Mango Madness

This sounds like it should be the name of sweet rum-based cocktail, and it probably is, somewhere in a beach bar on a Caribbean island. But what I am referring to here is the mind-blowing amount of mangoes surrounding me at the moment.

Clusters of green mangoes high up in the trees, carpets of sunset-colored mangoes covering the ground, piles of decomposing mangoes hidden behind bushes, crates of ripe mangoes in the kitchen waiting to be cleaned, cut up and frozen, buckets full of smooth, sweet mango juice. It is mango season here and there is no way anyone can possibly forget it, even by walking around with their eyes shut - it would take about 2 seconds before you stepped on a mango, and the sweet scent of slightly overripe mango permeates everything.

Andres high up in the big mango tree

I have moved around quite a lot since my last post, which explains why I haven't had much time to spend online. After leaving Barichara, buses took us from San Gil back to Bogota, then from Bogota to Pereira, located in the so-called Coffee Triangle, the region where most of the internationally renowned Colombian coffee is grown. We spent 4 days in the area, hiking up in the rainforest through spectacular landscapes, walking around the charming town of Salento, relaxing in a luxurious hacienda, and staying on a coffee farm - definitely a highlight of the trip so far!

Next we traveled on to Medellin, the city of eternal spring - where Andres originally comes from. At that point we were both sick with a cold caused by the over-enthusiastic use of air-conditioning in Colombian buses, so I didn't see much of the city. Exploring the gigantic market (with, obviously, a mandatory lunch stop) and visiting the Botero museum took up most of our energy, and we decided to move quickly to our next destination: a small town on the coast called Arboletes, where Andres' uncle has a beach house. Two days floating around in the pool while listening to the waves breaking on the shore, napping in the hammocks and watching sunset on the beach with cold beers definitely helped us recover.

At that point I was ready for our next adventure: yet another bus ride took us to the town of Santa Marta, very close to our final destination - the Hotel Playa Koralia, a small beach "resort" located between the beach and the highest coastal mountain range in the world, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The hotel is composed of about a dozen bungalows spread out under palm trees and, obviously, mango trees. Kilometers of virgin beaches stretch out right in front of the bar and dining area. Standing by the water the mountains loom behind the trees, most of the time shrouded in the almost permanent clouds covering the rainforest. The nearest "town" is a 30 minutes walk on the beach away - and by town I mean a place where you can buy ice-cream and beers, and that's pretty much it.

This place makes happiness seem easy: a few hours of work in the morning (ranging from weeding in the garden and picking up mango to helping the kitchen staff prepare and serve meals to guests), then afternoons are all ours to relax in hammocks, practice on the slackline, do yoga in front of the ocean, jog into town to buy a coconut ice-cream, walk back on the beach, jump in the water to cool down at sunset, and enjoy a cold beer under the stars after dinner. Yesterday we hiked up along a river and floated back down on giant buoys while watching parrots, hummingbirds and monkeys playing around in the trees.

The beach at Koralia

I have been here a week already and I am thinking about staying another week, before moving on to the next adventure - hopefully the hike to La Ciudad Perdida, the Lost City.

Pictures of the Coffee Triangle and Koralia will be posted when I get back to civilization, which I'm planning on delaying for as long as I can...