The coffee region through the eyes of a coffee hater....

Tried and failed again to get into coffee. 6 days in Colombia's coffee region (La Cafetera) has done nothing for my love of the stuff. Give me hot chocolate or tea any day.

Fortunately La Cafetera does have other things to offer besides coffee beans....

The thermal springs just outside the town of Santa Rosa de Cabal are pretty cool. And hot.

The town of Salento is situated near the Valle de Cocora. Did a 5 hour hike there on Saturday, fortunately without a hangover. The scenery is quite special...

At the Acaime nature reserve you get a hot drink. Hot chocolate. And a piece of cheese...

Went on a tour of a coffee finca which is owned by the English guy who owns the hostel I stayed at. Pretty interesting to see how it's picked, processed etc.

Guatapé - 649 steps of sweat heaven!

Guatapé, 2 hours east of Medellín....

....and so quiet it was unnerving, after 4 weeks of loud and busy Bogotá and Medellín. 

Has that colonial look to it, and is definitely easier on the eye than some other places near the water that i've been to, like the Wirral....

The main reason for coming to Guatapé though was to climb El Peñol....

....and 649 steps later you get views like these:

 

Medellín, hot like fire.

Plaza de las Esculturas/Plaza Botero in downtown Medellín. Picture at the top is a Gothic building called El Palacio de la Cultura Rafael Uribe. Allegedly it's a 'cultural centre', whatever that is. The sculptures are by Fernando Botero, Colombia's 'leading contemporary artist'. They are dotted around the city, looking fat and stuff.

Went to the Parque Zoológico and nearly tripped over this guy who was just chilling on the path.

Cementario San Pedro. More like a park than a cemetery.

Downtown Medellín as seen from barrio Santa Domingo. Used to be one of the most crime ridden areas of the city until they installed a cable car, improved social mobility and made it safe so now daytrippers like me can go up there armed with a camera.

 Went to a football match on my first weekend here, the big local derby: Club Atlético Nacional vs Deportivo Independiente Medellín. Ticket cost me £10. CAN won 1-0. Saw one guy bring in an XL Dominos pizza for him and his mates to share.

Bogotá - Graffiti, graffiti and....

Plaza Bolívar, central square of Bogotá. Full of pigeons. And couples.

Examples above of some of the many, many pieces of street art in La Candelaria, the historical centre of Bogotá.

3 examples above of graffiti that has been used to 'redecorate' buildings within the Universidad Nacional campus...

Views of Bogotá from the top of Monserrate, 3152m above sea level. We got the cable car up. Some lunatics run up it.