The hostel we were staying at is linked with a local coffee farm so in the morning we had a 3 hour tour learning all about coffee, how it's grown, the different types, how they make it etc. The best coffee is grown in certain climates, at a certain height above sea level and with a certain amount of shade - at this farm they used bamboo, banana and plantain trees to create the shade. Afterwards we walked around the farm and our Spanish guide had some fermented an...

An early departure from Medellin and we headed to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Armenia. We had the craziest bus driver EVER so it was a tense 5 hour journey. Speeding over bumps so we were flying out of our seats (no seat belts in Colombia!) and his favourite pastime seemed to be overtaking at great speed on the mountain 's' bends. We were glad and quite surprised when we arrived in one piece in Armenia! We had another 50 minute bus ride and then we arrived...

In the afternoon we joined the 'real city' walking tour in Central Medellin. The charismatic guide, Pablo did an excellent job explaining to us some of Colombia's history including the 'times of violence'. 15-20 years ago Medellin was the worlds most dangerous city, fuelled by the drug trade, political differences, illegal armies and those seeking revenge for injustices. Pablo did an amazing job of showing and explaining to us how Medellin has moved on from the t...

With our new Spanish-Speaking Australian room mate we headed for Colombia's only metro, in Medellin City. Part of the metro is the cable car climbing the steep hill over the poorer barrios. We then took a second cable car over the massive Parque Arvi where we did an hour walk through the lush grounds. This was a round trip to a beautiful riverside picnic area with friendly locals. A happy dog escorted us most of the way down and we were offered various products c...

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring more of the old town wall and squares. Until the storm clouds rolled in and sent us in search for shelter at the corner of the wall. We saw a huge green iguana which I tried my hardest to stalk for pictures - he was forever keeping a side eye on me!! After a beer in an Argentinian Tango bar followed by a gourmet Italian feast we headed out to the airport for our evening flight to Medellin.