The waterfront where we are staying at Valle de Bravo, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Valle de Bravo, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Cancun on December 17th!

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Travel day! Manizales to Pereira, Colombia.

We got up yesterday morning, had the included hostel breakfast at Hostal Kaleidoscopio, and asked the owner Martha if we had time to go for a walk to the monument overlook before check out time. She said "sure", and so we got our bags packed first, and then went for a walk.

This is the monument we were trying to get to a couple of days ago when it started raining and then we were sidetracked by paranoia!

This time, we had no bags with us and we only brought the small pocket camera.

Still cloudy, but not raining.

The monument gates only open at 10:00am, and we would suggest that this is the best time to arrive. I have read reports of other tourists getting robbed on this road, because locals really don't have a reason to walk up here unless they're out getting some exercise. And we noticed that at this hour, there are quite a few people out walking dogs, so there is some activity around. Otherwise, we would suggest taking a taxi up to the monument. 

Nice overlook at the top.

It's impossible to get a photograph of the entire monument, so I took a short video for you...


We walked back down to the hostel, paid our bill, 180,000 pesos ($88.20 CAD) for three nights and 10,000 pesos ($4.90 CAD) for a load of laundry and said goodbye.

No problem recommending Kaleidoscopio Hostal in Manizales, Colombia. Owner Martha is so friendly and helpful. 

Then we walked the nine blocks or so to the cable car that takes you down to the bus terminal.

In the cable car, heading down to the Manizales bus terminal.

The cable car ride cost 1,600 pesos ($0.78 CAD) each. It is part of the public transportation system in Manizales.

In the bus terminal, we were waved over to a booth by a guy asking if we were going to Medellin. No, we said we were going to Pereira. He said that he has a bus leaving in 10 minutes and it's 9,000 pesos ($4.41 CAD) each. That's exactly what I had read that it should be, so we looked at each other and said "okay"!

It was a bigger bus this time, seating perhaps 30 people. But it was probably a little less than half full. Lots of leg room on this particular bus, so it was a comfy ride. We only had to go 53 kms (31 miles) but I had read that it was an hour and 15 minute ride.

Here are some photos of the scenery along the way...






Once again, beautiful scenery.

From Manizales bus terminal to Pereira bus terminal, I tracked our drive on the iPhone. It took an hour and nineteen minutes to do the 53 kms (31 miles). Average speed of 40 km/h (24 mph).

We went to the lineup of cabs and were ushered into one as our turn came up. I had the Kolibri Hostel put into the maps.me program on the iPhone, and I showed the driver where we wanted to go.

Not far, and the cab ride was below the minimum of 4,200 pesos ($2.06 CAD) so that's what it cost. Or more accurately, that's what it should have cost. I made a mistake and paid him 6,000 pesos instead. Oh well...he got a good tip!

We chose Kolibri Hostel in Pereira simply because of the consistently good reviews on tripadvisor.

As with the hostel in Manizales, the cost is 60,000 pesos ($28.00 CAD) per night for the two of us for a private room and a shared bathroom.

Our room is small, but sufficient for our needs.

But we have a beautiful big window!

The bathroom is fantastic.

Cool sink and faucet!

The hallway outside of our room.

There is a beautiful common area/outdoor patio.

We hadn't had lunch yet, and it was now close to 2:00pm. I was starved! There is an attached restaurant at the hostel and it looked quite busy when we had arrived, so we decided to just go there.

Good choice!

We expected it to be slightly more expensive than normal, being attached to the hostel and in a "nicer" part of town. And it was...but what a meal we got!

The lunch menu was still in play, and it listed the prices, but not really what was included. We each ordered a lemonade to drink, and then Ruth ordered a dish that was simply called "Oriental", but she expected it was a chicken stir fry of sorts, and it was. I ordered the "Filete de Res"...a beef steak.

Next thing we knew, he arrived with soup...

Kevin, enjoying his soup.

And then, a small salad arrived for each of us.

And then my steak...tender, boneless beef fillet with rice and veggies.

And Ruth's huge bowl of chicken rice stir fry.

I didn't get a photo of it, but he also brought a small coffee flavored pudding for dessert.

I asked for the bill. It was a total of 28,500 pesos ($13.95 CAD), tip included for the two of us!

That would have been an $80 bill in Canada. We love Colombia!

Today, we are off to visit a small coffee plantation. We are in coffee growing country!

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Of course Amazon.com is early getting into the Black Friday deals...here's what is available today...


And in Canada, a great deal on a digital volt meter. If you don't have one of these in your home or RV, you should!





20 comments:

  1. Nice hostel.
    That looks like good soup - what kind was it?

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    Replies
    1. Some type of squash soup. It was good! The whole meal was good!

      Delete
  2. Do you ever see a flat field? Love the lush greenery and hilly countryside! Can't wait to hear about the coffee plantation-enjoy!

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    Replies
    1. Nope don't think we have seen one yet!

      We are loving the scenery and all the greenery but it comes at a cost because we have seen rain almost everyday and not a lot of the sun but luckily it hasn't hampered any of our plans yet.

      Delete
  3. I love the hostel. The country side is green, green, and more green LOL This town seems less congested and cleaner. Thank you for all the tips of local transportation, mileage, etc.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, we have been very pleased with the hostel. It is nicely set up and very clean.

      The town is actually fairly busy but we are in an area that is outside of the central zone so it is a little quieter.

      Delete
  4. Really enjoying your adventure and the smiles on your faces confirm you're having a ball. Thanks so much for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Dianne, we are having a fantastic time!

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  5. Love the monument and it sounded like it was so peaceful up there above the city and the birds chirping were just lovely! Safe travels and thank you for sharing your adventure with us all!

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    Replies
    1. It was an amazing monument. Some of the detail in it was incredible.

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  6. You wouldn't need any dinner after that meal! I had a cup of Colombian coffee at TREATS recently.

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    Replies
    1. No we sure didn't need dinner after that. I think we snacked on a few peanuts later in the evening.

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  7. Looks like things are really going well and the Colombians are treating you superbly. Great food, great hostels, actually amazing hostels. My interest is piqued even more. Hmm, we need to get a Class B.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, things are certainly going well. So far we are very impressed with the hostels we have been staying in and they have been very reasonably priced and quite quiet.

      We are also thinking that we need to get a Class B! :-)

      Delete
  8. Nice prices, for sure! We've never stayed in a hostel before -- how is sharing the bathroom, ok? The countryside looks green and beautiful. BTW, do you guys speak Spanish?

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    Replies
    1. The prices are really good for what we have been getting. So far sharing the bathroom hasn't been an issue, they tend to keep the bathrooms very clean but in the evenings sometimes people aren't so good at keeping water in the shower but really we haven't had a problem.

      We speak "some" Spanish. We can get by fairly well with asking questions and more or less understanding the answers, having said that we still have a long way to go to be bilingual.

      Delete
  9. Thank you very much, actually I'm from Pereira and the hostel owner and the restaurant owner are friend of mine. And I'm very happy to see peoplefrom other countries enjoing my beautiful and fantastic Colombia. I and all my friend really apreciatte this. I wish you guys the best of all the travels in the world. Bienvenidos de nuevo a Colombia. Pd: you guys need to go to "Caño cristales" that is a river like the rainbow. Namaste. Att. Cristian Camacho.

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    Replies
    1. You are welcome Cristian! We love to tell people what life like in other countries and this certainly one beautiful country. I hope that we can entice more people to come and visit.

      We would like to go there as it was on our list but it takes a while to get there and from everything that we have heard it is closed at the moment to give the area a rest from visitors and recuperate.

      Delete

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