It has been a while that my board diary was silent..

but in these past 10 days I have been travelling all over the place : sometimes I think I am still 20 🙂

As soon as I have reached Medellin 10 days ago, meeting Stefania (you must remember her..right?) we decided straight away to make a quick trip to “Zona Cafetera” ( an area famous for coffee plantation): so we packed few trekking clothes and got on a bus to Armenia, the capital of Quindio.

Armenia: such a short stay!
I have to admit, we did not appreciate this city and we did not feel well safe.. it was 1800 when we reached and the city felt wrong!
On top, all the hoteliers were highly recommending us to get our dinner as soon as possible and not really going out in the evening..

Well, so we did: we went out locally for a quick dinner and back to our hotel, ready for a nice sleep.

The morning after, we still felt the need to visit the city and possibly mind up on our feeling: the day was not much sunny but we made our way to “Parque de Los Fundadores”
this is an 8 hectares a lovely park right in the middle of the city: we’ve encountered many different kinds of birds and also few gooses and ducks. A nice hike through a different tropical vegetation and a beautiful lake with a patio where locals people perform with art shows.

It was a nice walk and then on our way back to the hotel we could also stroll to the main road “Calle 21” and reach the “Catedral la Inmaculada Concepcion” in Boliva Square where we enjoyed some nice coffee and pastry in one “panaderia” (local bakery). By the Cathedral, we could also admire a nice sculpture called Monumento al Esfuerzo: a bronze statue, in commemoration of the foundation of the city and the Antiochian colonization.

Last but not least, we were ready to visit the Museum of Gold, but unfortunately, we found out that Museums are closed on Mondays and Tuesday, and guess what… we were there on a Mondays.. hopefully, I can make it up visiting the one in Bogota, the biggest in Colombia.

So, our experience in Armenia was closed to an end.. and we walked to the bus terminal ( 20 min, walking distance from Calle 2) to catch our bus to Salento ( coffee area) : but how we couldn’t stop before to get a pastry in one Panaderia???

Here my fav Panaderia so far.. for its big variety of food: so we finally find the gem of Armenia.. the Panaderia by the Bus terminal. I highly recommend it lol

After our bellies were full we could get on the bus to Salento, 45 min drive worth 4200 COP: you can get a bus every 15 minutes.

We spent 3 days in Salento and I will fully write soon an article about the whole experience of the Zona Cafetera and Cocora Valley, the valley with the wax palm trees

Being already few hours down from Medellin.. we were looking at our maps thinking “uhm.. Cali does not seem that far..only 3-4 hours away. So off we go! We were back on the bus to Armenia, as no direct bus from Salento to Cali, who dropped us at the bus Terminal were we could catch in 10 min. a bus to Cali, that cost us 20000 COP.

Cali, was 4 days stop for me.. unexpected.. that unexpected that I had to buy some clothes.. due to the fact I left my luggage in Medellin.. and how I could go dancing salsa with my trekking clothes on?? Gross..

I wish I could remain longer in Cali, as the Salsa Calena really caught my attention.. you should have seen my move.shame I never got my camera with me, lol

I am now back to Medellin, to finally get focus on the blog and write few nice article for you in the next few days, I hope you will all enjoy!

Thanks for reading
Mari