Not too far outside Pereira is a great park for both kids and adults. Parque Consotá is a huge recreational area with sports fields, several swimming pools, a spa, nature trails, fishing ponds, paddle boats, a small zoo, restaurants, and a hotel. We took Marisol’s 6 year old nephew, David, to enjoy the park for a day.
Marisol, Lina, and I would like to express a heartfelt thanks to every donor who made this project possible. In just over a month, you were able to completely make over a school and change the lives of 30 students.
The school building, as mentioned in the video in the previous post, had several problems. It hadn’t been painted in many years, the roof had huge holes in it and leaked terribly every time it rained, and the school was in bad shape in general.
In Belén de Umbría, a tiny two-room school serves a marginalized community. Andrés Escobar Primary School has two teachers and 30 students from preschool to 5th grade. Many of the students have discipline issues or learning disabilities. Some come from broken families, have just one parent, or are raised by their grandparents. A few students have been displaced by violent conflict in Colombia while others have drug addicts or prostitutes in their families. All of the students come from very low-income families that struggle to afford school supplies, uniforms, and lunches.
If you’re in Guática and feeling adventurous, you can head to the small village of Santa Ana. It’s located down the road from Guática, well off the beaten path. It’s also part of the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia.
All my life I’ve been used to jam packed churches for Greek Orthodox Easter, no matter where I’ve lived. In Northwest Indiana and Chicago, the churches are so full it’s nearly impossible to find a spot if you don’t show up super early. It was the same in Melbourne and Istanbul where I even had to stand outside of the church. In all these places, the familiar smell of burnt hair from someone’s stray candle was always in the air. This Easter, my first in Colombia, was completely different.
Covering 519 km² of area of Colombia’s western Andes Mountains is Tatamá National Park (Parque Nacional Natural Tatamá). This lesser-known park is spread out over the departments of Risaralda, Chocó, and Valle del Cauca and is one of the more inaccessible national parks in the country.
The town of Santuario, sitting high in the mountains, is one of the most beautiful towns in the department of Risaralda. It’s part of the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia and was founded on July 20, 1886 by settlers from southwest Antioquia.
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.