In the lands of the coffee, from the book, Searching for treasures      “Some of today’s towns and cities began their life that way, you know. They were simply stopovers along the road. They were nothing more than places where the mule trains and their gangs of workers only paused to spend a night.…

In the lands of the coffee, from the book, Searching for treasures      After a pause in the conversation, shared by both of them as they enjoyed the afternoon, Jon Jairo continued to talk.      “You see, at the fondas, the muleteers could sell stuff they carried and buy or trade for things…

In the lands of the coffee, from the book, Searching for treasures      “They used the oxen for the shorter trips, while they loaded the mules for the longer ones. The mules can stand much more. They are also stronger and, most importantly, they are much faster! The Paisa fondas or inns at that…

In the lands of the coffee, from the book, Searching for treasures      “What do you mean? Your Spanish is much better than my French, I can honestly tell you that much!” Jon Jairo laughed as he answered the traveler. “You just take it easy, my friend. There’s a lot of merit in your…

In the lands of the coffee, from the book, Searching for treasures      “I was thinking about that while riding on the bus from Medellin. I was wondering just how complicated it could be, you know, simply to get from one place to another. Even nowadays, we have highways, motorized vehicles, and all the…

In the lands of the coffee, from the book, Searching for treasures      To compensate for the shortage of a workforce to take care of the mining, they began to import labor from Africa. The slaves were sold by the dozen in the immense slave-markets in Cartagena.”      The first hundred years were…

In the lands of the coffee, from the book, Searching for treasures      Of course, Jon Jairo, Jean Marie, agreed. Even today, with all the comforts at hand, few people would dare to do so.”      “By this time, the settling of lands was in full swing. New towns sprout up from one…

In the lands of the coffee, from the book, Searching for treasures      “We were a total of one hundred thirty-one families that arrived from Villarica, not one more, nor one less. All of us followed the town’s founder, a guy by the name of Pedro Pineda. You see how with a few folks,…

In the lands of the coffee, from the book, Searching for treasures        “Since we weren’t that many, we didn’t end up on the mountain tips, like forest rangers. Naturally, as the years went by, the village grew, like all the rest of the things under the sun. The same as Caldas, it…