Colombia's best known legal export is coffee & la zona cafetera is the most important coffee growing area in the country. With the high mountains of the cordillera central a short distance away, the climate is ideal & very comfortable for people too.From Bogota we headed to Armenia in the coffee growing region. We had accommodation booked but didn´t realise that it was out in the middle of nowhere!! Even the taxi drivers didn´t know where it was. We were the only ones staying there....not surprisingly really. However Gloria, the lady of the house, offered exceptional hospitality. She went out of her way to mother us & ensure we had everything we needed. This was our second experience of genuine Colombian hospitality as there had been a man on the bus from Bogota who was also incredibly friendly & made a real effort to communicate.
Next day it was off to the Parque del Cafe, a theme park dedicated to the precious coffee bean. It´s the closest thing to Disney we´ve encountered on our travels....& we enjoyed it immensely. There are chair lifts, roller-coasters, water-based bumper cars, nature walks & various shows to keep you entertained. The "Cafe show" was an all singing all dancing extravaganza and very good fun. The "Orchid Show" was rubbish, but hey, you can´t win them all. I got some classic video footage of Claire on the roller coaster. I have now seen what real fear looks Ike. I don´t think she´ll be taking any more roller coaster rides!! But all in all we had a very enjoyable day out and headed back to our house in the stix to be pampered by Gloria.
The following morning we enjoyed picking mandarins, with Gloria, from her neighbours garden tree. You don´t get much fresher than that! The neighbours also picked some lovely tropical flowers as a gift for Claire. Gloria fed us a good "campesino" breakfast: arepa (a baked cornmeal cake of traditional Colombian cuisine), huevos revueltos (scrambled eggs), jamon (ham), queso (cheese), jugo de fruta (fruit juice), pina(pineapple)... mmmm.
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