A favourite weekend retreat for Medellin’s wealthy, Guatape makes an easy day trip from the city or is a beautiful place to spend a couple of days. A 90 minute bus ride takes you from the heart of bustling Medellin to tranquil Antoquian countryside. The year round climate is mild and sunny adding to the area’s laid back holiday feel. Mid-week the town remains relaxed and sleepy but at the weekends Colombians come to let their hair down so it’s possible to enjoy the best of both worlds.
Archive | March, 2014
Urban revival – Bogota & Medellin
16 Mar
Mentioning that you plan to spend some time in the big Colombian cities of Bogota and Medellin usually causes a sharp intake of breath from all of those who have heard about their infamous reputations. For years, drug cartels, civil war and violent crime grabbed the headlines and now linger in the memory banks. But times are changing. Whilst we weren’t looking, these cities were evolving economically, socially and culturally. Much needed investment was being rapidly pumped into these hubs and the proud population was determined to make a difference. Today, Bogota and Medellin remain distinctly different in character – Bogota the historical and cultural heartbeat of Colombia, whilst Medellin is a modern hub of industry and commerce. One thing they do have in common is these über-cool metropolises are now on the up and crying out for exploration.
But which one is most worthy of your attention?
Valle de Cocora – the sky’s the limit!
8 Mar
They say that opposites attract but we would never have expected to find these two contrasting landscapes in one place. It really was an incredible sight to see tall palm trees shooting straight up into the sky, rising like giants above a canopy of cloud forest and we couldn’t take our eyes off it for one minute. The 60 meter Quindio Wax Palm is the tallest in the world and we felt dwarfed as we craned our necks to see the tops. But we weren’t at the beach or even on the hot savanna plains where you may expect to find palm trees. We were surrounded by a mountainous region of cloud forest with eery swirling mist making the Valle de Cocora feel like a very alluring place.
Wake up and smell the coffee – Colombia’s Zona Cafetera
3 Mar
Growing truly exceptional coffee is one of the things Colombians do best. In fact their coffee is considered to be amongst the greatest in the world so we fully expected to be left wide-eyed and shaky with the amount we intended to drink in the country’s renowned bean growing region, aptly named Zona Cafetera.
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Torres del Paine – the ‘W’ trek
Visitors from all walks of life converge on the small hamlet of Puerto Natales to visit Chile’s and perhaps the Continent’s number one national park – Torres del Paine. Located in the Southern Patagonian ice fields at the end of the Andes, the park offers diverse wildlife and incredible mountain scenery, glaciers, lakes, rivers and […]
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