Zona Cafetera, Colombia.

I headed south to the coffee region to stay at a coffee farm / hacienda. It's a beautiful place with magnificent vistas. They have this great infinity pool. See the pictures below. It poured rain the first day so I did my coffee tasting and basket weaving and deferred the plantation tour for another day. Stop. Basket weaving? What? Yes. Basket weaving. After all my South American adventures, it finally came down to this...

But there is a point. Bamboo is indigenous here (or endemic is the right word I think) and it is a big part of the coffee culture. It was used to build haciendas and to weave baskets to collect the coffee beans. They are all still hand picked even today, in Colombia. 

Coffee tasting, called "cupping":

Pictures of the hacienda: 

And the magnificent pool...

I stayed three nights. Saturday night was full with Colombian tourists but on Sunday and Monday nights it was just me. I was quite happy as I was ploughing through a gripping John Grisham novel. I had just finished Gabrial García Márquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude only because he was a Colombian writer (so I was happy to be reading a thriller). Two nights of solitude was quite enough for me!  I'm looking forward to Medellín!  

On the second day I went to the Parque Nacional del Café where I got so much history and culture. I loved it. There were museums, interpretive centers, botanical gardens, and shows. Some photos below, mainly of the views and garden. 

On the third day I went to Cocora Valley, best known for its Wax Palm Trees, Colombia's national tree and the largest species of palm tree in the world. I had a wonderful hike. It's a beautiful place. 

I planted my own Palm Tree with my very own Juan Valdés! 

And we spotted a Great Egret and caught a few lovely shots...

And I rounded off the day with a visit to the oldest town in the region; Salento. It was very touristy minus the tourists. Colombian holidays begin in a few weeks. So it was quiet. Lovely colors. Too many souvenir shops. 

This morning (last day) I finish up the tour of the plantation. It's very interesting and I'm the only one. It was nicer that way as opposed to a hoard of tourists. The pickers make about $5 a day (USD). That's just so astoundingly low. They work 6 days a week. Unbelievable. In any case, here are some photos. 

Guatavita and Zipaquira

I booked a day tour to see Guatavita Lagoon and the Salt Cathedral at Zipaquira. I was picked up at reception by Marina, my tour guide. When I saw the "car", I quickly realized that it was going to be just me, Marina and the driver (Daniel) for the day. Nine hours! My instant reaction was that I was going to run out of things to say at about hour two, and a mild panick took me over. Where were all the "other" people? And why wasn't there a "bus", where I could read my book quietly until we arrived at our destinations? So I convinced myself that I was SO lucky to have a private guide and driver for the day (in other words, shut up and get on with it!). Well, they were lovely and we had a brilliant day. At least I did. Here they are at lunch.

Lake Guatavita was one of the sacred lakes of the indigenous people (the Muisca), and a ritual conducted there is the basis for the legend of El Dorado", "the golden one". The legend says the lake is where the Muisca celebrated a ritual in which the Chieftan (named "El Dorado" by the Conquistadores) was covered in gold dust, then venturing out into the water on a ceremonial raft made of rushes, he dived into the waters, washing off the gold. Afterward, trinkets, jewelry, and other precious offerings were thrown into the waters by worshipers. Of course the Spanish went mad looking for the gold and even tried to drain the lake by cutting a hole at the edge. The Muisca had wonderful wisdom and the real gold here is self knowledge and an open heart. There is a tradition there that you make a heartfelt offering of a beautiful thought and a warm sentiment of gratitude to Guavita: "Mother of Life...".  I did Marina's version: To meditate on three of my happiest moments and "throw" them in the lake. This offering will help restore more happiness to the world.  It was a beautiful meditation. 

Below are pictures of the mythical raft (I took the photo in the Gold Museum), the lagoon and surrounding landscape. Beautiful. A very special place. 

GUATAVITA TOWN

This whole town was rebuilt in the mid 1960's on higher ground because the authorities needed to build a reservoir to service Bogotá. Everyone was relocated and the old down was flooded. It must have been a big social undertaking. Here are some pictures of the new town. 

ZIPAQUIRA 

A beautiful colonial town.  It's quite common here for houses in towns to be painted all the same color(s).  The mayor of Zipaquira recently decreed that the "new" town colors would be red and blue. You can see them here in the photos. The "old" colors are green and many buildings have not yet been re-painted. You can see this on the church doors. 

Nearby, there is a Salt Cathedral built 200 meters underground in a salt mine.  It began when miners carved a sanctuary, as a place for their daily prayers asking for protection to the saints before starting to work. A church was built in the 1950's in the mine but was later decommissioned as it was unstable due to the dynamite. Later in the 1990's, the present cathedral was built. It's bizarre and spectacular at the same time.  There are 14 stations of the cross in small chapels, a dome, three naves and a sacristy. It's massive. 

Bogotá - Day 2

I asked Milena (the lady who works here at the guest house) if it was true that tourists shouldn't hail taxis here. She said "es complicado" and tried to explain why I shouldn't do this and insisted on calling a taxi for me.  I wasn't quite sure what the danger would be: kidnapping, mugging, or just being ripped off on the fare. When the taxi came, she said I needed a "clave" (password) and told me to tell the taxi driver. I told him. He punched it into his device. And off we went. I later learned that the password is the last two digits of your phone number. It's a security measure. 

I went to the Gold Museum in the historic district. It's an amazing place and brings to life Latin American culture and history through the story of gold and other metals. 

Following that, I went to the local tourist office in Plaza de Bolivar and found out there was a walking tour. So off I went. We were accompanied by two young guys from the Army. Here we go again, I thought! More security. How lucky. How awful. As it turns out, they were on their 1-year mandatory army service but also in training to be tour guides. The army was lending them out for training. Wow! I thought this was better than the alternative: that it was so unsafe that we needed an army escort. 

Back to the taxi's.  Even the tourist office and my new army friend strongly advised me not to hail a cab (there was no official taxi rank) so they tried calling for one. They were all booked as it was rush hour. So my new friend stepped out and got one for me instantly.  Oh my....having friends in powerful places! Here we are below :) 

(I wonder how all the other tourists managed?)

I'm staying in tonight. What else? Milena is baking fresh empanadas downstairs and invited me down to enjoy. All is well that ends well! 

Bogotá - First Impressions

Police are everywhere. I feel a strong sense of fear and relief at the same time.  These aren't great feelings to be having on day 1.  They say even the police do shakedowns on tourists. Sniffer dogs are everywhere. And not for narcotics. The god damn dog jackets say "explosivio".  My hotel looked lovely (for a budget hotel) on the internet.  But I'm the only one staying here. I wonder why? To get in, you have to ring the buzzer, which is inside an iron grill. Have people ran away with the buzzer before? They don't give you a front door key. Good job I'm staying in tonight. The manager is very nice. I needed to get money from an ATM this morning and I asked her where to go. She told me I could come downtown with her or try one of the three banks on the avenue around the corner. But it was really up to me. She said I should go and see for myself if I felt safe enough there. I had read never to withdraw from an ATM on the street. These were on the street. I did it anyway. Never have I felt more afraid using an ATM. Is this all a huge exaggeration and an abundance of caution for the tourists? I don't know. But it feels scary. It makes me want to check into a luxury hotel with a gym and a spa! 

On the good side, the weather is lovely and I checked out two Spanish schools today. The staff were very friendly at both places.  I will give the city a chance. There is lots to do here.  To understand the sheer size of the city, consider that Mexico City and New York City are the only North American cities larger than Bogotá (source: wiki travel).  It has almost nine million inhabitants - a minor fact that I overlooked before coming here.  

If all else fails, I will study Spanish for the week and check myself into a very nice hotel! 

Pontoon, Ireland

Just posting a picture I took this morning at around 7.00 am as I was leaving for the airport. This was taken at the back of our family home. The dawn chorus had just about finished. The fish were jumping. It's a beautiful setting. A slice of heaven. 

This one was taken the evening before.

And this one the evening before that...

Vienna

May 8-11

Vienna is an amazing city. It's one historic building or palace after another. The city is beautiful. The music is amazing....and I'm not talking about Conchita Wurst, who incidentally won the Eurovision Song Contest the Saturday night we were there (they went crazy in the pubs that night!!). 

Blue Danube

Schönbrunn Palace / the Hapsburg's summer house before they were exiled in 1918

My mother and Aunty Anna. 

Strauss & Mozart concert at the Kursalon

Prague, Czech Republic

I took a little diversion from my South America trip to go to Prague to see an André Rieu concert. Well, the concert was just an excuse to go on a trip with my mother, sister and aunt. It was a lovely few days. The concert was great too!!

May 5-8