The first task this morning was to get some minutes for my cell phone and lookup the internet for directions to Hacienda Bambusa. We found a Comcel shop on the road into Armenia and parked in a side street nearby. It took me about 20 minutes and when I returned to the vehicle Nina was nowhere to be seen. Then I heard a voice from a nearby house. Nina was inside talking to Deisy, the lady of the house, who was preparing hot chocolate and food for us.
We were delighted to get an opportunity to see inside a typical house of one of the local people. It was made of concrete, was much larger once inside than could be seen from the outside, had a full range of mod-cons, TV, sound system, washing machine, and recently tiled kitchen.
We are continually amazed by the warmth and hospitality of the Colombians we have met and often feel inadequate in not being able to return it. This time however we felt like we at least partly repaid our hostess. Deisy showed us a bed cover she was making decorated with cross-sticked patterns. When she went to demonstrate the stitch she asked me to thread the needle, so I gave her my reading glasses. She seemed very delighted with the gift.
With directions in hand we set out to find Bambusa. It took a couple of tries but eventually we were on the right road, and according to our GPS closing in. At the black and yellow bar across the road we saw a sign to haciendabambusa.com and knew we were on track. After a quick conversation the guard let us in and we followed a dirt track through banana plantations for a couple of miles before arriving at the Hacienda.
We were shown the place by one of the staff; he spoke little English to match our little Spanish. But non the less we have electricity, water and know where the bathrooms are. We also seem to be the only guests.
The place is simply wonderful. A loverly hacienda building with guest rooms, a pool, covered picnic come barbecue area on flat grassy land. Lovely tropical plants that are well established and well maintained. Lots of birds including many humming birds that flit all over the place and from time to time seem to get into fights.
Camping
We would not have found Bambusa without the directions in their website. The GPS coordinates (provided by travelin-tortugas and questconnect)
N04 25.30 W75 45.68 for the gate house, and
N04 24.00 W76 46.51 for the Hacienda
together with a decent digital map of Colombia only confirmed that we were at the right place. But the map did not have the necessary roads to enable the GPS to route us to the Hacienda.
The triangular round about mentioned in the directions is very large, it's more like three connected y intersections than a roundabout, its coordinates are Nnn nn.nnn Wnn nn.nnn.
The last of the three consecutive round-abouts is at Nxx xx.xxx Wxx xx.xxx.
Just before the triangular round there is a small sign on the side of the road for the gas station La Mia. The gas station, an Esso, is after the triangular round about.
The left turn into the narrow paved road after La Mia is a 45° turn not a right angle. On the right hand side of the main road at this turn is a rusty sign to El Caimo. The turn is at coordinates Nxx xx.xxx Wxx xx.xxx
I will put these GPS coordinates in after we drive out of here.
The last part of the directions seem to be in error. The yellow and black bar across the road can be recognized by the weigh bridge right beside it. That is also the entrance to the property and there is a sign for haciendabambus.com near that gate. From the gate the dirt road to the hacienda travels through banana plantations for a couple of miles.
