Day 4 - Coffee Plantation Tour

We are now in Periera, which is south of Medellin and is considered to be the coffee capital of Colombia.  We had a thunderstorm in the night which woke everyone up.

It was just getting light when we got up and we had coffee on the balcony and watched as things came to life.  The lodge is not as isolated as we thought as there is a small community nearby.  Lots of exotic birdsong.

View from our room

Lovely little red and black bird seen all around the lodge

Cattle Egret in tree near the lake

Blue and black bird

Yellow bird

Lovebirds - Dusky Billed Parrotlet

Lovebirds - Dusky Billed Parrotlet

Bird at lodge

After breakfast we went on our Coffee Plantation tour.  This was about an hours drive away and on some very uneven and bumpy roads.  We were given a coffee on arrival at the Hacienda Venecia plantation near to Manizales and then had a short talk on how coffee came to be grown in Colombia as the plant originated from Ethiopia but is grown around the world.


We then went for a walk through the coffee plantation and saw how they manage the various different varieties of Arabica coffee plants in order to get the maximum yield.  Many of the plants are on very steep hillsides but planted in lines to make it easier for the pickers.    As we are so near to the equator, plants can be grown on all sides of the hill as the sun is directly about giving everywhere sunshine all day.  The beans are picked by hand and after than the whole process is by machine.  We then went on to see how the beans are prepared and graded into the various quality categories and then dried and roasted.

One of the larger varieties of coffee plant with a lot of beans.

Field of coffee plants in their second year with 

Plantain trees in the distance

Coffee plants on the steep hillside

Plantain plant

Vulture type bird on the river

Young seedlings ready for planting out in nursery beds

Part of the grading process.  Bad beans are filtered out by various methods.

Coffee Beans drying in the sun

Demonstration of the roasting process

Peacock in the grounds.

  During the walk we saw some amazing flora and fauna.  I will attempt to identify these over the coming days.

We arrived back at the hotel just before the onset of another thunderstorm with some spectacular lightening so had a rest before going to the hotel restaurant for a meal.

Lightening in the distance