The small town of Pueblo Rico, located about three hours from Pereira, has almost nothing to offer. I visited on a short trip with my girlfriend Marisol and spent about an hour there.
If you find yourself in Pereira during the day and get bored (which is easy to do), head across the bridge to the suburb of Dosquebradas. This city is part of the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia.
I didn’t know much about bachata music until I met Marisol. When her favorite artist, Romeo Santos, announced a concert in Pereira, she asked me to come with her and her group of friends. In the weeks leading up to the concert, Marisol taught me how to dance bachata. She told me I can’t go to the concert unless I can dance.
My last week of school in Belén de Umbría was actually just three days long. The first day of the week at Nuestra Señora del Rosario started on a Tuesday because of a holiday on Monday.
All of the students from my high school in Taparcal walked nearly 5km to nearby Belén de Umbría to honor a student who was murdered in 2011. 16 year old Andrés Felipe Espinosa and another man, Wilder de Jesús López Valencia, 31, were killed for a cell phone and COP$10,000 pesos when their jeep was attacked by two armed men one Sunday evening.
The schools in Belén de Umbría had one of the biggest weeks of the school year with their annual parade and science fair. Students in 1st through 10th grade participated in the parade while 11th graders worked very hard on the science fair, which was actually a business fair.
In Belén de Umbría, the privately run Eliseo Bolívar Museum (Museo Eliseo Bolívar) is a fantastic museum with a very unique collection. It displays indigenous artifacts from pre-Columbian times along with personal items collected by the grandfather of the museum’s current owners.
I’m now two months into my teaching post in Belén de Umbría and it’s been very interesting so far. I work at Colegio Nuestra Señora del Rosario every day except Thursday. It’s got over 800 students in grades 6 through 11. The school is just one block uphill from the plaza in Belén. It’s got an amazing view of the green mountains from the second floor.
Every year for one week, Belén de Umbría celebrates a week of fiestas to commemorate the founding of the town. The fiestas usually take place in November. This year, they were moved a month earlier to October.
Just 15 minutes from Belén de Umbría is Taparcal. It’s a tiny little village set beautifully on a small mountain ridge with incredible views in every direction. It’s located within the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia.