We stayed at a really nice hostel a bit outside of Manizales, where we had our own little house with a fantastic view all over the valley. The only way to get there (except from walking about an hour) was with a Chiva - a traditional, colorful colombian bus.
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| Chiva de Villa Maria |
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| "Our" little house |
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| Panorama of Manizales |
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| another "Öffi-Gondl" |
Thanks to our hosts, Kate and Diego, we had the opportunity to visit an organic coffee farm - "Altos del Tío Conejo" - owned by their friends Esperanza and her husband. They explained and showed us every step of the coffee production, from planting the coffee plants to roasting the beans and drinking the coffee.
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| coffee plant after a few weeks |
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| coffee plant after 3 months |
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| coffee plant after 6 months - ready to be planted into the fields |
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| Bananas - they grow nice and symetric... |
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| ... whereas Platains grow a little bit more chaotic |
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| coffee plants produce their first berries after 4 years |
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| They grow only the Coffea Arabica variety "Caturra" | a" |
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| When finished restaurating this 100 year old building they want to turn it into a hostel |
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| harvesting the coffee berries |
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| washing and selecting the best berries |
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| berries ready to be peeled |
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| peeling machine |
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| slimey coffee beans ready to be washed and dryed |
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| the pulp is use to make natural fertilizer |
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| composting |
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| drying the beans and another quality selecction of the coffee beans |
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| good coffee ... |
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| ... "bad coffee" |