I arrived in Manisales in the middle of the afternoon and found that my hostel was very empty. Having freshended up and settled in I went for an explore to check out the city. The city itself it tucked in between mountains and sprawls its way up a rmany peaks with a city centre on top of one of these ridges.

I did a bit of souvenir shopping and went out for some food before preparing for an evening at the hot springs located nearby. I arrived at the springs around 9pm and soon settled into one of the smaller pools which was at a much more pleasant temperature than some of the scorching jacuzzis in the centre.

I sat there for a while soaking and reminiscing about my trip until I got chatting to 2 local Colombian girls and their father who were in the same pool as me. We all ended up chatting for the next 3 hours whilst soaking and slowly turning into prunes. We discussed almost everything and anything, including coffee as this was the fathers line of business. Through the evening but despite my best efforts I was bought a beer and given generous quantities of rum. Before I knew it it was midnight and time to leave when the Colombian friendliness extended still further and I was given a lift home as well as 2 of the ponchos that they had in the car as gifts for me to take back to my family.

It is this kind of generosity and genuinely friendliness that has helped make Colombia my favourite country of South America. That evening, with extremely soft skin I slept very well.

Next morning I was up early and after being cooked a delicious breakfast by the receptionist I was collected along with 3 other people to go on a coffee tour. I was taken to Hacienda Vaniessa which was around 40 minutes out of town half way down a beautiful valley. We drove in past some coffee fields and before long were sipping away on some fresh coffee in a classroom being taught about the history of coffee.

We were shown the different types of coffee beans, told that coffee had started in Eithiopia and why the Colombian climate lent itself so well to growing excellent coffee. We were also told that all of the best coffee is exported and the rest is drunk in Colombia itself, which is why as we all had agreed the coffee in Colombia itself is not all its built up to be. After our lessons were over it was time to get the wellies on and explore the farm and the coffee plants. We were shown the new and old plants, where the coffee was processed and each of the different stages that it goes through before it is bagged up and exported, in this case usually to Japan.

After our tour was complete but before lunch was served we chilled out in the hammock and explored the beautiful grounds surrounding the Hacienda. It was one of the most impressive homes and locations I have ever seen. After lunch we returned once more to Manizales where for me it was time to get back on a minibus ready for my last night in South America, which was to be speant in Medellin.

Unfortunately, the journey seemed to go on forever as we were stuck in heavy traffic on the mountain roads meaning I didn't arrive until almost 10pm in Medellin.