwhile we watched the Minca world go by. An interesting scene. Lots of kids out.Returned to hotel, thinking to do some Internet time, but alas no funcionna.
So decided to do trip report.
Despite long pants, sleeves and some heavy duty DEET, am getting red bites from something I hope is not the chikungunya virus carrying mosquito. Chikungunya is an emerging virus. 70,000 cases in Colombia since July. Lots of press about it here. You don't die from it, but you might feel like you want to, Some have said. By the time we returned to the hotel, a neighboring house had cranked up the volume on their Vallenato music to the max. That, along with guests singing badly at top of their lungs, continued until 4 am. I imagined one of them drunkenly tripping over a cord to finally pull the plug. And that was our NYE in Minca.
Despite lack of sleep, things looked better the next am. Chatted on the porch in Spanish with nice older man from Santa Marta about Colombia. Finally at 9 Erica arrived to open kitchen and provide coffee. Meanwhile we made friends with a delightful couple from Medellin who were visiting Minca to begin work on his family home that had been lost and then finally reclaimed after the war years. An interesting story and property indeed. We made a plan to meet them for dinner that night. They went off on long drive to a Tayrona Beach and we went off on an uphill hike of several hours along a road we'd not tried before. Didn't see many birds, but got some wonderful views of Santa Marta and the sea from mountain ridges.
Later we walked through the center of town with our new friends. We were delighted to discover that our favorite restaurant from our last trip Bururake was now open. There aren't many restaurants in Minca, and in our opinion this one is head and shoulders above the rest. Its seating area is small with an outdoor Parilla grill and kitchen. Great grilled meats and nice veggies too.
Turns out our new friends' property is right next door. So they enjoy talking some history with the young restaurant owner. A really nice eve all around.
Walked back through town at about 10:30 and all was quiet.
Got another late start the next am after lulling about at breakfast on the porch again. Decided to wait till it got cooler in later afternoon to go out again. Meanwhile did some Internet. Got started talking to a German couple who'd just arrived. Made a plan to have dinner with them that night at Bururake. We went off on another hike that had been recommended, the road next to the church. This one was ultimately a narrow path, gentle
Grade and dense forest. Saw some beautiful jays and just a few other birds.
Walked for a few hours. Then enjoyed another nice dinner with the Germans at Bururake, great conversation ranging from travels, to politics, to careers, and climate change. Stopped by to say goodbye to our Cololmbian friends who had been working on the property next door all day and were off with their son to get pizza. Walked Part way back to hotel with them.
Next day I dragged Mr Glover out of bed before 7 so that we could get in an earlier walk before leaving in the afternoon. We managed to get going by 8:30. We walked up a up a dirt rocky road that ultimately leads to a coffee plantation ("45 minutes" walking). We joked that the time frame was probably based on pace of young Germans or Swiss. We walked that road twice for way more than an hour and still only got as far as the "15 minutes more" sign. But it was a beautiful walk and we saw a gorgeous jacomar bird.
A sullen 11 year old became our best friend for half the walk as he quizzed us about the binoculars etc.
El Dorado Reserve - Back to the hotel to settle accounts, shower, and pack. A local driver then picked us up in a 4 x 4 for the bumpy drive from Minca up 4000 feet to the El Dorado nature reserve. This is one of the four nature reserves run by the Colombian organization Pro Aves that we visited 3 years ago. It's a fabulous location, at about 6500 feet and about another hour and a half up from Minca. There's a simple wood two story lodge with dining room, kitchen, and second story lounge and balcony. There are ten or so rooms with private baths dispersed in three other cabins, all wood. Grounds have beautiful tropical plants and of course many hummingbird feeders. This year we had a room with a balcony from which we viewed wonderful sunsets out over tropical plants and the Carribean below. On each of our 3 days here we got up early and took one or two walks a day, including an 8 hour walk one day up the main and really only road to the very highest place and radio cell tower. Along the wAy we had great views of the highest snow capped peaks of the Sierras. Unfortunately we didn't see many birds this time, perhaps time of year or lack of a guide contributed. We realized that besides providing excellent eyes and ears, guides are also useful to us because at this age we can EITHER watch our step on rocky roads to stay vertical OR look in trees as we go and risk falling. But clearly not both. We really enjoyed the food at El Dorado this time- great cook with lovely disposition. Had forgotten that soup is always a starter at these lodges, and what wonderful soup it was- Squash one night, spinach another, and Colombia's famous ajiaco another night. All the food was simple, local, well cooked and well spiced. The lodge was without electricity for 3 of our 4 days there. A minor inconvenience really as they have a generator and also make use of some solar power. On our third night there was a tremendous wind storm that started in the middle of the night and lasted well into the morning. A little scary in our wood cabin on the hillside in the high montane forest, as big trees banged against our windows. Kept us awake for a while! Lots of debris around the next day and a piece of the lodge metal roof on the ground.
On our final day we were up at 6 to eat breakfast and be driven back down to Santa Marta. The young Colombian woman who had been managing the lodge for four months and her visiting Italian husband accompanied us in a big 4 x 4 truck. They were off to visit her mom in Monterrico. We had a jolly conversation in Spanish and English for 2 /2 hours to the Santa Marta bus station. La Colombiana helped us find the most direct bus to Cartagena and we said our goodbyes. It was a comfortable enough 4 hour ride plus a short stop in Barranquilla. We were not entertained by a violent movie en route called The Expendables 3. But were entertained by the 3 vendors the bus picked up along the route. A very talkative guy sold knock off clutch purses, wallets, belts, and perfume from his large suitcase, maintaining a steady sales rap/promotion throughout. Another man got on with a big covered plate of hot obviously freshly made arepas. The third had a large coveres dish piled high with wonderful looking pastries. Though the food looked and smelled fabulous, we didn't indulge. We paid $15 each for that ride. Not bad. From the big and very busy bus station outside Cartagena, we took an easy taxi to the historic center and the same little b and b we stayed in 3 years ago.
Next up Cartagena.
Jan 8th, 2015, 11:18 AM
#3
Glover and Mr. Glover: this is a wonderfully informative and enjoyable TR. So glad to know that you're staying warm and active ( DH and I are in Buenos Aires - again! Right now). You have whetted our appetites for Colombia, for sure. Continue to have great travels and visits....and please, keep on posting.
Jan 8th, 2015, 02:25 PM
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Hi Susan, have reread your Colombia report a few times to remind myself of Cartagena restaurants. Passed by the one where we all enjoyed lunch a few years ago. Enjoy Cozumel! Never been there, but will go to small beach near Huatulco, San Augustanillo in Mexico at the end of January just after Colombia.
Hi Marnie, glad to hear you're enjoying BA as always. Today here in Cartagena we passed a restaurant we remember from our last visit - Patagonia - an Argentine steak house. It was excellent too.think we chose it at the end of our last Colombia trip when we were looking for a change from Colombian food. i do love that red meat/red wine diet I now associate with Argentina. Had an Argentine server at a great ceviche restaurant here last night.
Yes, mlgb, get on down here to Colombia if you've not been. It's beautiful and the people are lovely.
Here in Cartagena today it's hot -87 - but fortunately also very breezy, normal for this time of year.
After we settled in here at our charming little B and B, we enjoyed wonderful lemonade on our nearly private little patio - made fresh and brought by a staff member. Took the best showers we've had in a week and then set out to find dinner, too early of course. My first choice down the street wasn't open.
A little farther afield we found El Boliche Cebiceria, recommended by SusanB and others. It was set to open in 30 minutes so we went a few doors down and had a beer at a sidewalk cafe. Had a very fun waiter just iin that time, then ambled back don to Boliche. Just a tiny place, maybe 6 tables total and a small bar. We had a wonderful meal of ceviche with a mix of fish and some coconut flavor. Then we both had terrific roasted sea bass served with a great salad. Not a cheap meal, but really excellent. Then again, the dollar is getting stronger against the Colombian peso every day we're here. . .
So as we mentally convert one day, we find an even lower price confirmed the next day. Yay!
No shortage of people in town, though seems mostly Colombians. Server told us December here was thick with tourists, jammed sidewalks and streets. Glad we missed that. February (last trip) was still quieter.
Slept well in our large high ceilinged room with 3 fans. Now a little bit about the B and B. It has no name, only an address. I found it here on fodors, thanks SandyB. It's a family home with a beautiful planted courtyard and two floors of rooms for guests behind. It's very old and charming. Think owner said her family had purchased and worked on back in the 50s. Don't think a thing has been done to it since. Wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but definitely ours. We have a corner room with a nearly private little patio that looks over the garden and a few tiled roofs. The price, location (heart of old town),
And BREAKFAST can't be beat.
About that breakfast. . . Small iron tables and chairs set up next to the garden with white table cloths.
Set every am with lovely flowered English china. First comes big bowl of amazing Fruit - this am orange, banana, kiwi, strawberry, mango, pineapple, papaya, granadilla, and a few blueberries. Next comes fresh fruit juice of choice and choice of breakfast item: eggs several ways, French toast, or pancakes.
Along with this a big basket of 6 or so different kinds freshly baked breads,eg miniature arepas, carrot muffins, lemon bread, croissants. And did I mention French press coffe to die for? Owner has staff of 5 or so women who make breakfast, look after guests, maintain property, and care for owner's aging mom.
After we'd tasted everything possible and drunk our third cup of coffee, we set off to walk town. Did I say it was hot? Dropped off some laundry down the street. Hit the ATM. Walked the old city walls. Schmoozed a few craft markets. Sat in Santa Clara plaza and had some smoothies and wraps. Enjoyed some people watching. Went to big Exito grocery store to see if we could score more insect repellent. We're not out yet, but it's going fast. And those Chikungunya figures are up to 80,000 now since July. Some ridiculously large number of cases are projected for the next several months. Exito was out of their strongest stuff so we Decided to look around some more.
Dinner later tonight just down this street at a Caribe fusion place.
Hi Marnie, glad to hear you're enjoying BA as always. Today here in Cartagena we passed a restaurant we remember from our last visit - Patagonia - an Argentine steak house. It was excellent too.think we chose it at the end of our last Colombia trip when we were looking for a change from Colombian food. i do love that red meat/red wine diet I now associate with Argentina. Had an Argentine server at a great ceviche restaurant here last night.
Yes, mlgb, get on down here to Colombia if you've not been. It's beautiful and the people are lovely.
Here in Cartagena today it's hot -87 - but fortunately also very breezy, normal for this time of year.
After we settled in here at our charming little B and B, we enjoyed wonderful lemonade on our nearly private little patio - made fresh and brought by a staff member. Took the best showers we've had in a week and then set out to find dinner, too early of course. My first choice down the street wasn't open.
A little farther afield we found El Boliche Cebiceria, recommended by SusanB and others. It was set to open in 30 minutes so we went a few doors down and had a beer at a sidewalk cafe. Had a very fun waiter just iin that time, then ambled back don to Boliche. Just a tiny place, maybe 6 tables total and a small bar. We had a wonderful meal of ceviche with a mix of fish and some coconut flavor. Then we both had terrific roasted sea bass served with a great salad. Not a cheap meal, but really excellent. Then again, the dollar is getting stronger against the Colombian peso every day we're here. . .
So as we mentally convert one day, we find an even lower price confirmed the next day. Yay!
No shortage of people in town, though seems mostly Colombians. Server told us December here was thick with tourists, jammed sidewalks and streets. Glad we missed that. February (last trip) was still quieter.
Slept well in our large high ceilinged room with 3 fans. Now a little bit about the B and B. It has no name, only an address. I found it here on fodors, thanks SandyB. It's a family home with a beautiful planted courtyard and two floors of rooms for guests behind. It's very old and charming. Think owner said her family had purchased and worked on back in the 50s. Don't think a thing has been done to it since. Wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but definitely ours. We have a corner room with a nearly private little patio that looks over the garden and a few tiled roofs. The price, location (heart of old town),
And BREAKFAST can't be beat.
About that breakfast. . . Small iron tables and chairs set up next to the garden with white table cloths.
Set every am with lovely flowered English china. First comes big bowl of amazing Fruit - this am orange, banana, kiwi, strawberry, mango, pineapple, papaya, granadilla, and a few blueberries. Next comes fresh fruit juice of choice and choice of breakfast item: eggs several ways, French toast, or pancakes.
Along with this a big basket of 6 or so different kinds freshly baked breads,eg miniature arepas, carrot muffins, lemon bread, croissants. And did I mention French press coffe to die for? Owner has staff of 5 or so women who make breakfast, look after guests, maintain property, and care for owner's aging mom.
After we'd tasted everything possible and drunk our third cup of coffee, we set off to walk town. Did I say it was hot? Dropped off some laundry down the street. Hit the ATM. Walked the old city walls. Schmoozed a few craft markets. Sat in Santa Clara plaza and had some smoothies and wraps. Enjoyed some people watching. Went to big Exito grocery store to see if we could score more insect repellent. We're not out yet, but it's going fast. And those Chikungunya figures are up to 80,000 now since July. Some ridiculously large number of cases are projected for the next several months. Exito was out of their strongest stuff so we Decided to look around some more.
Dinner later tonight just down this street at a Caribe fusion place.
Jan 10th, 2015, 01:28 AM
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As always, great reporting Glover! Columbia is in our plans for next year, along with Central America. Never been sure about Mexico though, so looking forward to reading all about your exploites there.
Jan 10th, 2015, 01:18 PM
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Glad to have you along, Crellston. You know how much I enjoy reading of your travels. Really, you haven't been to Mexico? If not, you must surely go. Beautiful colonial cities full of color, music, great food, ruins, history, art, nice people. Has it all really.
Continuing on with report. Thursday night's dinner at the Caribbean place just down the street was just ho hum, But since it only cost $45 for 2 we can't complain too much. I had more fish, robablo this time,and Mr. Glover had fish and meat kebabs. On top of coconut rice. Mine came with a nice blind of fruits and. Veggies that was unfortunately way over marinated in lime juice so just tasted tart. Feeling underwhelmed by that whole experience we left and fell into the fancy hotel across the street from our humble home. "hotel Tsherassi." Had a drink next to their lap pool. Very chic modern somewhat odd space. Inside door is a big open space. Along the right wall is the restaurant Vera. To the left is a small pool with a few seats and tables, behind that a wall of water (this seems big these days) and a small working bar. We enjoyed watching decked out Colombians come and go. Love those shoes!
Listened to some nice music, good keyboardist and guitar.
Next day we lingered over another fabulous breakfast, This time with fresh mango juice. I tried the French toast and Mr G, oddly, went for a 5 minute egg in a cup (childhood memories). After that we lounged around on patio and in the room, making further travel plans on Internet etc. till late afternoon. Walked down the street to fetch laundry, but wasn't ready yet. decided to delay pick up till next am. When back home and showered for dinner. Went the Restaurant called "Salou." Near the city wall. We'd enjoyed it on our last trip. It's a small place with a cozy hip feel to it. Had 3 kinds of delicious ceviche followed by corvina (with chutney for me and Peruvian style for Mr. G) served on t of mashed potatoes? Hung around for a while after dinner since live music was promised. Turned out to be just a guy with an acoustic guitar and mic. No one other than us bothered to listen to him, he competed with roaring blenders and other bar sounds, and then was blessedly cut off when the power went off. That continued as we paid the bill and left. Apparently affected only one sector of town, as several blocks down lights were on. Strolled through the town enjoying the marvelous sea breeze. It really is just a beautiful city and location, even if it does have too many tourists.
Day 3 - repeat. I said to Mr. G this am, "when people ask what we did in Cartagena, we'll say "ate breakfast." This morning's juice - marukuya - fabulous. Stoked up on the A+ coffee again. More wonderful breads, fruits, and eggs.
Walked down the street and picked up Laundry. Had 4 kilos or so done for $10. Not our cheapest price, but not bad either. . . Well worth the money. Chilled on the patio a bit until the sun hit it. Then went out walking. Thought to visit modern art museum and museum shop, but alas found it closed on Saturday afternoon. Went up and walked on the old wall for awhile. Blistering hot sun, but very strong
Sea breeze. A huge Christmas tree with big orange balls still standing just outside the wallo before the sea. Some other nice Xmas lights around as well. Stop and split a small pizza and have a beer in plaza for people watching. Tons of vendors, but they're easily rejected. Wildly amusing street performer- He's a short 40 or 50 something gaucho on a "horse", basically a realistic looking horse head in front of him and a realistic looking tail behind him. His legs are obscured with dark drape (the horse's
body). He prances up and down the street really authentically to cheers from the crowd. Then passes the hat. He's obviously well know and a favorite as people surround him to greet him. I take a little video of him and contribute to his cause.
Next up: Last dinner and breakfast�� in Cartagena. Then on to Salento
3223749692
Continuing on with report. Thursday night's dinner at the Caribbean place just down the street was just ho hum, But since it only cost $45 for 2 we can't complain too much. I had more fish, robablo this time,and Mr. Glover had fish and meat kebabs. On top of coconut rice. Mine came with a nice blind of fruits and. Veggies that was unfortunately way over marinated in lime juice so just tasted tart. Feeling underwhelmed by that whole experience we left and fell into the fancy hotel across the street from our humble home. "hotel Tsherassi." Had a drink next to their lap pool. Very chic modern somewhat odd space. Inside door is a big open space. Along the right wall is the restaurant Vera. To the left is a small pool with a few seats and tables, behind that a wall of water (this seems big these days) and a small working bar. We enjoyed watching decked out Colombians come and go. Love those shoes!
Listened to some nice music, good keyboardist and guitar.
Next day we lingered over another fabulous breakfast, This time with fresh mango juice. I tried the French toast and Mr G, oddly, went for a 5 minute egg in a cup (childhood memories). After that we lounged around on patio and in the room, making further travel plans on Internet etc. till late afternoon. Walked down the street to fetch laundry, but wasn't ready yet. decided to delay pick up till next am. When back home and showered for dinner. Went the Restaurant called "Salou." Near the city wall. We'd enjoyed it on our last trip. It's a small place with a cozy hip feel to it. Had 3 kinds of delicious ceviche followed by corvina (with chutney for me and Peruvian style for Mr. G) served on t of mashed potatoes? Hung around for a while after dinner since live music was promised. Turned out to be just a guy with an acoustic guitar and mic. No one other than us bothered to listen to him, he competed with roaring blenders and other bar sounds, and then was blessedly cut off when the power went off. That continued as we paid the bill and left. Apparently affected only one sector of town, as several blocks down lights were on. Strolled through the town enjoying the marvelous sea breeze. It really is just a beautiful city and location, even if it does have too many tourists.
Day 3 - repeat. I said to Mr. G this am, "when people ask what we did in Cartagena, we'll say "ate breakfast." This morning's juice - marukuya - fabulous. Stoked up on the A+ coffee again. More wonderful breads, fruits, and eggs.
Walked down the street and picked up Laundry. Had 4 kilos or so done for $10. Not our cheapest price, but not bad either. . . Well worth the money. Chilled on the patio a bit until the sun hit it. Then went out walking. Thought to visit modern art museum and museum shop, but alas found it closed on Saturday afternoon. Went up and walked on the old wall for awhile. Blistering hot sun, but very strong
Sea breeze. A huge Christmas tree with big orange balls still standing just outside the wallo before the sea. Some other nice Xmas lights around as well. Stop and split a small pizza and have a beer in plaza for people watching. Tons of vendors, but they're easily rejected. Wildly amusing street performer- He's a short 40 or 50 something gaucho on a "horse", basically a realistic looking horse head in front of him and a realistic looking tail behind him. His legs are obscured with dark drape (the horse's
body). He prances up and down the street really authentically to cheers from the crowd. Then passes the hat. He's obviously well know and a favorite as people surround him to greet him. I take a little video of him and contribute to his cause.
Next up: Last dinner and breakfast�� in Cartagena. Then on to Salento
3223749692
Jan 11th, 2015, 06:50 AM
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Somehow managed to copy that random number above as I transferred my notes to fodors. Also haven't a clue how to fix formatting which seems to change in transfer. Sorry.
We are sad to leave Cartagena this am. Had an interesting dinner on our last night in Getsemani, the area just outside the walls of the old city. Often referred to as backpacker haven. The number of people out and about in that neighborhood was probably double that inside the walls. Tomorrow is a holiday, so probably lots of people doing 3 day weekends. And just lots of locals milling around too. We chose the restaurant Saint Roque for its Indonesian food (a nice change) and its back story. We sat outside on a rather quiet street and were greeted very warmly by the Dutch/Indonesian owner Gerard and Colombian server Daniel.
In his travels as an employee of the Dutch govt, Gerard had visited Cartagena and also noticed the poverty surrounding the city. (He told us there are about 45,000 residents in the old city/Getsemani area, but over 1 million in the greater Cartagena area, which he termed the poorest
City in South America.) We wondered about that stat. . . but we did see a fairly long stretch of people living in wretched poverty along the narrow sandy strip between the highway and sea on our way from Santa Marta to Cartagena. Gerard joined forces with a younger Dutch woman and started a nonprofit which now serves 85 children 15 minutes outside the city. Tips from the restaurant go to the foundation. We had a tasty "rice table" (gado gado, two meat and chicken dishes, and plain and fried rice) plus a nice bottle of Merlot and a beer, all for about $65.
Threaded our way through the throngs and finished our bottle of wine on our little patio at home.
This am had our final fab breakfast. We won't see its equal any time soon. Lulo juice this am.
Had forgotten how delicious this fruit is also. Thanked the cook and servers profusely, gave a little tip, took a group photo. Now we're off to airport for a flight to Pereira, where we'll be picked up and driven to the lovely little town of Salento, which we also enjoyed on our last trip.
Today and tomorrow should be interesting though. Last week I received an email from our Salento host warning us that today and tomorrow at big festival days in town and "it will be impossible to get any rest, even in the night." So, we shall see. . .
We are sad to leave Cartagena this am. Had an interesting dinner on our last night in Getsemani, the area just outside the walls of the old city. Often referred to as backpacker haven. The number of people out and about in that neighborhood was probably double that inside the walls. Tomorrow is a holiday, so probably lots of people doing 3 day weekends. And just lots of locals milling around too. We chose the restaurant Saint Roque for its Indonesian food (a nice change) and its back story. We sat outside on a rather quiet street and were greeted very warmly by the Dutch/Indonesian owner Gerard and Colombian server Daniel.
In his travels as an employee of the Dutch govt, Gerard had visited Cartagena and also noticed the poverty surrounding the city. (He told us there are about 45,000 residents in the old city/Getsemani area, but over 1 million in the greater Cartagena area, which he termed the poorest
City in South America.) We wondered about that stat. . . but we did see a fairly long stretch of people living in wretched poverty along the narrow sandy strip between the highway and sea on our way from Santa Marta to Cartagena. Gerard joined forces with a younger Dutch woman and started a nonprofit which now serves 85 children 15 minutes outside the city. Tips from the restaurant go to the foundation. We had a tasty "rice table" (gado gado, two meat and chicken dishes, and plain and fried rice) plus a nice bottle of Merlot and a beer, all for about $65.
Threaded our way through the throngs and finished our bottle of wine on our little patio at home.
This am had our final fab breakfast. We won't see its equal any time soon. Lulo juice this am.
Had forgotten how delicious this fruit is also. Thanked the cook and servers profusely, gave a little tip, took a group photo. Now we're off to airport for a flight to Pereira, where we'll be picked up and driven to the lovely little town of Salento, which we also enjoyed on our last trip.
Today and tomorrow should be interesting though. Last week I received an email from our Salento host warning us that today and tomorrow at big festival days in town and "it will be impossible to get any rest, even in the night." So, we shall see. . .
Jan 11th, 2015, 07:11 AM
#11
Hi glover! great to find your on the ground TR and I am enjoying following along although I am a touch envious. Festivals are always so very interesting. It's been bitter cold here, the very hot weather sounds so nice.
Jan 15th, 2015, 11:38 AM
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Continuing.... Well you can't say we weren't warned. . . A driver (arranged by our Salento hotel
Hostal Ciudad de Segorbe) picked us up at the Pereira airport for the hour or so drive to Salento. He zoomed up (100kph at some points - yikes) the road until just a few miles outside Salento, where we came to a dead stop in bumper to bumper traffic. So it probably took another hour to crawl into Salento. Festival indeed! We were greeted warmly by hosts Enrique and Luiz and shown to our small, basic, but charming room, with tiny bath. Heavy wood shutters open out onto the town. We stayed here on our last trip to Salento and really enjoyed it, so decided to come back. The Hostal is a nicely restored old building with two floors of rooms surrounding a lovely small courtyard area and kitchen. Rooms are a bargain at about $45 US including breakfast and very friendly and helpful service by bilingual Enrique and staffer Luisa. It's just two blocks down hill from Salento's main plaza.
The town was packed with Colombians visiting for the fiesta, cars coming up and down narrow hilly streets, a few horses, many many motorcycles, and plenty of pedestrians. Music was blaring from the plaza as well as from circling cars. Ay yay yay. We chilled a bit and talked to owners. They're not enthusiastic about the festival and generally discourage guests from coming at that time. In fact we, and aGerman couple and daughter, were the only guests those two days. Owners would get out of town themselves they said if they thought they could . . .. Eventually we ventured out For food, first just quickly checking out the plaza action from a far corner. Lots and lots of people milling around looking at crafts, eating, drinking, etc. very loud music. Colombians do like their music. We went in search of a restaurant we'd visited on last trip. Never did find it, so fell into a gringo place called "Brunch." We both had delicious, if incredibly sloppy, burgers and great handcut fries. Had a nice chat with the owner, a nice guy from Oregon. We ate perched on bar stools looking out the window. So were able to watch street action without having to experience it. Went home and crashed. Closing the heavy wood shutters reduced the music level from deafening to just blaring. We did however manage to get a fair amount of sleep. Figure that music went on all night.
Next day had smaller breakfast (we really couldn't have kept up that routine from Cartagena without waddling home). Eventually went up to check out the day time festival action at the plaza. Made a circuit. Lots of families out eating at outside cafes, some pony rides for kids. A stage set up presumably for live music at some point. Fun to see all that, but all the vendors prevent having a good overall view of the otherwise lovely plaza with church, trees in center etc. Seems more and more the case everywhere one goes. . . . Certainly case with lots of small towns in South America. On the other hand, the center has always been the place of commerce.. .
We spent our time in Salento walking/ hiking. First redoing the popular hike into the Cocora Valley to see Colombia's fabulous national tree, the wax Palm, which grows to a height of 60 meters. Really spectacular scenery and a fun adventure overall. Many jeeps assemble every am in the Salento plaza. They fill up with hikers and drive 30 or so minutes over hills and into countryside (a beautiful drive in itself). We are all dropped near a blue gate, the beginning of a trail through the valley and up a mountain
To get spectacular views. The first half of the trail is fairly easy/level across pasture land. Then it begins to go gently up through beautiful forest and crisscrossing the river several times on Rickety hanging wooden bridges. After five of those, the trail goes very steeply up about a kilometre to about 2400 meters altitude. A little Finca at the top is a nice resting place with beautiful views, flowers, and hummingbirds. Then you descend on an easy wide dirt road down into the valley with fabulous views of the wax palms from various angles. Just beautiful. With some time out for picnic and a little birdwatching (our favorite green jay and Crimson backed woodpecker - fabulous birds),
This was a 7:30am to 2:30pm trip for us. Hikers ride back to Salento the way they came. Jeeps leave the trail loop for town when they have 8 or 10 people.
We also redid a nice easier country walk on a a dirt road that leads out of Salento, goes through coffee plantation area, through a tiny village and ends on the highway into Salento where you can hop on (if you dare) a collective back into town. At our stop and go pace, this was another longish day hike for us. Saw a few great birds on the way, had some good conversation with some locals and other tourists along the way. Really great walk until we got rained on for the last half hour. Took shelter under some trees, but did get damp. Locals were thrilled to have the rain, because they had been a very long time without any.
A new highlight of Salento this time was visiting Kasa Guadua Natural Reserve.
Two very energetic and enthusiastic guys, one British and the other Colombian, are working on what they call their life project - a 12 hectare or so reserve, restoring what had become mountainside grazing land to its natural forest state. They've been at it for about 10 years, have opened it to the public within the last couple, and are now building an ecolodge on the property as well. Everything they do on their private reserve is monitored and aided by the Colombian government. They run tours of their reserve at 9am by appointment, accepting donAtions in exchange. Even as folks who has spent a lot of time in rainforest etc and learned about forest regeneration, we still really enjoyed seeing this wonderful project and learned lots more about the wax palms, Guadua (a form of bamboo)' and more. Very enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and articulate owners. We were there for about 2. 1/2 hours walking just some of the trail.
Very interesting to see the lodge and cabanas in construction also, modular octagonal ecohabs that will be framed with Guadua joined by material made of recycled plastic bottles etc. They may be complete by the end of the year. A small lodge, but a big project! It was great fun for us to walk and talk with part owner Nicholas.
Another highlight of our second visit to Salento was eating 3 meals at the restaurant called "Sandra of Salento." We went initially on the strength of tripadvisor reviews.
It had only been open for 8 weeks. A very interesting couple- he a New Yorker, she pretty much a citizen of the world, bought and renovated an old home with beautiful views. They renovated it to make a home for themselves and a small restaurant and patio. Sandra, who has never before cooked professionally, is nevertheless a wonderful cook for whom food has always been a passion. They're open only 3 nights a week for dinner, serving a small menu that pretty much changes daily. They are both enormously congenial and welcoming. We ate green beans, broccoli, and carrots in Colombia!! Unheard of! A welcome change from the good, but ultimately monotonous trout, plantains, rice, and French fries. The food, atmosphere, and price were all so wonderful we went three nights out of 5. What we spent for 2 drinks, entrees, appetizers, and desserts for three nights equalled what we would pay for one dinner of similar quality and size in DC. Everyone in the joint had a smile. On our last night, tonight, we'll branch out and try another Cafe Bernabe Gourmet. But first we'll say goodbye to Salento by visiting the town mirador - up a steep long set of concrete steps in center of town- from which there's another beautiful view of Cocora Valley.
Tomorrow we'll go by taxi and then Landrover to the Sanctuario de Fauna y Flora Otun Quimbaya. Another nature reserve/park.
Hostal Ciudad de Segorbe) picked us up at the Pereira airport for the hour or so drive to Salento. He zoomed up (100kph at some points - yikes) the road until just a few miles outside Salento, where we came to a dead stop in bumper to bumper traffic. So it probably took another hour to crawl into Salento. Festival indeed! We were greeted warmly by hosts Enrique and Luiz and shown to our small, basic, but charming room, with tiny bath. Heavy wood shutters open out onto the town. We stayed here on our last trip to Salento and really enjoyed it, so decided to come back. The Hostal is a nicely restored old building with two floors of rooms surrounding a lovely small courtyard area and kitchen. Rooms are a bargain at about $45 US including breakfast and very friendly and helpful service by bilingual Enrique and staffer Luisa. It's just two blocks down hill from Salento's main plaza.
The town was packed with Colombians visiting for the fiesta, cars coming up and down narrow hilly streets, a few horses, many many motorcycles, and plenty of pedestrians. Music was blaring from the plaza as well as from circling cars. Ay yay yay. We chilled a bit and talked to owners. They're not enthusiastic about the festival and generally discourage guests from coming at that time. In fact we, and aGerman couple and daughter, were the only guests those two days. Owners would get out of town themselves they said if they thought they could . . .. Eventually we ventured out For food, first just quickly checking out the plaza action from a far corner. Lots and lots of people milling around looking at crafts, eating, drinking, etc. very loud music. Colombians do like their music. We went in search of a restaurant we'd visited on last trip. Never did find it, so fell into a gringo place called "Brunch." We both had delicious, if incredibly sloppy, burgers and great handcut fries. Had a nice chat with the owner, a nice guy from Oregon. We ate perched on bar stools looking out the window. So were able to watch street action without having to experience it. Went home and crashed. Closing the heavy wood shutters reduced the music level from deafening to just blaring. We did however manage to get a fair amount of sleep. Figure that music went on all night.
Next day had smaller breakfast (we really couldn't have kept up that routine from Cartagena without waddling home). Eventually went up to check out the day time festival action at the plaza. Made a circuit. Lots of families out eating at outside cafes, some pony rides for kids. A stage set up presumably for live music at some point. Fun to see all that, but all the vendors prevent having a good overall view of the otherwise lovely plaza with church, trees in center etc. Seems more and more the case everywhere one goes. . . . Certainly case with lots of small towns in South America. On the other hand, the center has always been the place of commerce.. .
We spent our time in Salento walking/ hiking. First redoing the popular hike into the Cocora Valley to see Colombia's fabulous national tree, the wax Palm, which grows to a height of 60 meters. Really spectacular scenery and a fun adventure overall. Many jeeps assemble every am in the Salento plaza. They fill up with hikers and drive 30 or so minutes over hills and into countryside (a beautiful drive in itself). We are all dropped near a blue gate, the beginning of a trail through the valley and up a mountain
To get spectacular views. The first half of the trail is fairly easy/level across pasture land. Then it begins to go gently up through beautiful forest and crisscrossing the river several times on Rickety hanging wooden bridges. After five of those, the trail goes very steeply up about a kilometre to about 2400 meters altitude. A little Finca at the top is a nice resting place with beautiful views, flowers, and hummingbirds. Then you descend on an easy wide dirt road down into the valley with fabulous views of the wax palms from various angles. Just beautiful. With some time out for picnic and a little birdwatching (our favorite green jay and Crimson backed woodpecker - fabulous birds),
This was a 7:30am to 2:30pm trip for us. Hikers ride back to Salento the way they came. Jeeps leave the trail loop for town when they have 8 or 10 people.
We also redid a nice easier country walk on a a dirt road that leads out of Salento, goes through coffee plantation area, through a tiny village and ends on the highway into Salento where you can hop on (if you dare) a collective back into town. At our stop and go pace, this was another longish day hike for us. Saw a few great birds on the way, had some good conversation with some locals and other tourists along the way. Really great walk until we got rained on for the last half hour. Took shelter under some trees, but did get damp. Locals were thrilled to have the rain, because they had been a very long time without any.
A new highlight of Salento this time was visiting Kasa Guadua Natural Reserve.
Two very energetic and enthusiastic guys, one British and the other Colombian, are working on what they call their life project - a 12 hectare or so reserve, restoring what had become mountainside grazing land to its natural forest state. They've been at it for about 10 years, have opened it to the public within the last couple, and are now building an ecolodge on the property as well. Everything they do on their private reserve is monitored and aided by the Colombian government. They run tours of their reserve at 9am by appointment, accepting donAtions in exchange. Even as folks who has spent a lot of time in rainforest etc and learned about forest regeneration, we still really enjoyed seeing this wonderful project and learned lots more about the wax palms, Guadua (a form of bamboo)' and more. Very enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and articulate owners. We were there for about 2. 1/2 hours walking just some of the trail.
Very interesting to see the lodge and cabanas in construction also, modular octagonal ecohabs that will be framed with Guadua joined by material made of recycled plastic bottles etc. They may be complete by the end of the year. A small lodge, but a big project! It was great fun for us to walk and talk with part owner Nicholas.
Another highlight of our second visit to Salento was eating 3 meals at the restaurant called "Sandra of Salento." We went initially on the strength of tripadvisor reviews.
It had only been open for 8 weeks. A very interesting couple- he a New Yorker, she pretty much a citizen of the world, bought and renovated an old home with beautiful views. They renovated it to make a home for themselves and a small restaurant and patio. Sandra, who has never before cooked professionally, is nevertheless a wonderful cook for whom food has always been a passion. They're open only 3 nights a week for dinner, serving a small menu that pretty much changes daily. They are both enormously congenial and welcoming. We ate green beans, broccoli, and carrots in Colombia!! Unheard of! A welcome change from the good, but ultimately monotonous trout, plantains, rice, and French fries. The food, atmosphere, and price were all so wonderful we went three nights out of 5. What we spent for 2 drinks, entrees, appetizers, and desserts for three nights equalled what we would pay for one dinner of similar quality and size in DC. Everyone in the joint had a smile. On our last night, tonight, we'll branch out and try another Cafe Bernabe Gourmet. But first we'll say goodbye to Salento by visiting the town mirador - up a steep long set of concrete steps in center of town- from which there's another beautiful view of Cocora Valley.
Tomorrow we'll go by taxi and then Landrover to the Sanctuario de Fauna y Flora Otun Quimbaya. Another nature reserve/park.
Jan 15th, 2015, 01:40 PM
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I've read up on the Cocora Valley, but what you're describing seems even better. Had a similar experience with a festival on our approach to Cuzco, Peru, coming from the Sacred Valley; we enjoyed the music and the atmosphere though.
Jan 22nd, 2015, 10:06 AM
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Last night in Salento and on to Otun Quimbaya Reserve.
Walked up the many steep steps from the center of Salento to the town Mirador. At the
Mirador there's a nice multi-level lookout over the beautiful valley below, as well as a nice walking path among trees going down the hill. Unfortunately it's cloudy/hazy when we get up there, so don't get the beautiful views we remember from before. Back down the hill on a different sloping street into town center. As we have a little time to kill before our dinner reservation, Mr. Glover sits on a street bench and I cruise the shops on the main Salento shopping street. Really not much of interest there. Move on to the Cafe Bernabe Gourmet restaurant. We are welcomed by the chef himself and shown to small wooden table. We opt not to sit outside as it's pretty cool in Salento in the eves. Cozy rustic restaurant that seats only about 12. #1 on trip advisor in Salento at the moment. Sandra will knock him off the top soon. This is another husband and wife team, though here both are Colombians. They have one employee. Take our time ordering dinner and have a drink first. Menu is very small. Kitchen is open to small dining area so enjoy watching chef cook. We eat a delicious plate of sautéed garlic mushrooms. Then order. Food takes ages to arrive, though we're not particularly concerned. Everything obviously cooked to order and at peak there were maybe a dozen diners. We have simple vegetable salad with yoghurt like dressing, then I have beef tenderloin and Mr. G has pork medallions. Both seem to be in a similar coffee/passion fruit reduction that 's quite tasty. A nice enough way to while away a couple hours on our last eve. Cost twice as much as Sandra's though, unclear why. . . .
Finally on our last night in Salento, there is no nighttime loud music. Wake the next morning and get organized for departure. Christina at our B and B has nicely arranged transport for us to Otun Quimbaya reserve outside Pereira. At 11 we're picked up by the same speedy taxi driver who delivered us to Salento. He zooms us into Pereira to an arranged meeting point where we are to rendezvous with Jesus Maria and his small white truck. All that works well. Jesus piles the bags on one side of back seat, Mr. G.
Climbs in other side. I climb in front to converse with driver. He tells me a lot of things along the way, which are even more difficult to understand than usual because he has no teeth. Eventually we are on yet another rocky dirt uphill road. We come to the small town of Florida, the nearest town to the reserve. Jesus stops in front of what he ids as his house, his wife comes out and they exchange a few words. A grandchild or two hops in flat bed in back. The town and surrounding area seems to be about chicken raising and production, Lots of large chicken coops and perhaps a big processing plant. Jesus stops again and picks up a few more young people looking for rides farther up the road. He lets them off later before we arrive at the reserve.
After Florida, there is forest and a beautiful drive. We arrive at the reserve and are greeted by manager Jimmy. Our room isn't quite ready, so we have lunch in the smallish cafeteria like dining area, camp food: juice, rice, shredded
Lettuce and carrots, plantain and chicken. Then we're shown to our simple room with bath, double bed, small table and a couple chairs, and shelves for storing stuff.
We probably only needed a day here, but we have 3 nights and two days. After dinner in the cafeteria, there's. nothing to do but return to your simple room. Not even any internet. On day one we went out with a local guide at 7am (after quick coffee). The reserve has some 400 hectares of land. They've made 3 lovely trails for the public but guests are supposed to be accompanied by guide on the trails. Our guide Harvey is a Great guy, nice personality, knowledgeable about nature and birds. We trade Spanish and English lessons along the way as we walk down the road and beautiful trails with him. Learn a few more ,things about rainforest and flora of the area. We don't see many birds, though more than we'd have seen without Harvey. Red roughed fruit crows, quite impressive birds and new to us, are common around the lodge and trails.
We see a few beautiful trogons, a mot mot, and a few small birds. Return to lodge in time for a substantial breakfast of fruit, scrambled eggs, arepa, cheese, and good coffee. Mr.G wants a short rest, and Harvey says he'll just be hanging around till we go out again later. As he'd mentioned really wanting to work on His English, he and I sat for a couple hours and did intercombio. He was a great partner to have as he's interested in language and grammar, so we were able to easily trade info and questions about Spanish and English by comparing grammatical structures. Then the three of us had a bowl of soup and hit the trails again. The weather was mostly overcast and occasionally drizzly, so the beautiful forest was quite green and wet. Saw the ruins of the estate of the reserve's donors, an old pool, some foundAtions. Walked for probably five hours on day one total. After a dinner of shredded salad, soup, rope meat, rice and a beer, we retired to our room for some reading. We're easily asleep by 10 in the pitch dark and absolute silence.
On day two we had early coffee and set off on our own on the rocky, but flat, road that goes by the reserve. We saw barely a soul on it yesterday, but today (Sunday) there are lots of mountain bike riders out and a few motorcycles as well. The sun managed to peak through for awhile this am. Also coming up and down was the occasional chiva (colorful open local bus) filled mostly with people going to hike a mountain trail at the end of the road. A popular trip, but probably beyond our skill set. Saw a few of our fav green jays, lots of fruit crows, another beautiful trogon and a few small birds.
Shared dinner with another young gringo who has been teaching English in Medellin
and road his motorcycle up to the reserve for a little vacation.
Very early on our final day at Otun Quimbaya, Jimmy the nice manager offered to take us out on a short walk in hopes to show us two particular birds, the torrent duck and the multi-colored tanager. Again it was a rather damp and darkish morning. Didn't see the birds we were aiming for but saw another beautiful one, the golden winged tanager, one that was a "lifer" for Jimmy who was very exited about it.
On to Hacienda Bambusa. When we started our trip, we had not yet planned our final 4 or 5 days before needing to be back in Bogota for our flight to Mexico. We considered flying down to Colombia's Amazon area, Letiticia. But decided we'd seen similar territory on the Napo River in Ecuador. Then we talked about visiting the area east of Bogota, Los Llanos. But it seemed the most interesting areas of Los Llanos, way beyond the nearer town of Villavicencio, we're going to be rather difficult to get to and then around in and possibly not that safe. Hence we just decided to spend some more time in the coffee area. We contacted a nice hotel outside Manizales where we'd stayed previously but found it booked. Looking around for others, we found nice reviews and articles about an upscale place called Haienda Bambusa. Then I rather impulsively got stuck on going there. I traded some emails with them and arranged transport from the Quimbaya reserve to the hacienda, south of the city of Armenia.
We were collected by a nice 4 x 4 suv and an English speaking driver who had lived in NJ for 16 years. Had him stop at a fancy grocery store in Armenia on the way so we could buy some fruit and other snacks to sustain ourselves during day, as we had signed on for the hacienda's half board program: lodging, breakfast and dinner and no included activities at $250 a night, a big splurge for us. They also offer an all inclusive per person rate which includes 3 meals, drinks, and several local trips with guides and drivers at your disposal. Extraordinarily expensive. But what a beautiful place it is!
Turned off the highway outside of Armenia and drove on a dirt farm road for some distance through banana, orange, and cacao fields. And at last we come to the hacienda. We get a hearty welcome from manager Pablo, an energetic Argentinian
Who speaks fluent English. We enjoy talking to him about Argentina and especially about his home town of Salta which had been of favorite of ours when we visited Argentina. Another staff member appears with some delicious fresh juice as Pablo shows us around the hacienda and ultimately to our wonderful room. It's a huge corner room with a private wrap around balcony maybe 24 feet by 12 deep. Two nice chairs and small table made of local Guadua (bamboo). And of course a big hammock.
The balcony looks out on a nice pool surrounded by 4 enormous palms and other beautiful tropical plantings. Very modern bath with nice rain shower and even a walk in closet and seating area inside. Colorful abstract art by the hacienda owner. All very elegant and classy. Huge contrast to our simple digs of the last week or so. We feel we've died and gone to heaven.
The hacienda is on a 400 acre or so property owned by the Montoya family. Besides the hacienda for guests, there are several other homes on the property occupied by other family members and staff. It is a working farm that produces bananas, oranges, tangerines, and cacao. One of the second generation Montoyas is a well known race car driver, the other is an artist who has moved to Miami in the last few years.
We order a tasty chicken salad from the menu for lunch. A welcome change, with some nice greens and fruit and beautiful presentation. The dining area is on the opposite side of the building from the pool and our balcony. It looks out over more fields and mountains in the back. A beautiful view. Birds everywhere. We sit on our balcony and catch up on Internet etc. We're the only guests on our first two of four nights here. We understand that the hacienda, owned by artist Santiago Montoya, closed For a year as he decided to focus on his art, move to Miami, etc. and searched for appropriate management staff for the hacienda. They reopened in November of 14. They were busy through the holidays and early January and will take 4 days off if they can ever get rid of us. We sleep well in the grand big bed, enjoy coffee on the balcony in the ams and breakfast later on the back veranda. Wonderful fruit here of course. On two of our three afternoons we take long walks down different roads. Really enjoy seeing all the unfamiliar vegetation as well as a wide variety of birds.
We experiment with the hacienda's mountain bikes briefly. Road bike riders at home, we're not feeling the love for the mountain bikes. Neither of our bikes is a good fit and riding the bike without accident on bumpy road requires complete attention. We decide we'd rather be able to look around, so return the bikes to the hacienda after about a half hour and continue walking. See lots of beautiful blue headed parrots and a unique flycatcher with a long forked tail. In the eves enjoy a drink on the porch and then go down to dinner on the veranda. Manager Pablo always checks in with us to see what we've been up to or might need. Christian the young cook cooks us some nice meals, robalo (sea bass) one eve, pork another, famous Colombian soup Ajiaco
Another. Always comes out later to discuss the meal with us (he's also pretty fluent in English).
On our third eve 5 other guests arrived (we almost hated to share) and so on that eve dinner included live music - two older men who were talented guitar players. Day 2 had been mostly sunny and hot, so we actually got in the pool. Though I had feared it would be too cold, it was actually quite pleasant. Just as we finished swimming, the sky clouded over and we eventually had a fairly long rain with thunder and lightning- also enjoyable from our big porch.
Morning #3 we got up at 6:15 to meet a local biologist guide for a local walk. We walked across the property and down a steep slope through Guadua forest to the Quindio River. Unfortunately it was cloudy/misty, so we didn't really see too much,
Just got damp. A man panning for gold by the edge of the river.
Here we are now back on our porch catching up with a few things. Weather has brightened a bit. May go for another walk this afternoon. Then tomorrow we must tear ourselves away from the hacienda and catch a flight back to Bogota in order to move on to Mexico for February.
Walked up the many steep steps from the center of Salento to the town Mirador. At the
Mirador there's a nice multi-level lookout over the beautiful valley below, as well as a nice walking path among trees going down the hill. Unfortunately it's cloudy/hazy when we get up there, so don't get the beautiful views we remember from before. Back down the hill on a different sloping street into town center. As we have a little time to kill before our dinner reservation, Mr. Glover sits on a street bench and I cruise the shops on the main Salento shopping street. Really not much of interest there. Move on to the Cafe Bernabe Gourmet restaurant. We are welcomed by the chef himself and shown to small wooden table. We opt not to sit outside as it's pretty cool in Salento in the eves. Cozy rustic restaurant that seats only about 12. #1 on trip advisor in Salento at the moment. Sandra will knock him off the top soon. This is another husband and wife team, though here both are Colombians. They have one employee. Take our time ordering dinner and have a drink first. Menu is very small. Kitchen is open to small dining area so enjoy watching chef cook. We eat a delicious plate of sautéed garlic mushrooms. Then order. Food takes ages to arrive, though we're not particularly concerned. Everything obviously cooked to order and at peak there were maybe a dozen diners. We have simple vegetable salad with yoghurt like dressing, then I have beef tenderloin and Mr. G has pork medallions. Both seem to be in a similar coffee/passion fruit reduction that 's quite tasty. A nice enough way to while away a couple hours on our last eve. Cost twice as much as Sandra's though, unclear why. . . .
Finally on our last night in Salento, there is no nighttime loud music. Wake the next morning and get organized for departure. Christina at our B and B has nicely arranged transport for us to Otun Quimbaya reserve outside Pereira. At 11 we're picked up by the same speedy taxi driver who delivered us to Salento. He zooms us into Pereira to an arranged meeting point where we are to rendezvous with Jesus Maria and his small white truck. All that works well. Jesus piles the bags on one side of back seat, Mr. G.
Climbs in other side. I climb in front to converse with driver. He tells me a lot of things along the way, which are even more difficult to understand than usual because he has no teeth. Eventually we are on yet another rocky dirt uphill road. We come to the small town of Florida, the nearest town to the reserve. Jesus stops in front of what he ids as his house, his wife comes out and they exchange a few words. A grandchild or two hops in flat bed in back. The town and surrounding area seems to be about chicken raising and production, Lots of large chicken coops and perhaps a big processing plant. Jesus stops again and picks up a few more young people looking for rides farther up the road. He lets them off later before we arrive at the reserve.
After Florida, there is forest and a beautiful drive. We arrive at the reserve and are greeted by manager Jimmy. Our room isn't quite ready, so we have lunch in the smallish cafeteria like dining area, camp food: juice, rice, shredded
Lettuce and carrots, plantain and chicken. Then we're shown to our simple room with bath, double bed, small table and a couple chairs, and shelves for storing stuff.
We probably only needed a day here, but we have 3 nights and two days. After dinner in the cafeteria, there's. nothing to do but return to your simple room. Not even any internet. On day one we went out with a local guide at 7am (after quick coffee). The reserve has some 400 hectares of land. They've made 3 lovely trails for the public but guests are supposed to be accompanied by guide on the trails. Our guide Harvey is a Great guy, nice personality, knowledgeable about nature and birds. We trade Spanish and English lessons along the way as we walk down the road and beautiful trails with him. Learn a few more ,things about rainforest and flora of the area. We don't see many birds, though more than we'd have seen without Harvey. Red roughed fruit crows, quite impressive birds and new to us, are common around the lodge and trails.
We see a few beautiful trogons, a mot mot, and a few small birds. Return to lodge in time for a substantial breakfast of fruit, scrambled eggs, arepa, cheese, and good coffee. Mr.G wants a short rest, and Harvey says he'll just be hanging around till we go out again later. As he'd mentioned really wanting to work on His English, he and I sat for a couple hours and did intercombio. He was a great partner to have as he's interested in language and grammar, so we were able to easily trade info and questions about Spanish and English by comparing grammatical structures. Then the three of us had a bowl of soup and hit the trails again. The weather was mostly overcast and occasionally drizzly, so the beautiful forest was quite green and wet. Saw the ruins of the estate of the reserve's donors, an old pool, some foundAtions. Walked for probably five hours on day one total. After a dinner of shredded salad, soup, rope meat, rice and a beer, we retired to our room for some reading. We're easily asleep by 10 in the pitch dark and absolute silence.
On day two we had early coffee and set off on our own on the rocky, but flat, road that goes by the reserve. We saw barely a soul on it yesterday, but today (Sunday) there are lots of mountain bike riders out and a few motorcycles as well. The sun managed to peak through for awhile this am. Also coming up and down was the occasional chiva (colorful open local bus) filled mostly with people going to hike a mountain trail at the end of the road. A popular trip, but probably beyond our skill set. Saw a few of our fav green jays, lots of fruit crows, another beautiful trogon and a few small birds.
Shared dinner with another young gringo who has been teaching English in Medellin
and road his motorcycle up to the reserve for a little vacation.
Very early on our final day at Otun Quimbaya, Jimmy the nice manager offered to take us out on a short walk in hopes to show us two particular birds, the torrent duck and the multi-colored tanager. Again it was a rather damp and darkish morning. Didn't see the birds we were aiming for but saw another beautiful one, the golden winged tanager, one that was a "lifer" for Jimmy who was very exited about it.
On to Hacienda Bambusa. When we started our trip, we had not yet planned our final 4 or 5 days before needing to be back in Bogota for our flight to Mexico. We considered flying down to Colombia's Amazon area, Letiticia. But decided we'd seen similar territory on the Napo River in Ecuador. Then we talked about visiting the area east of Bogota, Los Llanos. But it seemed the most interesting areas of Los Llanos, way beyond the nearer town of Villavicencio, we're going to be rather difficult to get to and then around in and possibly not that safe. Hence we just decided to spend some more time in the coffee area. We contacted a nice hotel outside Manizales where we'd stayed previously but found it booked. Looking around for others, we found nice reviews and articles about an upscale place called Haienda Bambusa. Then I rather impulsively got stuck on going there. I traded some emails with them and arranged transport from the Quimbaya reserve to the hacienda, south of the city of Armenia.
We were collected by a nice 4 x 4 suv and an English speaking driver who had lived in NJ for 16 years. Had him stop at a fancy grocery store in Armenia on the way so we could buy some fruit and other snacks to sustain ourselves during day, as we had signed on for the hacienda's half board program: lodging, breakfast and dinner and no included activities at $250 a night, a big splurge for us. They also offer an all inclusive per person rate which includes 3 meals, drinks, and several local trips with guides and drivers at your disposal. Extraordinarily expensive. But what a beautiful place it is!
Turned off the highway outside of Armenia and drove on a dirt farm road for some distance through banana, orange, and cacao fields. And at last we come to the hacienda. We get a hearty welcome from manager Pablo, an energetic Argentinian
Who speaks fluent English. We enjoy talking to him about Argentina and especially about his home town of Salta which had been of favorite of ours when we visited Argentina. Another staff member appears with some delicious fresh juice as Pablo shows us around the hacienda and ultimately to our wonderful room. It's a huge corner room with a private wrap around balcony maybe 24 feet by 12 deep. Two nice chairs and small table made of local Guadua (bamboo). And of course a big hammock.
The balcony looks out on a nice pool surrounded by 4 enormous palms and other beautiful tropical plantings. Very modern bath with nice rain shower and even a walk in closet and seating area inside. Colorful abstract art by the hacienda owner. All very elegant and classy. Huge contrast to our simple digs of the last week or so. We feel we've died and gone to heaven.
The hacienda is on a 400 acre or so property owned by the Montoya family. Besides the hacienda for guests, there are several other homes on the property occupied by other family members and staff. It is a working farm that produces bananas, oranges, tangerines, and cacao. One of the second generation Montoyas is a well known race car driver, the other is an artist who has moved to Miami in the last few years.
We order a tasty chicken salad from the menu for lunch. A welcome change, with some nice greens and fruit and beautiful presentation. The dining area is on the opposite side of the building from the pool and our balcony. It looks out over more fields and mountains in the back. A beautiful view. Birds everywhere. We sit on our balcony and catch up on Internet etc. We're the only guests on our first two of four nights here. We understand that the hacienda, owned by artist Santiago Montoya, closed For a year as he decided to focus on his art, move to Miami, etc. and searched for appropriate management staff for the hacienda. They reopened in November of 14. They were busy through the holidays and early January and will take 4 days off if they can ever get rid of us. We sleep well in the grand big bed, enjoy coffee on the balcony in the ams and breakfast later on the back veranda. Wonderful fruit here of course. On two of our three afternoons we take long walks down different roads. Really enjoy seeing all the unfamiliar vegetation as well as a wide variety of birds.
We experiment with the hacienda's mountain bikes briefly. Road bike riders at home, we're not feeling the love for the mountain bikes. Neither of our bikes is a good fit and riding the bike without accident on bumpy road requires complete attention. We decide we'd rather be able to look around, so return the bikes to the hacienda after about a half hour and continue walking. See lots of beautiful blue headed parrots and a unique flycatcher with a long forked tail. In the eves enjoy a drink on the porch and then go down to dinner on the veranda. Manager Pablo always checks in with us to see what we've been up to or might need. Christian the young cook cooks us some nice meals, robalo (sea bass) one eve, pork another, famous Colombian soup Ajiaco
Another. Always comes out later to discuss the meal with us (he's also pretty fluent in English).
On our third eve 5 other guests arrived (we almost hated to share) and so on that eve dinner included live music - two older men who were talented guitar players. Day 2 had been mostly sunny and hot, so we actually got in the pool. Though I had feared it would be too cold, it was actually quite pleasant. Just as we finished swimming, the sky clouded over and we eventually had a fairly long rain with thunder and lightning- also enjoyable from our big porch.
Morning #3 we got up at 6:15 to meet a local biologist guide for a local walk. We walked across the property and down a steep slope through Guadua forest to the Quindio River. Unfortunately it was cloudy/misty, so we didn't really see too much,
Just got damp. A man panning for gold by the edge of the river.
Here we are now back on our porch catching up with a few things. Weather has brightened a bit. May go for another walk this afternoon. Then tomorrow we must tear ourselves away from the hacienda and catch a flight back to Bogota in order to move on to Mexico for February.
Jan 31st, 2015, 03:31 PM
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Hacienda manager drove us to the Armenia airport for quick flight to Bogota, where we were then delivered by taxi back to our nice little Hotel Morrison 114. Had another dinner down the street at the hip and happening Shamua restaurant. It was a rocking Friday night happy hour there! So sat at the bar which was oddly the quietest spot.
Next day, after a lazy breakfast and am, we jumped in a cab and went down to revisit the fabulous gold museum. Spent a couple hours there and also had a coffee and pastry in the museum cafe. Walked a few blocks over to the Plaza Bolivar and popped into the old cathedral. Weather started looking really threatening, so we grabbed a cab for home. Long ride down there from our Santa Barbara neighborhood. Another quieter dinner at Shamua that night. Next am before leaving for airport we strolled out to see Bogota's ciclovia, 72 miles of closed roads on Sunday 7 to 2. Beautiful day for it. So many pele out on bikes and walking. Wonderful!
We had an uneventful on time flight from Bogota to Mexico City on the 25th. Took a speeding taxi from airport to our old standby hotel in zocalo/Centro historico of MEX City - a very popular tourist hotel just behind the old cathedral - called Hotel Catedral. We immediately went up to their small rooftop and had a drink. The rooftop looks directly out on the cathedral dome.
Next am we went out walking a bit looking for the Telcel store to get a Mexican SIM card for the phone. Part of the adventure of course was locating it, asking 6 different people and then trying to make sense of their directions. But we did find it eventually and got a nice walk around as city was waking up..... Then around noon we took a taxi back to the airport and flew to the Oaxacan beach town of Huatulco. Flew on Interjet, really nice cheap Mexican airline, new planes with cushy seats and leg room, free booze, etc.
Our first thatched roof airport! Hot and sunny in Huatulco. Took another speeding taxi down a two lane beach road for nearly an hour. Fortunately not much traffic on the road. Driver said he'd been driving since age 11. He had spent some time living in US, in fact IN Woodbridge and Fairfax. A funny guy. Wanted to be reminded of the English for "vomit/throw up" for future reference with English speaking passengers - as in "if you need to, get out of my car." Could see how this could be useful phrase as he tears down the road and around all the curves.
After a long ride on the mostly empty road we passed through the small town of Mazunte and then the even tinier village of San Augustanillo. Just beyond that town was the turnoff for Rancho Cerro Largo. The driver was quite uncertain that we'd reached the right place as the entrance is certainly inauspicious and there didn't really seem to be anyone around. finally we found a guest who then called to someone in the kitchen. Congenial young Mexican man came out, checked us in, and took us down down down stone steps to our cabana. The Rancho is a series of thatched roofed stucco cabins down built into a hillside over a beautiful beach, sited in such a way that each is completely private and has a spectacular 180 degree view of the beach and ocean, with a few rocky outcroppings. Comfortable small cabin with bed, fan, two big screened windows and small stone patio in front with hammock and two chairs. what a view!
A few steps away was our private bath, a smaller thatched roofed structure that contained the composting toilet on one side and a stucco basin and large covered pail of water (the "shower")
On the other. Believe me when I say it was a small price to pay for the fabulous location. . . .
Unfortunately we didn't have the chance to meet the beloved owner Mario Correa as he'd gone off for several days to visit relatives in Sonora. Mario built the place about 20 years ago. He's a community leader and a very well respected yoga teacher. The Rancho is the kind of place that has a returning family of visitors, many of whom go there for yoga, massage, and to experience various forms of alternate healing available around the these beach towns. Price of lodging, for us about $80, includes breakfast and dinner, all very delicious vegetarian fare. Carrot croquettes anyone? Very tasty. We really meant to post to one of the daily 8am yoga classes, but never made it. Instead we got our exercise going up and down the stone steps from our cabin to the outdoor dining area up the hillside. Charming rustic communal area up there. Dinner was a communal affair at 7pm with a revolving group of guests from US, Quebec, Germany while we were there. All nice interesting very well travelled people. Amazingly one of theM from Minneapolis turns out to be mom of our daughter Meredith's very good high school friend, who formerly lived in DC!
Down more stone steps from our cabana was a beautiful empty beach. Walking 10 minutes and around a few rocks put you in the charming small village of San Augustanillo, just a collection of several casual beach side outdoor restaurants and a handful of small single or double story hotels. Also a single boat concession.
We walked the beach, sat at one restaurant space and had guacamole, got in the water (carefully as the current is rough here). Sat on our patio and enjoyed the view from above of course.... A lot. On our last day we got up early, saw the sunrise! And walked down the beach for a 7:30 boat ride. We set off in an open outboard big motored boat with 3 locals and two young Swiss tourists. Saw lots of sea turtles, a few Dolphins, and a whale breach! Exciting boat ride too as we'd tear across the waves when one of the other boats pups spot a whale. Not to mention the beach landing, where the driver, after instructing us to hold on tightly, guns the motor navigates a narrow channel between rock outcroppings and lands the boat right on the beach. A little jar, but actually very done! as well as looking for whales the boatmen are fishing. Fun to see one of th guys work to land a beautiful 35-40 lb dorado (indeed a beautiful gold color) as well as a smaller silvery Bonita fish. They took the fish then to their friends seaside restaurant. An hour or so later we all sat down to a delicious lunch - a pile of wonderful ceviche, grilled dorado with to ate/chipotle sauce, grilled Bonita with garlic, and a pile of rice and tortillas. Beers of course.
Spanish conversation. Great experience.
Stayed 4 nights at the Rancho. Difficult to leave. It was a little paradise there for sure....
Moved on to a a real hotel in town at Santa Cruz beach in Huatulco. Tomorrow we take a van over the mountains (9000 feet) and town to Oaxaca city. Supposed to be a beautiful SIX hour drive, hopefully not nauseating......
Next day, after a lazy breakfast and am, we jumped in a cab and went down to revisit the fabulous gold museum. Spent a couple hours there and also had a coffee and pastry in the museum cafe. Walked a few blocks over to the Plaza Bolivar and popped into the old cathedral. Weather started looking really threatening, so we grabbed a cab for home. Long ride down there from our Santa Barbara neighborhood. Another quieter dinner at Shamua that night. Next am before leaving for airport we strolled out to see Bogota's ciclovia, 72 miles of closed roads on Sunday 7 to 2. Beautiful day for it. So many pele out on bikes and walking. Wonderful!
We had an uneventful on time flight from Bogota to Mexico City on the 25th. Took a speeding taxi from airport to our old standby hotel in zocalo/Centro historico of MEX City - a very popular tourist hotel just behind the old cathedral - called Hotel Catedral. We immediately went up to their small rooftop and had a drink. The rooftop looks directly out on the cathedral dome.
Next am we went out walking a bit looking for the Telcel store to get a Mexican SIM card for the phone. Part of the adventure of course was locating it, asking 6 different people and then trying to make sense of their directions. But we did find it eventually and got a nice walk around as city was waking up..... Then around noon we took a taxi back to the airport and flew to the Oaxacan beach town of Huatulco. Flew on Interjet, really nice cheap Mexican airline, new planes with cushy seats and leg room, free booze, etc.
Our first thatched roof airport! Hot and sunny in Huatulco. Took another speeding taxi down a two lane beach road for nearly an hour. Fortunately not much traffic on the road. Driver said he'd been driving since age 11. He had spent some time living in US, in fact IN Woodbridge and Fairfax. A funny guy. Wanted to be reminded of the English for "vomit/throw up" for future reference with English speaking passengers - as in "if you need to, get out of my car." Could see how this could be useful phrase as he tears down the road and around all the curves.
After a long ride on the mostly empty road we passed through the small town of Mazunte and then the even tinier village of San Augustanillo. Just beyond that town was the turnoff for Rancho Cerro Largo. The driver was quite uncertain that we'd reached the right place as the entrance is certainly inauspicious and there didn't really seem to be anyone around. finally we found a guest who then called to someone in the kitchen. Congenial young Mexican man came out, checked us in, and took us down down down stone steps to our cabana. The Rancho is a series of thatched roofed stucco cabins down built into a hillside over a beautiful beach, sited in such a way that each is completely private and has a spectacular 180 degree view of the beach and ocean, with a few rocky outcroppings. Comfortable small cabin with bed, fan, two big screened windows and small stone patio in front with hammock and two chairs. what a view!
A few steps away was our private bath, a smaller thatched roofed structure that contained the composting toilet on one side and a stucco basin and large covered pail of water (the "shower")
On the other. Believe me when I say it was a small price to pay for the fabulous location. . . .
Unfortunately we didn't have the chance to meet the beloved owner Mario Correa as he'd gone off for several days to visit relatives in Sonora. Mario built the place about 20 years ago. He's a community leader and a very well respected yoga teacher. The Rancho is the kind of place that has a returning family of visitors, many of whom go there for yoga, massage, and to experience various forms of alternate healing available around the these beach towns. Price of lodging, for us about $80, includes breakfast and dinner, all very delicious vegetarian fare. Carrot croquettes anyone? Very tasty. We really meant to post to one of the daily 8am yoga classes, but never made it. Instead we got our exercise going up and down the stone steps from our cabin to the outdoor dining area up the hillside. Charming rustic communal area up there. Dinner was a communal affair at 7pm with a revolving group of guests from US, Quebec, Germany while we were there. All nice interesting very well travelled people. Amazingly one of theM from Minneapolis turns out to be mom of our daughter Meredith's very good high school friend, who formerly lived in DC!
Down more stone steps from our cabana was a beautiful empty beach. Walking 10 minutes and around a few rocks put you in the charming small village of San Augustanillo, just a collection of several casual beach side outdoor restaurants and a handful of small single or double story hotels. Also a single boat concession.
We walked the beach, sat at one restaurant space and had guacamole, got in the water (carefully as the current is rough here). Sat on our patio and enjoyed the view from above of course.... A lot. On our last day we got up early, saw the sunrise! And walked down the beach for a 7:30 boat ride. We set off in an open outboard big motored boat with 3 locals and two young Swiss tourists. Saw lots of sea turtles, a few Dolphins, and a whale breach! Exciting boat ride too as we'd tear across the waves when one of the other boats pups spot a whale. Not to mention the beach landing, where the driver, after instructing us to hold on tightly, guns the motor navigates a narrow channel between rock outcroppings and lands the boat right on the beach. A little jar, but actually very done! as well as looking for whales the boatmen are fishing. Fun to see one of th guys work to land a beautiful 35-40 lb dorado (indeed a beautiful gold color) as well as a smaller silvery Bonita fish. They took the fish then to their friends seaside restaurant. An hour or so later we all sat down to a delicious lunch - a pile of wonderful ceviche, grilled dorado with to ate/chipotle sauce, grilled Bonita with garlic, and a pile of rice and tortillas. Beers of course.
Spanish conversation. Great experience.
Stayed 4 nights at the Rancho. Difficult to leave. It was a little paradise there for sure....
Moved on to a a real hotel in town at Santa Cruz beach in Huatulco. Tomorrow we take a van over the mountains (9000 feet) and town to Oaxaca city. Supposed to be a beautiful SIX hour drive, hopefully not nauseating......
