Well we made it to the bus station and onto a bus! Alex had his first meal in, like, three days. Bus number 1 took us to Pereira where a more local bus would take us on to Filandia. The first bus was surprisingly comfortable and we had top front seats which was great! Having taken some Dramamine and put on those car sick bands (remember those from school?) I also was very successfully not nauseous on the five hour journey, that went surprisingly fast! I did sleep for about an hour of it but still. Saw some interesting sights including a man just clinging to the back of a lorry; no idea if the lorry driver knew about it but the man was pretty chill and occasionally checking if anything was coming the other direction and then motioning cars and mopeds to pass.

Bus number 2 was decidedly less comfy and there seemed to be very little in the way of organisation. We waited by the bus and passed the time listening to another British couple (or at least he was) having a massive barny. Eventually we thought it would be better if I waited with the bags and Alex went to get seats. Had to ask literally every driver in the correct uniform if they were the driver for our bus because I needed to put our bags in the boot and all of them more or less said the same thing of “don’t worry just wait he’s coming”. When he did eventually show up 2 mins after the alleged bus departure time and I asked to put my bags in the boot he sighed and gave me a look that implied I had insulted his mother. He did put the bags in the boot, albeit begrudgingly.

This bus was less comfy, not least because the people in front of us had reclined their chairs and the seats were made for small Colombians. Alex initially asked if I wanted to sit in the window seat but as that chair was more reclined I literally would not have been able to fit! Although Alex is taller I have much longer legs due to my odd proportions (much like a Daddy Long Legs).

Couldn’t recline our seats as the previously arguing, now sulking, couple were behind us and would definitely have kicked off if we had. We reckon they might be from Brixton so I’ll endeavour to keep a look out for them when we’re back. Hope their relationship lasts the trip (she thought, bitchily). The couple in front seemed oblivious to our discomfort and to add insult to injury the bloke was wearing a foul aftershave that, due to the open windows, was channeled into my face. By this point I was feeling nauseous but this bus ride was only about half an hour, thankfully.

We arrived in Filandia at about 5pm, having left Medellín at 10:30am. Weirdly didn’t feel like the journey had been as long as that. A further 4 whole minutes of walking took us to our hostel where a lovely, chirpy hostess explained stuff to us and showed us our room. An ENORMOUS bed takes up most of it, the main light is a cold white LED thing brighter than the eye or Sauron and there are bafflingly few surfaces upon which to put things and only one tiny mirror in the bathroom. The loo has more leg room than the last one, but the lid doesn’t stay open by itself. Super.

We decided it was time for dinner and went, rather incongruously, to a Thai place. I had a really delicious Beef Massaman Curry and Alex had a “spicy” (it wasn’t) Thai Green Chicken Curry.

A side note: we have noticed that we often appear to be, what we have referred to as, “trendsetters”. Obviously not with regards to clothing (don’t be ludicrous) but with eating/drinking establishments. More often than not, we’ll go into a relatively empty place and within half an hour of us being there, the place is full. The random Thai place in Filandia was no different. It was fully empty when we arrived and by the time we left an hour later it was 2/3 full. We must be careful with how we wield this immense power.

Anyway, after a day of sitting on a bus we were knackered and had a pretty early night. I slept like an absolute log and woke feeling refreshed, Alex unfortunately was feeling unwell again.

After some general faffing about I showered (great pressure but the hot ran out after about 3 mins), dressed, and had a coffee on the comunal balcony at the hostel. It was raining at this point but still pretty nice!

I then got a ticket from reception for breakfast which is included but at a little cafe about 400m away. There were 3 options: eggs, soup or fruit with various other things and I went for the soup. It’s a fairly common breakfast thing here it seems and I really like it!

I’m starting to grow weary of Arepas. That’s the plain round thing with a lump of cheese stuff on top. It was fine once smothered in hot sauce but honestly, they are totally flavourless and have the texture of drywall. Rubbish white bread has more flavour. The soup was phenomenal though!

After breakfast I read my book for a bit. I decided I should probably try to be a bit cultured so am reading 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Marquéz. I tried years ago to read a passage for A level Spanish class but it was completely lost on me. This time around (in English) I am really enjoying it although it’s a totally bonkers book! Lots of magic realism and innocuous passing of time. Keep thinking it’s near the end but I’m only halfway through! Very captivating.

Anyway after a bit of reading I decided to go for an explore. Filandia is a small and lovely town and lacks the hawkers and excessive car horns of previous cities, although it’s still fairly touristy. The views are spectacular and it feels much more countryside-ish which I’m thrilled about.

The town itself is quaint too; lots of bright colours and colonial style buildings.

Alex then joined me for some more pottering and taking of photos, we had some cold drinks at a fancier looking cafe and chilled for a bit before decided what to do for dinner. Alex found a nice place that was sort of a bit fusion-esque. We only got 3 sharing things and a fruity cocktail and we couldn’t finish it!

We had pork ball thingies with pulled pork in a fried corn batter with local cheese curd. V delicious. Then a hummus plate which had a confusing number of flavours going on: green beans that were sautéd with ginger, cabbage with mustard seeds, collard greens with garlic, very smoky hummus and some nutty rice and quinoa mix. Nice individually but really didn’t mix! Finally some mini chorizo sandwich things with a chimichurri sauce. As I said, we couldn’t finish it all! After that we had a couple of beers, booked onto a coffee farm tour, and went to bed.

The next day was much the same in the morning; breakfast, coffee, reading, chilling, wandering about. Filandia is a very relaxing place to be! At 3pm we went to meet Julian from “Coffee Tour La Palma”. Along with a couple from Madrid, Julian our host, and 6 Spanish girlipops on a galpal vacay (these were the vibes I got from them) we piled into an open top jeep. 6 on the benches in the back, 4 standing on the tailgate, and Alex was in the front wedged next to someone’s daughter who, miraculously, managed to fall asleep as we went down unpaved bumpy roads. Alas, I have no photos of this experience because I am useless.

We arrived at Julian’s family farm along with another jeep full of Italian lads on the Italian equivalent of a lads trip (more cigarettes, same juvenile banter, fewer tattoos, better looking on the whole) and were given black coffee with cane sugar which is apparently traditional of the area. Julian was an energetic little man (drinks 20 little cups of coffee a day so it’s no wonder really) who did a fantastic tour that included history of Filandia (meant to be named after Finland but a clerical error left out the first ‘n’) as well as his small-scale organic coffee production. Your partially rural nerd here got very excited to learn about the permaculture system he uses, how he makes his compost and how he inter plants the coffee with bananas because of various ants and spiders that prey on the pests the ruin the coffee.

The whole process was fascinating and the farm was beautiful! He even managed to take a rare nice photo of me and Alex together!

After all the learning, he prepared coffee in three different ways: French press, German Chemex and Italian moka pot (obviously the Italians were most excited about this). We learned lots about how best to prepare the coffee and my dad will be thrilled to know that a genuine coffee producer was very clear on the fact that you should NEVER wash your moka pot with soap.

He taught us other things like you should heat up your beans before grinding them (but not in a meecrowahvé) and you shouldn’t use boiling water, rather 80-85°C, you should pre-heat the pot, and in a moka you should start with hot water AND leave a 2cm gap of water so that you can put 2cm of water in the top compartment (the Italians weren’t having any of it. Think of all the stereotypical sounds, facial expressions and hand movements that a displeased Italian might make). This 2cm of water in the top is so that the first drops of coffee bubbling through don’t immediately scald on the hot moka pot (This paragraph has been entirely for the benefit of Papa Finn so someone tell him to read it).

On the way home, I ended up being one of the people standing on the back! Yes, I was secretly thrilled and yes, I made Alex take a picture. Was I at more risk of low hanging branches than the 2 Spanish girlipops also on the back with me? What do you think…

Anyway I would say that the coffee tour was the highlight of Filandia and, for me at least, Filandia was the highlight of Colombia! We are leaving today and heading to our next stop: Peru! Wish us luck!