Around the end of March, I decided that I was going to leave Minca. I have loved Colombia as a country to travel in but my work in Minca has not been as fulfilling and useful as I hoped it would be. I can't pinpoint an exact reason why I was not enjoying my life in Minca as much as I usually would enjoy life but decided the best thing to do would be find a different opportunity. I have a good friend who works for a charity that is based in Guatemala (she works for the charity but in the UK office) and she told me about the opportunity to be an intern in Guatemala and the more research I did the more I was convinced it was the right decision to move to Guatemala. After a great experience in Honduras in 2015 I have been wanting to go back to Central America for a long time so this sounded like the perfect opportunity. However, in this blog I am going to write about my last week in Minca.
By pure coincidence during my last week in Minca two fellow travellers I had met were coming to visit Minca. The first to arrive was Sam, a fellow Brit, who I met in El Chalten in Argentina in December! He had worked his way all the way up to Colombia.
It was nice to spend some evening meals with him and Amy, an American girl, who he had met on the bus to Minca.
I went to see the sunset from the famous Casa Loma balcony, which is where his hostel was. Sadly, I just missed the sunset and instead we noticed the forest fires that were raging in the mountains just above the village. All the locals are hoping the rain comes soon to put out these fires as there is not enough water or resources currently to fight the fires.
Another friend, Lea, who I met in Bogota arrived on Wednesday evening. Sam, Lea and I went out for food and were joined by Andrea and Lauren. Andrea is the Colombian girl I work with and Lauren is her friend. Afterwards we went to a billiards room, which you can find all over Colombia and is a favourite pastime here. We had a lot of fun even though the skill level wasn't too inspiring.
Thursday, I was allowed the day off, as I had worked on Sunday. Lea, Sam and I walked to a cacao farm. It took just over an hour but was a very hot and dusty walk which is a common theme for walks in Minca.
The views were really good though. We all really enjoyed the tour of the chocolate farm. It was just us, one other german girl and the guide who took us through the whole process from plantation to hot chocolate. We also got our faces painted in a chocolate, coffee and rose oil face mask which is supposed to have many good qualities.
From the farm we walked to Pozo Azul, one of Minca's main attractions. We probably scared/were ridiculed by a few locals as we walked through the countryside rocking our facemasks. It was so good to swim in the waterfalls at Pozo Azul and wash all the dust off and chocolate from my face.
After arriving back in Minca we had a good meal at a vegetarian restaurant and said farewell to Sam. Lea and I watched the sunset from the hammocks at her hostel.
On my last day working at Misión Gaia, I finished off a few projects I had been working on and during my lunch break took the opportunity to visit the Memory Museum of Minca. I'm so glad I went and it gave an invaluable insight into the history of Minca of which I knew almost nothing. In the evening Andrea came round and we enjoyed dinner and star fruit juice as my last meal. After she left I finished packing up my things and prepared myself for an early start on Saturday.
daf
2019-04-18
The fires sound a little too close for comfort! I'm not surprised the locals gave you a wide birth with coffee & chocolate dregs smeared on your face. the photo of the toy bird reminded me of the parrot mobile we used to have in your bedroom and all the fun you had with it. x
Carynm
2019-04-18
Well you certainly made the most of your final week in Minca. How strange that two fellow travellers from previous trips were there for you to spend time with. Guess the longer you're travelling the more this is likely to happen. It must have been a relief to swim at the waterfall and wash off the dust and cacao face mask. Watching the sunset from the hammock looks like a nice relaxing experience. The bamboo bridge doesn't look too robust!