D4: Filandia to Cartago
RideWithGPS Details || Distance: 32.1 miles || Elevation gain: 1500'
***PRO TIPS***
1. Stop in La Espinola. Get a coffee and snack under the amazing mata raton tree!
2. Soak up Quimbaya. It's a fantastic little town and well worth some extra time!
3. Eat chicken wings at Chef Wings in Cartago! They have beers from Bogota Brewing too!
After one last tinto on the town square in Filandia, head west out of town past the mirador following the main paved road towards Quimbaya. Seriously, get one last tinto - the coffee will not be this good again until you arrive in Jardin!
The paved road winds along a ridgeline with views across the surrounding fincas of the region. Stay right - and on the pavement - at the first two forks along the road. After about 2 miles, turn sharply left in the middle of a right hand curve, onto the quiet yet chunky surface of a gravel road towards La Espinola.
The next few miles are increidble, glorious miles of gently flowing downhill connecting small fincas. Relish this as it is the finest bit of riding left on this trip!! Yes, there are still incredible experiences to come but NOTHING compares to the riding around Filandia. The closeness of the agrarian-cultural combo envelops your senses along these gravel roads. You'll also pass through schools, and if you're lucky, catch the kids out at recess playing futbol under a canopy of loud, rythmic music!
All roads this awesome should end at an intersection with a large shade tree! Welcome to La Espinola - two mini stores/snack stands flank the very stately mata raton tree. We were told that the dried fruit of this tree is used locally as rat poison. The tree is a legume which means it replaces nitrogen in the soil and thus can be interplanted with agircultural crops, including coffee! On this warm day, we appreciated the tree for its beauty and its shade!
Once its time to leave La Espanola, take the right fork and back on to pavement. Unlike other paved roads on the trip, this stretch to Quimbaya is almost as quiet and traffic free as the gravel roads; enjoy! From La Espanola the road meanders generally downhill through small bits of residential areas, schools, and fincas of plantains shading coffee plants. After a short little climb, you will come to an intersection; go right again continuing to flow dowhill for Quimbaya comes into view across a drainage. After you drop down to cross, you'll stay to the left and climb up through the outskirts of town before topping out and winding your way through the pueblo to the town center.
Quimbaya is a very friendly town and we had plenty of folks willing to point us toward restaurants for lunch and pointing out things in town to see. We arrived on the day of the Christmas festival and town was bustling to get ready for a large Friday night party! The town square rivaled Filandia in terms of holiday decorations and the real test of that could only have been performed at night!
After Quimbaya, you quickly meet up with a primary road and traffic gets heavier. For the most part, you continue downhill and you reach a climate that is conducive more for growing citrus than coffee! Yes, you should read that riding along this stretch - and the day ahead - will be much hotter! The landscape changes rather dramatically, with citrus dotting hillsides and long panaromic views across the Valle del Cauca. Our destination is Cartago which rests along the base of the valley in the foreground!
After passing the turnoff to Alcala, you'll roll down, as the temperature continues to rise, to eventually cross Rio La Vieja. The day's primary bit of climbing begins immeadiately once across the bridge! After all the easy miles today, this climb is harder on the legs than the numbers would suggest. The views continue to open up although never entirely as you porpoise along and eventually summit. The downhill into Cartago is fast aong smooth pavement - and refreshingly cool after you've worked up a decent lather of sweat!
Cartago is a busy town in the center of the Valle del Cauca. We arrived into town mid'afternoon and
traffic was not bad on the 4-lane road circling the eastern edge of the city. The city has some historical sites and the main church in paticular is beautiful. Culturally, we enjoyed people watching in the really busy town square. By this point of the trip, we'd given up trying to find Colombian cuisine for dinner and headed over to Chef Wings - a few blocks walk from our hotel (both highly recommended, see below). We were blown away by a few things:
1) they give you a plastic glove to eat your wings!
2) the wings are incredible! large variety of sauces and all that we tried were awesome!
3) Bogota Brewwing Company in bottles! BBC is by far the best beer in Colombia and it is difficult to find outside of urban areas. We had several to wash down our wings!
****RECOMMENDATIONS****
1. Hotel Don Gregorio. Clean and simple accomodations and rooms with air-conditioning! This is the only hotel the entire trip we needed it, but we needed it. The terperature was 97 degrees when we arrived into town! The hotel staff was super, super accomodating. Bikes stayed in the room with us. AM breakfast was included in the price and consisted of a fresh made omelet!
2. Chef Wings (no website). We've already raged about it. But look no further/harder for dinner in Cartago. You will not be dissapointed!
***PRO TIPS***
1. Stop in La Espinola. Get a coffee and snack under the amazing mata raton tree!
2. Soak up Quimbaya. It's a fantastic little town and well worth some extra time!
3. Eat chicken wings at Chef Wings in Cartago! They have beers from Bogota Brewing too!
After one last tinto on the town square in Filandia, head west out of town past the mirador following the main paved road towards Quimbaya. Seriously, get one last tinto - the coffee will not be this good again until you arrive in Jardin!
The paved road winds along a ridgeline with views across the surrounding fincas of the region. Stay right - and on the pavement - at the first two forks along the road. After about 2 miles, turn sharply left in the middle of a right hand curve, onto the quiet yet chunky surface of a gravel road towards La Espinola.
The next few miles are increidble, glorious miles of gently flowing downhill connecting small fincas. Relish this as it is the finest bit of riding left on this trip!! Yes, there are still incredible experiences to come but NOTHING compares to the riding around Filandia. The closeness of the agrarian-cultural combo envelops your senses along these gravel roads. You'll also pass through schools, and if you're lucky, catch the kids out at recess playing futbol under a canopy of loud, rythmic music!
All roads this awesome should end at an intersection with a large shade tree! Welcome to La Espinola - two mini stores/snack stands flank the very stately mata raton tree. We were told that the dried fruit of this tree is used locally as rat poison. The tree is a legume which means it replaces nitrogen in the soil and thus can be interplanted with agircultural crops, including coffee! On this warm day, we appreciated the tree for its beauty and its shade!
Once its time to leave La Espanola, take the right fork and back on to pavement. Unlike other paved roads on the trip, this stretch to Quimbaya is almost as quiet and traffic free as the gravel roads; enjoy! From La Espanola the road meanders generally downhill through small bits of residential areas, schools, and fincas of plantains shading coffee plants. After a short little climb, you will come to an intersection; go right again continuing to flow dowhill for Quimbaya comes into view across a drainage. After you drop down to cross, you'll stay to the left and climb up through the outskirts of town before topping out and winding your way through the pueblo to the town center.
Quimbaya is a very friendly town and we had plenty of folks willing to point us toward restaurants for lunch and pointing out things in town to see. We arrived on the day of the Christmas festival and town was bustling to get ready for a large Friday night party! The town square rivaled Filandia in terms of holiday decorations and the real test of that could only have been performed at night!
After Quimbaya, you quickly meet up with a primary road and traffic gets heavier. For the most part, you continue downhill and you reach a climate that is conducive more for growing citrus than coffee! Yes, you should read that riding along this stretch - and the day ahead - will be much hotter! The landscape changes rather dramatically, with citrus dotting hillsides and long panaromic views across the Valle del Cauca. Our destination is Cartago which rests along the base of the valley in the foreground!After passing the turnoff to Alcala, you'll roll down, as the temperature continues to rise, to eventually cross Rio La Vieja. The day's primary bit of climbing begins immeadiately once across the bridge! After all the easy miles today, this climb is harder on the legs than the numbers would suggest. The views continue to open up although never entirely as you porpoise along and eventually summit. The downhill into Cartago is fast aong smooth pavement - and refreshingly cool after you've worked up a decent lather of sweat!
Cartago is a busy town in the center of the Valle del Cauca. We arrived into town mid'afternoon and traffic was not bad on the 4-lane road circling the eastern edge of the city. The city has some historical sites and the main church in paticular is beautiful. Culturally, we enjoyed people watching in the really busy town square. By this point of the trip, we'd given up trying to find Colombian cuisine for dinner and headed over to Chef Wings - a few blocks walk from our hotel (both highly recommended, see below). We were blown away by a few things:
1) they give you a plastic glove to eat your wings!
2) the wings are incredible! large variety of sauces and all that we tried were awesome!
3) Bogota Brewwing Company in bottles! BBC is by far the best beer in Colombia and it is difficult to find outside of urban areas. We had several to wash down our wings!
****RECOMMENDATIONS****
1. Hotel Don Gregorio. Clean and simple accomodations and rooms with air-conditioning! This is the only hotel the entire trip we needed it, but we needed it. The terperature was 97 degrees when we arrived into town! The hotel staff was super, super accomodating. Bikes stayed in the room with us. AM breakfast was included in the price and consisted of a fresh made omelet!
2. Chef Wings (no website). We've already raged about it. But look no further/harder for dinner in Cartago. You will not be dissapointed!
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| Quimbaya 1 |
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| Quimbaya 2 |
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| $2 COP worth of mandarins - yep, ~$0.67 USD |
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| How everyday in Cartago chould end! BBC and wings! |
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