Manizales, Colombia, South America

I left the hotel in Medellin this morning, and as much as I liked the city, I was pretty happy to not have to walk through that neighborhood again. It was rough! I got to the south bus station and found a bus to Manizales, that was leaving in about 10 minutes. I was pretty lucky I guess. It was a direct bus and took about five hours to get here. The ride was beautiful, with some amazing mountain views.

I arrived in Manizales and had to jump on a cable car to get from the bus terminal up to the city center. I am pretty impressed with the city. It’s a bit busier than I had expected it to be, but it looks really nice. And more importantly, it feels totally safe. Unlike my last neighborhood, I am completely comfortable walking around here on my own. It was about a ten block walk from the top of the cable car to get to my hostel, and it was easy enough to find.

I was greeted very happily by a lovely woman named Marta who owns/manages the hostel. It is really well set up, and I got really lucky with the room. I booked a bed in a five-bed dorm, but I have the whole room to myself. I went out and had a look around the city and it looks really nice, but very small. It was after dark by the time I got out of the hostel, so the two viewpoints I wanted to get to were already out of the picture.

Marta gave me some recommendations on what to see tomorrow, so I’ll head out in the morning and hope for good weather to see what this little town has to offer. I’m also heading south to Salento tomorrow afternoon, so I’ll try to get my sightseeing done early in the morning so I’m not in a rush trying to get the busses south.