Bellavista Santiago-The coffee hunt goes on...

Even though South America is meant to be the source of great coffee it is bloody hard to find a great cup while travelling.

I have had to re-learn the lesson each time i.e espresso is the only type that will come close to satisfying the taste buds honned on NZ coffee.

I have been wandering around Bellavista and there are great design stores, music places, galleries, even a coffee shop but I can't find great coffee! Arghhh!!

I at last found an impersonation of one in a little courtyard with walls up to the sky, and covered in vines. It had a gallery attached with some interesting bronze casts and a design store in the cafe.

Chilean nights out..now I have time to blog

I need to tell you about the great hotel I was in in Santiago, and about a couple of resturants. The hotel is one up from a hostel/boutique style, so yes rustic but in such a good location. Hotel del Patio is in Barrio Bellavista www.hoteldelpatio.cl. I managed to get good corporate rates of $75US per night. It is an old 19th century mansion gutted out but the best thing is it overlooks Del Patio which is an enclave of cafes, bars, design shops and tourist shops. This is an ideal location for a woman travelling on her own, as I have done in the past.
Jennifer had her birthday on tour, so we celebrated by going to Amorio www.amorio.cl This is the place I had been introduced to 2 years before, and each time I am in Santiago it is a must.I was well pleased to have enough Spanish this time to book the table!
We drank Casa Silva Reserva Cabernet Sauvigon 2006 (it was Jennifer's choice) and it was just perfect. We were the first table seated at around 8pm. Sooo early to go out! They are no-where as late as the Argentineans, they are quite outside the box, even for Latin Americans. A great night out but didn't go too hard as we had the fair next day.
The other new resturant we tried and now rave about was Cienfuegos
www.grupocienfuegos.cl It was just 50 metres from home, so ideal for after a fair and with another day to go.
Well the ambience was so comfortable that we took our shoes off and curled up in the sofas where we were being served. We were so tired that we got the giggles really badly, as you do. it all started when the waiter, first day on the job, broke a glass everywhere, spilt something else etc. The point that sent us over the edge was when he apologetically came back with a very torn wine label (Castillo de Molina Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2006). The photo above says it all. The food was presented in such an amazing way that all dishes were photographed. All up it didn't cost much at all per person but it was top-notch. The hard yards are hard.

Last night in Chile-Los Beunos Muchachos

I forgot to tell you about my last night in Chile.
We had the fair for very long hours on Friday and Saturday, collecting 160 names and emails. Fairs can be very boring affairs! We had 3 students on the booth, so we adults spent most of the time just organising and inputting data etc.
Anyway for the wind-up we went to the Chilean show Los Beunos Muchachos, which I had been to before. Around 35 of us from the fair were there along with around 500 or so others! It is huge, like a large hall. The food is a traditional asada, or grill and was awesome. We started with Pisco Sours, the national drink, and then onto the red wine. We began dinner around 10pm. Well after the show part comes the dancing, and dance we did!!
The old dancing to Latin music does it to me every time. 3 of us middle-aged women were egging each other on to dance with the sexy 33 year old from ENZ. In our dreams only.
I think I won with the up-close, almost dirty, dancing version. Oh la la, salsa up close, being thrown around the dance floor. Systems still go after all.
Huge night. 4 hours sleep and off to flight, as you do.

Cartagena..historic

Cartagena...salsa heaven

I have to bring my friends here to experience what I did last night in this amazing place. Salsa...blasting out of historic cafes...Cuban salsa music played live in the most atmospheric cafe/bar I have ever been in....drinking Cubalibre drinks in the square as the sun went down, while listening to the salsa pulse...drinking caiperingas(?) until 2am while the crowd shook to the salsa band...eating local specialities off a board (shredded meat, salads, chicken,tasty sausage, fried plantain). oh my God!! is all I could think, this is heaven!!! The colours are just fantastic and the sounds cram into your brain, so much so that I dreamed all night that I was still partying.

Colombian coffee for purists

Hola mi amigos, mi gusta espresso del Colombia!
At last coffee to write home about.
I am in Cartagena, on the Caribbean Coast of Colombia (near to Panama and Venezuela) and I am sure I have landed in heaven.
I have found an Italian roaster of the best Colombian beans.
100% Arabica beans , from about 7 to 9 different top coffee farms. Hand selected bean by bean, naturally dried under the sun and then slowly roasted in the Italian style (as opposed to burning it). The coffee was voted the best coffee in Colombia by the national paper.
The brand is Devotion.
It is so hot and humid here that I am also having iced/shaken versions of it, with shit-loads of sugar in it (as made).
The espresso is thick, creamy and sweet. Yum. Mi gusta.
Ciao,
Suzette

Medellin, Colombia

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Medellin (pronounced Medijin)is a lovely city of 1.5 million in the hills of Colombia.
It is nice and fresh most of the time due to the height above sea level.We struck it really hot at 36 degrees during the day.

We ran the marathon in Medellin as you can see by the timetable. It is a striking city, being at he bottom of a very deep and narrow valley. The area produces flowers and vegetables for export, plus the city has many high-tech industries and design and fashion and medical establishments. The women are seen to be the most beautiful in all of Colombia, and the most sophisticated. We saw very up- market women out lunching. The hotel we were in, the Hotel San Fernando Plaza, was jaw-droppingly up-market as it was brand new and had special promotional rates.It was like a fantastic Thai or Singapore one.

My coaching point of trying to help the agents make their businesses better was in action! Luckily my background in geography teaching came to the fore, but also the fact all 3 of us were teachers, we just went onto automatic pilot and taught who were in front of us.

Off for a long slow lunch, Barranquilla next posting.
Suzette