A Year Of Travel, 2014 part 1

Pyramid type mt, in back is from the Juan Valdez logo

2014 was a very interesting year.  Not only did we sell our house and have to find a new place to live, but it was a year of very rewarding travel.  We started out the year on January 1 (which was also my birthday) landing in Medellin, Colombia.  Now I know there are a lot of concerns about the drug cartels, violence, and intimidation, regarding Colombia, and perhaps even more about Medellin.  It is located in the northern portion of Colombia and I have seen videos about the fear, killings, and cartel brutality inflicted on the Colombian people as a result of drug lords trying to get their share of the money, power, and action in those areas.  Most of those videos were filmed in the 1980s and don't reflect today.

I have seen people (in those videos) who were on buses stopped, pulled off, and shot for no apparent reason, except to make a statement about who reigned supreme in the domination of a geographical area.  When we first contemplated taking the grand coffee farm tour we were offered at a highly reasonable price, we were a little skeptical.  We were assured that that problem either no longer existed or was at a minimum.  We bit the bullet and flew from Sacramento to Medellin, over Houston.  The view through the airplane windows was filled with the lush greenery on can only see in truly tropical areas.  Even landing in the high elevation of the Andies mega-city, the mixture of vegetation and granite mountains presented a picturesque panorama of colors and scenery.

Hotel Diez included a nice buffet breakfast

The drive into the city was about 20 minutes.  We were picked up by a local Colombian, Freddie.  He worked for Cima Farns, the coffee producing company that was hosting us for our week in Medellin.  He held up a cardboard sign that displayed our hand written names.  To our surprise he could only speak a few words of English.  That was quickly remedied by the use of a translating app on his i-phone.  He was genuinely pleasant and generously tried to convey as much information as he could before we arrived at the Hotel Diez, which was, coincidentally, where the Cima Coffee Farms had their main office

Don Eduardo Zapata tying coffee bag on a Mule

Cima was a very honorable and upstanding company to deal with.  Their whole purpose for offering the tour package was to try to interest us in 1/2 acre farm plots they were selling for growing coffee.  The coffee farms are managed by a sister company, Tierra Cafeterra, which grows high grade specialty coffees that are sold world wide.  While we were there, we were treated to excursions to acquaint us with the city, nice restaurants, and first class dinner parties.  One of the gentlemen who greeted and entertained us was Don Eduardo Zapata, who is in reality what Juan Valdez who represents National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia since 1958 (actually a fictional character portrayed by an actor). 

One of our excursions was an over-night trip to La Virgin, coffee farm.  We actually had to check out of our hotel in Medellin for a night and we stayed in a small hotel in the farming village of Concordia.  Our stay there coincided with their celebration of the Three Kings (the Three Wisemen of Christmas).  They had a huge celebration that encompassed the two main streets and a large plaza.  They sold their wares, food, drink, and always offered a smile.  There were lots of high stepping horses and the streets rattled with the sound of the metal shod hoofs clattering their rhythmic cadence.  The clatter went on all night long right below our window/balcony, which didn't even have any glass to dampen the noise.  Colombians, it appears, really take their celebrations serious.

The views from the ridges

This is a Chiva

From Concordia, we took a "Chiva," which is a modified world war two, heavy duty, four-wheel drive, open-air bus, colorfully painted conveyance, to the closest coffee farm owned by Cima.  It took about forty minutes to get there and although some of the dirt road was precariously perched in the razor back ridges of a mountain crest, the views of the coffee farm slopes were breath taking.

While at the coffee farm, we were fed, educated, and played games, bit the most interesting part was when they taught us about "cupping."  That is the method by which they smell the aroma of the ground coffee beans, assess the fragrance of the brewing coffee, slurp the essence of the coffee (without swallowing it), and compare the results of various beans.  This, it turns out, is a very serious process.  They claim to have been able to sell coffees that have a high enough rating for as much as a hundred dollars a pound.  They also claim that, although they sell a lot of commodity grade coffee (not all beans measure up), their average specialty coffee is graded in the mid to high 80s.  That is a very good coffee.

Evelyn, cupping some coffee

Medellin was a truly good experience.  At around 5000 foot elevation, Medellin enjoys a year round temperature of about 73 degrees.  There are frequent light showers that keep the vegetation green and the air clean.  There are police on every other corner and even though they carry rifles, they are friendly and helpful when you ask them directions.

The population of the metropolis and the surrounding communities exceed three million people.  The infrastructure is good, with good roads, city trains and even a cabled gondola transport that carries commuters up and down the steep slopes that are carpeted with residential housing and retail stores and restaurants.

View of coffee farms

Wall-to-wall housing from Medellin River to hill top, with Gondolas

I would recommend everyone try to find the time to visit this European influenced community and see for yourself what a truly pleasant and modern community this is.  If you like shopping malls, there a malls that dwarf our own modern shopping malls and are equipped with full blown children's carnivals.  You will also find all the stores you love from your home malls.  If we find another inexpensive means to get there, I would do so in an instant.

Sadly, we found the owner of Cima lost his life in a small plane crash while visiting his home in America.  As a fledgling company, it was too much to recover from.  Cima no longer operates, but the sister company Tierra Cafeterra is still going strong and producing very high quality coffee.  We got them to ship us a couple pounds, recently, and it is truly robust and mellow.  It is not acidic or bitter.  Highly recommend it.