For the past few years of my life, I have been living and experiencing man-made places. I live in New York City, a place where every inch has been planned and built. In its own way, places like New York City have their own majesty. From the ground, looking up at high buildings, a person can feel overshadowed by rows of towering skyscrapers. The Andes are different in every single way. Its high mountain peaks tower too, but manage to make you feel more a part of the beauty of

On Monday I got the privilege of joining Andes EcoTours for an ecotourism trip to Tibacuy, a little town roughly two hours out of Bogota where a collective of families still produce coffee in the most traditional of ways. While it is certainly far away it is more than worth the trip especially when the driving time seems to just slip right on by thanks to Andres’ extensive knowledge of Bogota and its surroundings. This time we found ourselves heading South West, straight thro

I woke up early and prepared myself a solid breakfast of eggs, an Italian bread roll, and avocado all topped off with a nice warm cup of fresh Colombian coffee. Shortly later I was in Andres’ 4x4 with three other Americans on our way to Chingaza National Park’s páramo. While it was some one-hour and such away by car, our tour began well before then. Along the way Andres made sure to share his knowledge and delight use with some facts about the surrounding area. If you know yo

This week I'd like to talk a little bit about Colombian food, because although I've only been here in Bogota for a month, I'm still surprised at the incredible variety this country has to offer. One of the best things for me is undoubtedly the affordable price of food, at least in La Candelaria. In fact, here it is very common to have a complete lunch for only 5,000 pesos (which is approximately 2 euros), A lunch which includes soup, a main dish (usually rice with chicken or

For a coffee lover, one of the best things oin life is probably to see where this wonderful product comes from and how it’s worked. I’ve been lucky because this week I had the opportunity to visit a coffee community where I’ve learned many notions about coffee and the local cafetero culture. Precisely, I’ve been in Tibacuy, a municipality in the Cundinamarca department, and hosted by a local family of coffee growers. When I arrived to the Tibacuy area, I realized how it was c

As I’ve already written in the previous blog, I’m quite new here in Bogotá but I’ve fortunately started to travel to the magnificent countryside around the city. I’ve been in Choachí, a place that I really appreciated for its uncontaminated nature, and this week I’ll spend 4 days in the coffee community near Silvania. But here I’d like to tell you something about the tour I participated in last Sunday: the Tablazo Mountain Reserve and Cloud Forest. When I woke up on Sunday I

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to join a tour to Chingaza National Park. The reserve is one of Colombia’s hauntingly beautiful páramos and also one of the most protected natural areas in the country because it provides water for so many people. Páramos are some of the most unique ecosystems in the world. These ‘water factories’ are only present in a handful of countries and Colombia is lucky enough to be home to about half of the earth’s supply. Chingaza alone provid

As I’ve probably mentioned before on this blog, working with local communities is one of my favorite parts of the ecotourism industry. Earlier this week I had the chance to spend a few days in Choachi ‘behind the scenes’ of the tour we offer there. After completing a our typical tour last Monday, I met up with Hernán, one of the guides in Choachí, and went to his mom’s house for dinner. It was great to meet some of the other locals in the area and get to know them better as

As my final day as an intern with Andes EcoTours winds down, I am finding myself increasingly nostalgic about the time I have spent in the capital of Colombia. Like a mirror, Bogotá reflects all of the diversity to be found just outside of the city in the form of ecosystems and plant and animal species. The people, the culture, the food, the history – such diversity is part and parcel of the soul of the city. It is within this soul that I have enjoyed working and living. I ha

This past weekend, I had a great opportunity to escape the concrete jungle that is Bogotá. I was invited to spend a few days with the coffee-growing association that we are partnered with in Tibacuy so that I might learn more about the coffee harvesting process. The community is very interested in hosting exchange possibilities for foreigners and I was more than happy to be the honorary gringo of the weekend. My host family for the duration of my stay was a dream: 1. The moth