Last week at the Blacksheep in Medellin was spent with a pretty dull but rewarding routine of:
a) waking up
b) walking to the supermarket for supplies for the day and dosing up on cafe tinto to mentally get me through it.
c) studying for 2 hours.
d) 2-3 hours of gruelling 1 on 1 Spanish lessons (great teacher though)
e) food.
f) homework.
g) a stroll around El Poblado district and bed.
An apt title!
After 4 days of this routine with a minimal amount of social interraction in order to keep my mind on my studies, I ended up cracking and checking out the town with a group from the hostel on Thursday night, it was great to randomly bump in to a few of the guys from the boat trip though! My conscience ended up getting the better of me however, and I ended up back at the hostel when everyone else was moving on to a club, I knew studying with a sore head was never going to happen. I was thankful then for Juan's invite to his flat for dinner and a night on the town on the Friday night to say goodbye. After a great meal of fish, salad and potatoes, Juan and I headed to Calle 33, a proper local party area where we drank shots called Cocaine and Heroin (worrying, but only alcohol I promise). From there Juan wanted me see some proper underground Salsa spots which were incredibly dingy and basic rooms with damn sexy dancing. Great fun and great venues the likes of which should be exported to London immediately.
Salut!
Juan, one bad ass mover!
On Saturday afternoon I said my goodbyes and headed South for the Zona Cafeteria, the main coffee growing region of Colombia. After arriving at 10pm, 3 hours later than expected, I got to the small town of Salento, where I checked into a cozy coffee finca/hostel called 'The Plantation House' for a couple of days. It has been amazing spending the last few days wandering around coffee plantations, learning about it's production etc. in a beautiful, almost wild-west style town set in the massive, rolling green hills. I've been eating the locally caught trout with crispy fried patacones, both of which are abundent in the area, and drinking copious amounts of incredibly good coffee. Evenings have been spent round the fire mindlessly chatting with like-minded travellers. It's been an incredibly relaxing few days.
The local trout.
A smooth 100% Arabica Borbon, beans picked 400 yards away
Rolling green hills for miles.
Earlier today I checked in to a different hostel for a change of scenery called 'La Serrana', a working farm which took me a good half hour walk to get to out of Salento. I've been told that many guests get up to help milk the cows at 4.30am, I can't imagine I'll be one of them but I'll give it a try. The view from here is to die for, I'll update with more pictures soon. I'm planning an early trip to Popayan tomorrow as part of the last few days in Colombia. Looking forward to adventures in Ecuador with Mr. David Corns, and god help me, my 30th Birthday on Sunday!
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