Me in front of the FNC

A break in the action (for family tourism), and then, COVID

It’s been a trip of a past month and a half. I tested positive for COVID late in February when I started writing this post. But then, COVID completely wiped me out for about 10 days. Yes, it had been four years and was the first time I’d gotten it. It was definitely a challenge to be by myself in another city with another health care system with a language I barely speak. The symptoms were relatively mild, but even after being negative for the past two-ish weeks, I’ve still got a few lingering issues.

Catching up (since I’m nearly ready for another update or essay)… Early in February, I vacated one Airbnb closer to the university to move fully to another Airbnb in the north of the city.

In mid-February, Andrés and I got a meeting with a director and a manager at the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia. We were able to share some of our findings so far, while also listening to what they had to say about the specialty coffee market here and their involvement with it. Interestingly, the Federación launched a new direct trade logistics platform 10 days after meeting with them.

The bigger news was that my family– Mom, Dad, sister, brother-in-law, wife, and kids– came to visit during the February school break. This was just around the midpoint in my stay here, so I’m grateful that my parents were able to bring everyone down to break my time up, to see where I’m at, and to get to do some touristy things I hadn’t yet done.


Everyone came in that Sunday afternoon. I took a cab out to the airport and finally realized where to book a ride with Imperial Taxi back to the hotel. That first night I arrived, I didn’t know what or where or anything about how to get a credible taxi at a credible fare. But in having to get a passenger van for 8 with luggage in broad daylight and without the time pressure, I have a better feeling of how to book with them for future trips.

After everyone got settled in, we ended up meeting Andrés and his family for dinner at Karen’s Pizza. Our kids got to play with each other a bit and it was nice to have everyone get to meet– especially since I talk so much with everyone at home about Andrés and our work here. I then went back to my place, packed up a few things for the week, and then headed a couple blocks up and over to stay with the family at the hotel.


Monday, we got a van to the Candelaria neighborhood and went on a guided walking tour around that part of the city. First, we met our tour guide, Lorenzo, at Parque de los Periodistas.

Then, we took a cable car to the top of Monserrate (which I see everyday from campus, but hadn’t get been up to the top).

Monserrate is about 2 miles above sea level (in other words, twice the altitude of Denver and about an extra 1/3 of a mile above Bogota) so it was quite a bit exhausting. And the sun didn’t help matters. But we got to try some mate de coca, which was supposed to help some of the altitude sickness.

From there, we walked around the through the Candelaria’s small streets and got to see a bunch of the street art– much of which pays homage to the indigenous Muisca that originally inhabited Bacatá.

And then continued walking to the umbrella street (Carerra 1A).

From there, we went to the Mercado de Concordia to try some chicha, local fruit, and chocolate, then wound over to Plaza de Bolívar, and finally after the tour ended, had a traditional Colombiano lunch at La Puerta de la Catedral. Everyone was pretty wiped, so my sister, brother-in-law, Lucy, and I went to Amor Perfecto for some coffee, they then came to check out my flat, and we went back to the hotel before grabbing dinner at Wok 93.


Tuesday was an early morning. The Massachusetts Rosses had a 9am flight to Armenia, while everyone else went to Cartagena. Upon arriving in Armenia, we almost immediately learned that the same issues with Uber for airport pickup in Bogotá… existed in Armenia (for whatever reason, it wasn’t an issue in Cartagena?). Suffice to say, the driver was immediately pulled over before even leaving the airport, leaving us to hope that we’d be charged fairly for a cab ride to our hotel. But, at least we were still at the airport to get a cab– even if the Cabify app did not work there.

I had forgotten my bathing suit back in Bogotá (it literally was the reason I even packed swimwear for Colombia), so we ended up needing to go to a mall so I could get a bathing suit to swim at the 17th floor pool. Suffice to say, swimming in the eje cafetero (coffee axis) is nothing I would’ve envisioned myself ever doing in life.


Wednesday was the core day for us in Armenia. We had a 10am pickup for a tour of the Finca Buenos Aires coffee farm,

a hike through the Valle de Cocora,

and a rainy drive through the city of Salento, before having a nice dinner at the Cafe Quindío Restaurant.


Thursday morning, we all flew back to Bogotá. My parents went back to the hotel for a rest while the rest of us took a leisurely stroll down toward the Andino Shopping Center (while getting some Libertario Coffee en route). We noticed a bit more of an increased police presence– partially because of some increased crime in the city, but also, partially because of a hit that was carried out on Wednesday about two blocks over from my flat. It had us (me, probably moreso) unnerved, so we had some Burger Bar on the other side of the park for dinner. My parents, Judi, Maxwell, and I came to my flat so I could show it to them (and grab a few things I wanted them to take back to the US), and then we all went back to the hotel.


Friday, we took a van back down to La Candelaria and went to the Museo del Oro, which featured a lot of indigenous gold, which gave some insights as to the history of the pre-conquest area. We also browsed around the Emerald Exchange, and then went shopping at the Uniandes bookstore. By that point, it was mid afternoon, so we had some down time at the hotel, ate some arepas for a snack, and then had a final dinner at Karen’s Pizza. Saturday morning, everyone had to leave at 545 for a 9am flight back to the US.


Due to COVID, I ended up having to cancel my trip to the Producer Roaster Forum in Guatemala City. So in the interim, I’ve been doing some work here and there, we’ve had some additional interviews, and I’ve already got data that I’ve started loading into Dedoose (also, I need to learn Dedoose. And qualitative data analysis). This week, I’m in Neiva, Huila and we’re doing some more fieldwork and interviews. So it won’t be before long when I’m doing another update on this week. Plus, I’ve got a long overdue draft post on “what is specialty coffee.” So if I don’t end up also going back out to Qundío in mid-April for even more fieldwork, I’ve certainly got enough to keep me busy (plus, I think I have to present for Fulbright at some point. Plus the Federacíon Nacional would like to hear from us again and present to a bigger audience.).


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