Armenia is a country in the South Caucasus. Wait, what?
Armenia.
Armenia 0 kilometers, Armenia - Quimbaya 31 kilometers
Our house in Armenia.
We had to take an involuntary rest day after having climbed and then descended one of the Andes mountain ranges. Not because of fatigue, but because of illness. So I spent the day on a couch in Armenia. The city, not the country. Armenia is the biggest city of the Colombian coffee lands, located at the heart of the region with 300,000 inhabitants. Temperature ranges from 18 to 28 degrees Celsius, and its green and lush. And there is actually a connection to Armenia, the country.
The city was originally to be named Villa Holguín after the then president. However, words came to the village of a massacre of Armenians. To commemorate the massacred people, the founders of the city decided to name it Armenia. Two massacres of the Armenians took place around the time of the city being founded, in 1894-1897 and the genocidein 1915, both committed by the Ottomans. Sources vary on which incident led the village in Colombia to change its name.
True story, and something similar would probably not happen today.
Status
Riding through the coffee lands.
We will spend the next couple of days village hopping in the coffee lands. First stop Quimbaya, a short ride which a disease-ridden body could endure. We chose dirt tracks for a while, and it was a sweet interruption from the noisy traffic.
Omar continues his culinary quest through Colombia. Here he is looking for caima, a fruit.
It was nice to have a day without traffic.
Cows are much nicer than dogs. Here are Flor, Fiesta and Rita.
Public transport in the coffee lands.
