23 Dec

HAYWAY Podcast 29 – Salento, Colombia

It’s all about Climbing, Coffee and Christmas in the latest Colombian instalment of the How Are You? Where Are You? podcast.

We’ve scaled some pretty tough hills during our time here but they were all made to look like midgets next to the giant Alto de Letras. We bring you the story of how we inched up the world’s longest road climb.

Alto de Letras sits at the northern end of Colombia’s coffee axis. They’re the third biggest producer of the stuff in the world so we’ve seen acres and acres of trees and cute little farms dotting the countryside in this region. Normally, we don’t drink a lot of coffee but for some reason during our time here we’ve been guzzling it down. We also really enjoy the unpretentiousness of Colombian coffee culture. To find out more, we went to an organic farm for a tour with a passionate guy called Mateo.

Tis’ the season and Colombians fall for Christmas big time. We’ve noticed lots of differences in how they celebrate the festive season and as a result we are probably going to have to create some sort of nativity scene on our bikes.

Cycle touring in Colombia

Clockwise from top left: pausing alongside some banana trees; all in a day’s work for Shelley; enveloped by cloud above 3000m; bleak and miserable at the summit; resting and catching breath.

Cycle touring in Colombia

Clockwise from top left: Colombian coffee beans; Mateo shells the beans; old school coffee roasting; roasted beans; Mateo shows us his grandfather Don Elias’s plants.

Cycle touring in Colombia

Clockwise from left: Leaving Bogota on its excellent cycle network; Armero abandoned; the town’s missing children; buildings buried.

Cycle touring in Colombia

Clockwise from top left: Chinchina’s church lit up; Miss Universe shocker; a family’s nativity scene in Sevilla; Manizales Christmas bling; nativity scene in Mariquita

3 thoughts on “HAYWAY Podcast 29 – Salento, Colombia

  1. Miss Universe, I saw this blunder (or is it a stunt of the speaker?).
    For me Miss New-Zealand on her bike is next year’s runner-up!
    Even hearing you climb to the summit is fatigueing!!!! 3000 meters, whaw!
    The coffee story is interesting, they actually sell coffee there (that’s quite different in our coffee shops……..) 🙂
    Chicken gloves…… quite a story!

    Take care, please!

  2. Wow what a huge effort on the 3500+ metre climb! Enjoyed Mateo’s talk about his family’s coffee farm. So glad you ended up with a lovely family at Christmas…was good to Skype Xmas Day. The nutillo looked very yummy. Safe and happy travels….can’t wait till March 2016!!

  3. Congrats on your anniversary guys!

    Love that you mentioned goody goody gumdrop ice-cream – the best!

    Sheesh that road climb sounded tough.

    Love that you guys are drinking coffee now, I’m jealous! 🙂

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