C A L I, C O L O M B I A: Manizales

Another saint, I think Anthony, must have died, had a birthday or performed a great miracle. And, because of this we didn't have to work Monday. Yes, another religious holiday. Gracias Adios.

For the long weekend we headed into the country, the coffee country. To a small city called Manizales. A city of all hills, with magnificent views and great cold weather.

We visited a coffee farm and got way too wacked out on caffine. We learned that all the good coffee is exported out of Colombia and therefore we and the Colombians are stuck drinking the shwag. Here coffee is week, bitter and accompanied with major amounts of sugar and milk. Not so at the farm.

We also visited a natural park with orchids, a mdeicinal garden, a bonsia exhibit and tons of birds.

From there we took, what we thought would be a nice walk through the country to visit some hot springs. The walk was about an hour and the woman at the park told us it was a beautiful walk. I don't think she had ever been there. We walked past a dump, a metal recycling plant, another plant with black smoke billowing from it's roof and it was adorned with warning signs about radio-active material. Ahhh beautiful country side.

But once we were out of the smoggy alley way we were in the country. Alone on the country rode...well almost alone. Until we came upon, the sketchies looking gang of kids I have ever seen in my life. Not just the sketchy for Colombia- the gnarliest group of kids ever. It was almost surreal, like they were playing a role in an after school special. The wore mohawks, chains, gangster clothes, tatoos, peircings....and smoked cigarettes like the crew from SE Hintons "The Outsiders" Oh I must mention that they were all huffing glue from black plastic bags. As soon as we rounded the corner on the windy country road our hearts stopped. gangster wanna bee, high on glue, colombian country boys,.....and us gringos. Hiking shoes, REI back packs loaded with cameras and wallets....speaking English. We were f*d. But they didn't say anything....I think they were dressed the part but never really had much opportunity to act like a gangster. They just watched us walk pass and kept huffing. We were huffing too. Trying to appear calm. We walked for another 20 minutes until we arrived to the hot springs. Thinking how we would fend off 13 teenagers....

Besides that adventure we ended up at hostal we were the only actual guests. We were warned ahead of time that there was one room left (basically in the garage) because the owners family had come from all over to celebrate her birthday, we were invited to join the party and we did. And, as we did we reflected on how many times we have ended up in these strange family dynamics where we totally don't belong.

But they had a mariachi band, followed by another band (their friends) who played tango. People danced of course but not in a dance party kind of way. It was really comical and weird. It was like a talent show. It reminded me of how when we were little, we would go in the basement make up some dances and then we would put on a show for our moms. A lot like this but the people were not 6 years old but rather in their 30's. It was so intriguing ...some of them even changed into little outfits. We were gawking, yes but we hid it well with big smiles. Videos below.