Eje Cafetero: Manizales, Nevado del Ruiz y Termales

This past weekend I had the chance to travel outside of Antioquia (the region where Medellín is located) to Caldas, another one of Colombia's many regions (There are 32 in total). I was able to visit the city of Manizales, a volcano called Nevado del Ruiz as well as the area of Termales. These places are all located in Eje Cafetero, which is the coffee growing region of Colombia. I unfortunately didn´t have the chance to visit a coffee plantation, but Im hoping to visit one in the near future.

Manizales is the capital city of Caldas, which is one of the smallest regions in Colombia. It is about 200 km from Medellín but takes a solid 4 hours to get there because of the winding roads through the Andean mountains. The drive there and back was beautiful. The views are stunning, being in the high altitudes of the mountains as well as the greenery of all the plants, trees and flowers, made the drive well worth it. After the long 4 hour drive, we found our hotel, unloaded our bags and then set out to get some dinner and drinks in the bar district of Manizales. available in Colombia).

The next day we left our hotel for Nevado del Ruiz at 6am with a tourgroup. Everyone, including myself, had warm sweaters on, jackets, hats and mittens. Never did I ever think I would need to bring mittens to Colombia, so I just bought some in Manizales before we left. Nevado del Ruiz is a volcano located close to Manizales, and has an altitude of 5,321 meters. We took a bus up the volcano, which was a little sketchy considering the roads are very narrow, and incredibly curvy. We made several stops while travelling up the mountain, to see different areas of the volcano, and take pictures. One of the first stops was at a lake, where we were served tea to warm up a bit, as the temperature was starting to drop the more we climbed up the mountain. The type of tea that I was given was made from Coca leaves. Yes the same type of leaves that cocaine is made of. Coca leaves have many different uses and making tea of out it, is one of them. I was fascinated by the fact I was drinking tea from Coca leaves, as I didnt know that one could do this. So naturally when I got home I googled Coca tea:
"Coca tea consumption is common in many South American countries. Many indigenous tribes of the Andes mountain range also use the tea for medicinal and religious purposes. The consumption of Coca tea, as well as chewing the leaves, increases the absorption of oxygen in blood, which helps combat altitude sickness, and has a marked digestive and carminative action. Coca Flour (powdered coca leaves) can be brewed in a coffee machine for a stronger and concentrated tea."

Once we reached one of the main areas of snow on our tour, the bus stopped and we had some time to play in the snow. Now for me, seeing snow on a mountain isn´t really impressive, since Ive lived with snow in my life for the past 22 years. But having the chance to be with people who have never seen or experienced snow before in their lives was really special. I definitely recommend all Canadians to be with people who have never seen snow before, it´s fascinating and makes you feel like a kid again. The last and final top was near the top of the volcano. We couldn´t go all the way to the top because there was too much snow, and the conditions weren´t favorable. But the views were still amazing. 5,000 meters up, I was standing on a volcano. NBD (no big deal).

After bearing the "cold"... it was only around 0 degrees... however for Colombians that is FREEZING, for your average Canadian, just youre typical winter day in Canada, we headed to the hot springs in Termales, which is located at the bottom of the volcano. There were three pools, each with a hotter temperature of water. Being able to relax in hot natural water was great, especially after being in the cold and snow. While sitting in the hot springs I had an amazing view around me, beautiful flowers, green landscape, and rolling mountains for miles. Definitely the perfect way to end the day.


The next day before leaving Manizales, I went to one of the main plazas of the city, which is where the Cathedral stands. It was HUGE, and apparently is one of the largest in Latin America. Manizales also has many beautiful colonial style buildings which shows the influence from the settlers from Spain.


On the way back to Medellín, we stopped at a pool resort type of place, to lounge by a pool, soak up sun and drink some beers. It was a beautiful, but very hot day, probably close to 30 degrees. That day, Monday, was a holiday in Colombia. There are MANY holidays, called Festivos, which celebrate different saints. This means I get several days off throughout the year, and can enjoy long weekends. This was my first Festivo, and a good one at that since I was relaxing in the sun, sipping a beer. Life is pretty good here.

On the way home, which was another beautiful 4 hour drive, there are many people who try to sell you food, drinks and fruit on the side of the road. At one point we stopped and bought a bag of Madroños, which is a type of exotic fruit. Madroños look like bumpy lemons, where you squeeze them, so the outer flesh breaks, and there is a seed inside that is covered in white sour pulp which is the part you eat. They were delicious, and an entire bag of them (about 8-10 modroños) only costs $1.000 pesos, or 50 cents. It was definitely the perfect snack for the long journey back to Medellín.