Armenia, Colombia - Country Jog

Escaping the Farm on Foot
The nearest village, El Caimo, is 5km away.  After breakfast it rained for a while but once it began to clear we got ambitious.  We planned to run to town, drink some coffee, hang out a bit and then run back.  There was a single cafe in town - part of a rest stop.

We noticed after about ten minutes of running that it was uphill ever so slightly.  What a difference that makes.  We ran past all the big crops - the popular combination is coffee and plantains, those seem to work together.  The plantains don't throw off too much shade.  Most of the plantains were covered with light blue perforated plastic bags.  This is to keep the bugs and sun off while creating a warm micro-climate that increases the size of the fruit.

There were a few pickers in the coffee fields, covered head to toe in plastic to ward off the rain.  It's only when you see coffee as a crop and watch men pick it that you realize what goes into your morning cup.  I've had days where I've probably drunk the equivalent of an entire bush.

Everyone we encountered on our journey spoke to us.  Either a "buenos dias" or "hola" or a simple "buenas."  It's a friendly place, Colombia.  Either that or people are mannered.

At the cafe we drank coffee and relaxed.  I perused the local real estate circular.  Page after page of condos, many more than can be supported by the local coffee economy.  The nearby "big" city of Armenia has doubled in size from 200,000 to 400,000 in the last 15 years.  Turns out, Colombia's retirees are fond of the area, and so they should be.  They've been moving here en masse as the civil war recedes into memory.