Minca - Mountain adventures

After the heat of Santa Marta we headed up into the Sierra Nevada to the village of Minca to base ourselves for waterfall walks, bird watching and to visit a working coffee plantation.
Our first morning we got up at 6pm and walked UP the hills further to a bird watching garden. I think our bird extravaganza at the National Aviary had spoilt us a bit as we had seen so much close up. We enjoyed the great views and a multitude of hummingbirds until the sun hit a certain angle and they disappeared. That was our call to head back down the hill/mountain for breakfast.
One of the things we are loving most about Colombian food is the fresh juice smoothies - ingredients being the fruit of your choice and ice.. The girls have at least one a day. In the heat they are the best cool down.
After an aforementioned fruit drink stop at the Lazy Cat cafe we headed out to Marinka Waterfalls for a swim and late pizza 🍕 lunch. The walk was so hot and so uphill but we made it!! The waterfall was cold and the best cool down to recover for the walk back. It was our biggest day so far with 24k steps in total.
Day 2 in Minca started with a tour of La Victoria Coffee where they grow and manufacture 40 tonnes of coffee a year. All with machinery still going from the early 1900s - the whole site is largely powered by a hydro generator powered by water flowing down the mountains. It supplies enough for everything except the fuel powered coffee bean dryer. We followefmd up the tour with a beer tasting across the road at a thatched hut 🛖 selling a local artesian beer. It was pretty surreal sitting in what felt like the middle of nowhere surrounded by jungle hills. Thankfully we had taxied up the 7km to the site so it was a hot but manageable walk back down to iceblocks and cold drinks!