Filandia (not to be confused with Finland) felt like a gift from fate to us. This is because, upon arriving in Cartago, we received an invitation from one of our Instagram followers. His name is Santiago, and we had never met him in person, even though we had been following him for a while. It turned out that he was from the coffee region in Colombia, which is where we had just arrived.
Of course, we were immediately thrilled by the invitation, although it was a bit unusual. Throughout our entire journey, we had never received such invitations via Instagram. Well, except for Oleg and Lena, who are also traveling around the world and are currently exploring South America.
We stayed with them in Peru, met up in Quito, and are now staying with them again in Colombia, in the town of Santa Rosa, not far from Pereira and Filandia. Usually, we are invited to stay with people when hitchhiking, but these days, hardly ever through Instagram.
The most interesting part is that we never actually met Santiago. This is because he is currently traveling in the United States. In Filandia, his family has their own hotel, and he said we could stay there for a couple of days. This was truly incredible! We practically traveled through all of South America using Couchsurfing.
Only in Argentina did we sometimes use Airbnb, and in Ecuador, we were once hosted in a hotel, and we didn’t meet our host there either. Strangely enough, his name was also Santiago. In any case, we were very happy to have some time alone together.
La Puesta del Sol
The hotel we stayed at in Filandia is called La Puesta del Sol, and it’s a very beautiful and atmospheric place. They have a beautiful reception area with an interesting tropical design, lots of plants, and an incredible view of the valley!
We were really impressed by the interior of our little house. It seemed like it was constructed from various leftover building materials. It was more like a bungalow, but the way they designed the interior was simply a masterpiece. Very stylish and cozy!
La Puesta del Sol” translates from Spanish as “The Sunset.” Indeed, from their terrace, you can enjoy some of the most beautiful sunsets. However, during our stay at the hotel, there were no sunsets at all as we had a bit of bad luck with the weather. It’s also unfortunate that we couldn’t take more photographs of this place. But let’s go ahead and tell you a little bit about what the town itself is like.
Colombian Filandia – Daughter of the Andes
Before the Spanish expansion, the territory of present-day Filandia was inhabited by the Quimbaya indigenous people. In their language, Filandia literally translates to “Daughter of the Andes” (Filia – “Daughter”; Andia – “Andes”). Agriculture has always been highly developed in this region. With the arrival of the Spaniards, Finlandia became a significant coffee producer. The city was founded on August 20, 1878, and currently has a population of over thirteen thousand people. However, it seems that there are just as many tourists in the area.
Indeed, Filandia is a very beautiful and highly touristy city. It’s quite fascinating because its architecture is relatively simple. The facades of the houses are painted in white or light beige.
However, the windows, doors, gates, balconies, and other building elements are painted in all the colors of the rainbow. Each house has its carefully chosen color scheme, giving the entire city a unified style.
It’s very clean and tranquil. Simple rural traditions are felt throughout, but at the same time, everything looks modern, upscale, and cosmopolitan. Mixed with the multitude of tourists from around the world, you can even imagine that you’re somewhere in Europe.
Filandia is located at an elevation of 1,923 meters above sea level. The temperature here is very comfortable, and in the evenings, it can even be a bit chilly. The city seems to perch atop a hill, offering incredible panoramic views from all sides. Surrounding it are nature, farms, hills, forests, and clouds. It’s incredibly beautiful!
In Filandia, there is also a very beautiful central square with numerous tropical trees, pedestrian paths, benches, retro cars, and a monument in the very center. We enjoyed coming to the square, buying ice cream, finding an empty bench, and savoring the city’s atmosphere for a while.
We believe that we probably wouldn’t have come here on our own. This city was a bit off our route. Therefore, we are very grateful to Santiago and his hospitable family for inviting us to stay at their hotel and giving us the opportunity to be here!
From Colombia with love, Nastya and Vasya