Quito & Baños

Hello dear friends,

We left to Ecuador as I have been mentioning in my last entry. Because of all the Venezuelan people leaving their country right now, the borders are full and we were told that most people wait between 4-20 hours. We have been lucky though an made it in 45 Minutes. 

Las Lajas Sanctuary (in Colombia close to the border (Ipiales))

Madonna of Quito (apparently the only one with wings)

View on Quito from the Madonna

Mitad Del Mundo

Baños is full of waterfalls

You can even get very close

View on Baños

Casa Del Arbol (unfortunately it was cloudy so we could not enjoy the view)

Besides the waterfalls, there is lots of things to do in Baños. We rented Quads today, which was amazing and tomorrow we will do rafting. Looking forward to it! 

Hope to hear you soon

Hannes 

Salento & Cali

Hello everyone,

This will be my last entry from Colombia, as we are heading (hopefully today) to Ecuador. My last two stations have been a bit quieter. Salento is a small village close to a national park, where there is lots of coffee and nature obviously. Beautiful landscapes. 

Valle de Cocora 

View on the valley 

Drying the coffee beans

Coffee plant

The fields (many citrus plants which change the flavor of the coffee - had been a bid sour)

After a few days of nature we went to Cali, the capo al of the Colombian salsa. Nevertheless we did not dance a lot (only one night). 

View on Cali

El Gato - a big exhibition in Cali

Now we are planing to go to Quito which seems to be more difficult than expected. Let’s see how we will get there...

Hear you soon. 

Hannes 

Medellín & Guatapé

Hello everyone,

Another week is over and it feels like many travel is coming to an end even though I still do have 2 1/2 month. The last week I have been spending in Medellin, once the murderest City in the world (home of Pablo Escobar). Now it is a beautiful city, with lots of students and known for its nightlife. Therefore my last week has been exhausting as we went out a lot. 

Medellín is surprisingly green surrounded by mountains. Taking a bus, you can reach within 2 Hours Guatapé, a terrific human made holiday location. A big artificial lake, lots of nature, very quiet and a rock to climb up on to have a tremendous view.

View from the top 1

2

3

If I had more time I would probably stay a few days in Guadapé but as there is so much to see we only did a day trip. Next stop will be Salento, the coffee region. 

Hear you soon

Hannes

Bogota

Hi,

Well my past week has been very relaxing. I have been back in Bogota where I did some administrative stuff and planing. Have been doing a graffiti tour and got robbed by the cops. Yes, I got robbed by the cops but luckily the gave me a few days later my drivers license back so all that’s missing is money. 

First of May demonstration - they burned the American flag 😳












After the weekend I will be heading to Medellín. 

Hear you soon! 

Hannes