Author Archives: Björn

Aukana Buddha

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Today we had a very busy schedule ahead of us. We kicked it off with a visit of the Aukana Buddha in the morning (actually another early one – helped with the tight schedule and also to – once more – beat the crowds).

So it was shoes off and temple clothing once again, before we made it to the Aukana Buddha. The statue itself dates back to the 5th century and the reign of king Dhatusena (though there are some sources, that put it to much later) – and is an amazing piece of craftsmanship with intricately carved details and features – the robe just looks real …

Mihintale

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We were leaving the hotel early this morning (actually, we thought, it was early – as we had to learn later on, this morning indeed was a fairly average one) to beat the crowds at Mihintale.

Mihintale is a Buddhist pilgrimage site and links back to the introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka. Stairs lead up a hill to a number of religious monuments; en route one passes many abandoned structures and ruins – including the ruins of a monastery.

We were given a guided tour of the ruin site before making it up the last flight of stairs to the actual religious site – the more adventurous of us made it up Aradhana Gala (Meditation Rock), while the others covered the easier climb to the Buddha status. We met up again later on for a walk around the Mahaseya Dagoba.

Editorial note: don’t get confused by the word dagoba – it is not more than the Sinhalese word for a stupa; I will use the two words interchangeably.

Welcome to Negombo, Sri Lanka

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Like in many other years before, I – once more – used the month of November to leave grey Germany behind and get in some sun and heat.
As my trip to Southern India two years back had made me curious on the region, Sri Lanka was a natural pick, especially as some opportunities around flights and tour came up … quickly I was booked …

After 14 hours on planes and in airports (and about six movies) I finally had arrived in Sri Lanka and continued to the tour starting point of Negombo.

With close proximity to the aiport and its (fairly so-so) beach, Negombo certainly makes a good start and endpoint for a tour of Sri Lanka, however I would certainly not want to stay much longer here than a day or two.

The group got together on the evening of the 19th with the usual introductions, tour overview and information – – and it started with a surprise: in my group there were two known faces … at first I did not know, where to put them – but in the end my memory did not fail me and I found myself in company of two fellow travelers from my Japan trip back in 2008 – – really makes you wonder, what the odds are for that one … hitting the jackpot in Vegas (or Macao) might be more likely … anyhow, clearly shows how small the world is at last.

Sunday morning started with a quick tour of town: a short stop at the fish market (not too much to see here, given it was Sunday and the fishermen – supposedly – in church), a quick view of the former fort (now prison – therefore just quick), a short visit at the harbor, a glance of the Dutch canals and finally our chance for a church visit (or checking for the fishermen). From here we continued towards our next destination – Anuradhapura.

 

Back to Bogotá

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We left the coffee country today and made it back to Bogotá, where the whole trip had started a bit less than three weeks ago.

In the afternoon we met up for an orientation walk around the city center. I had already seen most of the attractions on my first day; however with some explanations and background things really resonated much better.

We had our final dinner in a nice restaurant (I went for a combination of typical Colombian starters), followed by another visit to the BBC … so the trip ended, as it had started …

Into Salento

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After the tour through the coffee plantation and another hearty lunch we got onto a van, which then got us to the town of Salento – slightly less than 100km / 2 hours away.

We made it into Salento in the late afternoon / early evening, well in time for an orientation walk around this little town with its fairly intact colonial buildings.

With Salento also part of coffee country the walk just had to finish in a little cafe for some more of that black liquid. As avid tea drinker, so far I had pretty-much stayed away from coffee on this trip – however with the gesha specialty coffee available here (which was sold to me as close enough to tea), I simply gave it a try – and ended up actually finishing a cup of coffee and enjoying that.
Gesha is a special variety of the normal Arabica coffee; its origins seem to be a bit of a mystery (at least based on my quick internet research) … anyway – the final drink in the end really is closer to a good cup of Earl or Lady Grey than to normal coffee. I guess, the Grey family teas are really a good comparison here, though there is certainly more complexity in a gesha, every sip opens some new flavors, there are also subtle changes as the drinks cools down (I liked it most in lukewarm state). I certainly would go for this coffee again – however given its specialty status (and resulting price) chances will be slim … this sort of coffee simply is too exotic for most cafes …

More Coffee …

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We spent the night in the hacienda’s guesthouse straight in the middle of the coffee fields. This morning we were given a proper introduction to coffee … starting with some background on the plant, looking at its origin, classification etc. – and then the full process from the seeds up to that black liquid in a cup – covering harvest, the options for fermentation (wet process as used in Colombia, the dry process – plus an honorary mention of the special processing “used” for kopi luwak), hulling, drying up to roasting.

After a first introduction we ventured out into the fields, to see the actual plants and learn about the work on the farm, i.e. how they keep the plants producing, how long the plants last etc.

The final stop – after a good 2.5 hours into the coffee tour – was at the main house of the hacienda, where we looked into roasting – and got a feeling of the influence of the roasting process towards the characteristics of the coffee.

Overall I have to say … I have been to a number of coffee plantations – but never ever got such a good introduction to the whole process … this really did cover everything – and was nicely presented – I thoroughly enjoyed this activity … though, I now really need a cup of tea 😉

Welcome to Coffee Country

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We were on the road again to make our way from Medellin into the Coffee Country around Manizales – a trip of around 200km (our trip was a bit longer, as we had to take a detour due to construction works) and 5 hours.

We arrived at the guesthouse of the Hacienda Venecia coffee plantation in the afternoon, with enough time to spare for a first walk – guided by negro and macchiato, the fittingly names hacienda dogs – around the coffee fields into a side valley. We got back just around sunset in time for a simple, nice and filling dinner.