When the itinerary was being developed, I considered the time in Marinilla (outside of Medellín) as a “transition point” between the jungle and the island parts of my trip. I was definitely intrigued by the pictures of cabanas nestled in the trees with views of the valley and felt that alone would be worth the experience. It was great waking up with colorful birds perched outside my floor-to-ceiling windows and I watched the morning fog rise up. I took my drone out to capture some photos:

Coffee Course

After a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit, bread, and an omelette, I started my coffee course. I thought it’d generally be a coffee tasting but I got a crash course in understanding the process from the fruit, coffee cherry (TIL), to fermentation, roasting, and the extraction process. My instructor, Fabian, used medium grind coffee as a “constant” across all types, noting that I can play around with the different grinds, extraction timing to get the taste that I’m happy with. I learned to discern whether the coffee is sour, sweet, or bitter, and which combinations I like more than others as we went through the different extraction methods. When I get home, I just might get my coffee grinder back out of storage and get back into it. My favorites in rank order were: siphon, french press, aeropress, and chemex. But he also reminded me that I should try chemex again but with a finer grind and it will taste different, likely more favorable.

Permaculture Tour

I was delighted to learn that my coffee class instructor, Fabian, was also doing the permaculture tour! The group of us sat “half inside and half outside” (we were outside, but under the first floor foundation of Cannua lodge.) When I came into this, I thought it would just be a short hike to look at flowers and berries. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. Permaculture is a philosophy and a way of life. Cannua was founded in 2017 and just as land. Colombia is the most biodiverse country by square footage. Costa Rica is #17 in biodiversity and is in the top 5 for ecotourism. Colombia is #1 and not even in the top 20 for ecotourism. So the founders of Cannua want to help educate people about the rich biodiversity of Colombia and bring people to experience the nature and environment in the most seamless manner.

Another principle of permaculture is protection of the land. When the architect determined the flattest part of the land for them to build, there were two large trees in the middle of it. He advised they cut it down. They fired him. A few months later, the architect came back with a proposal, noting that there’s a way to integrate the Fibonacci sequence while saving the tree. Starting with a hextagon as a folded series of triangles, if you fold it out one by one, it folds out in a spiral. In nature the numbers and ratios in the sequence can be found in the patterns of petals of flowers, succulents, leaves on the stems. It is psychologically known to create a relaxing and harmonious effect.

So they began planning the site with this in mind. Also they did not want to dig too much earth away because that would mean tons of dirt taken away, which meant trucks going through the small neighboring village day in and day out, causing disruption to their way of life. That is not what Cannua wanted, they want to be a part of the community and not work against them. Instead, they took the dirt that they dug to make the foundation for the lodge and made into bricks, using mostly the dirt, and a little bit of concrete, and laying them out in the sun to dry. It only took a few days to harden, and as a result, they eliminated all the disturbance and destruction that would come through the traditional construction process.

Speaking of being neighborly to the community: there is no front door when arriving to Cannua. (It was the first thing I noticed upon my late evening arrival the day prior.) This is intentional because they want the neighbors to always feel welcome to come in and have water, coffee, sit down and enjoy the place too.

The lodge was ready December 2019. Yes, you read that date correctly, just a few months before the world came to a halt for the pandemic and tourism took a major hit. So this was tough for Cannua to experience after two years of preparation. They reopened in December of 2020 and have been working ever since, to educate and bring people in to experience the harmonious effects of nature. Another focus of permaculture is harvesting the land for food and growing what you can eat, so they aspire to have the majority of their menu prepared from their garden, and they are at 30% at this time. The rest of it comes from the local communities. They continue to work on their gardens and figure out what works, what grows well and responds to this soil. I was just blown away and had such greater appreciation of my stay here between the jungle and the Caribbean! I was so inspired by their efforts and am excited to see Cannua continue to become a leader and model in true ecotourism.

Food

The food here at Cannua has been amazing! So fresh and delicious. The executive chef was the right hand person to one of the most famous chefs in Europe, so he brought all this training back with him. In 2023, Cannua’s restaurant was a finalist in the best fine dining in Colombia. Here’s a few photos of my dishes! I especially loved the squash soup. On my 3rd night I finally found the smoked old fashioned on the menu and it was divine. My only regret is not seeing it the first night. (Or maybe that’s a good thing?)

Flower Farm Field Trip

The day after the full rest day at Cannua, my guide Ana picked me up to visit a couple of flower farms. The first was to learn about the silleteros who carry decorated flower-filled structures called sillas along a 4km route. The history is that the slaves in this region had to carry down their masters on their backs up and down the mountains on sillas. (They look like chairs without legs.) After that period of history passed, people in this particular community still used the sillas to carry down their harvest to market — often flowers, abundant, beautiful bouquets of flowers. It led to a yearly celebration in Medellín in August. Only members of this particular community outside of Medellín are able to participate. So we met with one famous, award-winning silletero who did a demonstration for me.

After that, we departed to go to another farm that is a major exporter of hydrangeas to Asia and Europe. I gained greater appreciation for the farmers through this experience and how the middleman can really eat their profits. So this particular family decided to “cut” the middleman and become an exporter. So we learned about their process and the strict quality control protocols in place. If there is even one defect, the buyer will refuse the entire shipment (and they lose all their money spent packaging, exporting it, and they have to spend more money to dispose of them). These are high-end buyers, not necessarily buyers for your local grocery store! The farmers inspect each flower, each petal for any imperfections and remove them. (Such as this microscopic red dot, pictured here). Then they dry them out and individually, by hand, wrap each stem into their own watering “bag.” And then they package it to be exported. It’s about 9 days door to door and they arrive looking just as fresh, thanks to their preparation process.

They let me cut a couple of my own to go through this process and it’s was such an interactive experience. I’m so grateful for that! We also got to see his “hobby” that is also growing into another line of his business, succulents. There were over 80 varieties of succulents in this greenhouse. So impressive! He’s working on paperwork and permits to be able to export internationally. I’m going to set up alerts to find out when he can export since I can see myself being a frequent customer!

We wrapped up the tour with a delicious family-style lunch at their house. His wife made a delicious squash soup with chicken, salad, rice and beans. It was refreshing and delicious! We sat outside with a beautiful view of the valley.