Coffee Hunting around Barbosa – Antioquia
An Endless “Traffic-mare”
The traffic in Medellin, Colombia, is heavy. There isn’t such a thing as rush-hour anymore; all day, every day, there is a slow-moving river of cars, motorcycles, and trucks crisscrossing the city in an endless traffic jam. The situation is so bad that many years ago, the city’s government established a driving restriction according to the last numbers on the car’s license plate for some days of the week. The so-called “pico y placa” translates to something like “peak and plate” in English.
A Slow Start
We decided to start our coffee hunting trip around Barbosa early to avoid the worst part of the traffic congestion. The drive that should have taken less than an hour took us 3 hours because a student rally blocked the highway.
The Healing Power of Nature
It was a stressful drive, to say the least, but we started feeling at ease as soon as we saw the beautiful green mountains of the “Aburra” Valley just north of Medellin.
By the time we got there it was almost lunchtime, we know how Colombian coffee farmers go above and beyond when it comes to feeding their guests and we didn’t want to impose on them, so we opted to eat something before arriving at the farm. We picked up some roasted chicken in Barbosa and stopped in the closed rural bar/shed, shown below, to eat it.
Getting Ready to Hike
The farm we were visiting, “La Teresita,” is not accessible by car, so we had to park on the side of the road.
Then, we started the strenuous hike up the mountain.