Mention the Galapagos Islands and most minds turn to oversized tortoises, blue-footed boobies or maybe Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution.
There is, however, a small coffee industry on the volcanic rocks that sit in the Pacific Ocean, about 900 kilometers west of the Ecuadorian coast. And as we discovered on an amazing trip to the Galapagos earlier this month, the beans they produce are surprisingly good.
Luckily for us, Colombia has plenty of public holidays.
And like all good ‘Bogotanos’ on St. Josephs Day, we took to the road for a day trip, this time to visit 'Hacienda El Porvenir', a coffee farm about two hours downhill from Bogota. On a very sunny day, we were warmly welcomed by Orlando Fierro, the owner of this beautiful 35-hectare ‘finca’.
A couple of weeks ago we packed our bags and took the short flight from Bogota to Caracas, crossing the snowy peaks of the Andes to check out the coffee in our neighboring country.
Then we drove west, headed for Venezuela’s coffee zone. Navigating sign-less roads and dodging some of the most erratic driving on the planet, we eventually made it to Portuguesa state, the main coffee-producing region.
©merrychristmaszipacoffee
From the village of Neira in Colombia's central Caldas province, we survived a stormy ‘buseta’ trip and arrived in Marsella, a little ‘pueblo’ about 70km further south in the Risaralda province.
What a spot! And we were lucky enough to stay in the Don Danilo Café/Hostel just a few steps away from the Casa de la Cultura, a well-preserved colonial house in Marsella that's home to the local youth orchestra and to many cultural activities.
