Minca was founded in 1525 by Spanish conqueror Don Rodrigo de Bastidas and is the oldest city in Columbia and South America.  It’s a small village located 650 meters above sea level with about 1500 residents.  There is one “road” that begins and ends at the quaint center of town.  This road loops around up through the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains where various hotels and hostels are located.

Most people work at the various coffee plantations and remaining villagers focus on tourism.  There are loads of hiking opportunities, waterfalls, horse back riding, and relaxing.  Most people walk up and over the muddy mountains, but you can also take a 4×4 or a motobike. Because Minca is located in the mountains it gets pretty chilly at night, but during the day it is wicked hot.

Our friends Manuel and Nadja from (sv Manado) are now sailing with our friends on Element.  They  joined us for part of our Minca adventure.  We piled into a local taxi which took us to Minca, a short 40 minute drive.  However, before we got too far, we had to stop for fuel – natural gas.

As we approached the entrance to the village we were stopped by the police who asked us to get out and show our passports.  Manuel was patted down, a few bags searched, and we were on our way.  We were deposited in the center of the village and headed up the mountain.  Manuel and Nadja came prepared with tennis shoes, but Matt and I were in flip flops. It was a dirt and deeply rutted road which was often thick of mud.

We headed to our hotel, Casas Viejas which was estimated to be a 2.5 hour walk.  On the way, we stopped at Pozo Azul which is a natural formation nestled in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains.   The “walk” to Pozo Azul from the center of town, is stated to be 31 minutes but it took us almost an hour traipsing through the mud and checking out the views. The water is frigid , but fresh and has a great variety of flora and fauna.

We saw a variety of wildlife along the path.

We found a “shortcut” through a natural reserve called Faunal.  Although it looked vacant, a lone man came out as we approached the small building.  They sell day and night tours through the forest, along with water, and fruit juice.  But more importantly they had a “short cut” up to our lodgings.  The caretaker told us to take the Toucan loop which is a bit longer but we would have a chance at seeing some toucans.  This portion of the walk would take 20 minutes to the main path, then another 35 minutes to La Victoria.  Once in La Victoria, it would be another 35 minute hike to Casas Viejas.  Unfortunately, the toucans were not being friendly and they evaded us.

The Toucan trail becomes a true “hike” through the mountain.  It was dry, for the most part, and took us through a lot of amazing views!

La Victoria provides the only access to our hotel, Casas Viejas, and makes for a convenient resting spot.  La Victoria was established in 1892 and is located in the Northern slope of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.  Situated on 1223 hectares, they dedicated 217 of them to the cultivation of Arabica coffee and 300 hectares for porters.  The surplus balance represents the forest reserve strip an dthe foundation of the water star of the San Lorenzo peak, which has been maintained in its natural state to date.  This lovely location is a coffee plantation with a small brewery.

This La Victoria finca is special as it still uses the same equipment as when it started up in 1892. We visited during coffee-picking season which provided lots of activity.  Coffee beans are hand picked and dropped into one of 20 large basins which carries them to the plantation.  Workers get 30k pesos to fill the large basin, 12k pesos for the medium bin and 6k pesos for a small bin.  Typically, each worker can fill 4 large bins a day.

Over 200 kilos of coffee is produced each year.  They grow small coffee plants in farms, and replant them on the mountain. They only let the plants produce for 7 years and then they cut them down because they can no longer reach the beans.

Top image is one of the 20 basins used to deliver the beans.  The green bin in the front is the “large bin”, the orange is the “medium” and the green on the left is the small bin.  The image on the lower left is the tube that transports the beans to the plantation.  The center lower image shows the baby coffee plants, and the right lower image are the coffee beans.

La Victoria small water falls with the brewery in the background.  Beautiful flowers, the brewery, and the bistro.

The hike from La Victoria to Casa Viejas is supposed to be 20 minutes but I am wondering if that is in dry weather.  It was a very challenging, up hill hike on a very muddy trail and we arrived just as it started to rain.  The main building houses the reception, dining area, bar, and a few accommodations.

Image below: Main house (upper left pic), lounge area around a fire pit (upper right), dinning area (center left), our private room (center right), our private bath (lower left), public men’s room (lower right).

Yep, I took a photo of Matt peeing!

There were breath taking views from Casas Viejas which showcased Santa Marta in the distance.  In the afternoon, the fog would roll in covering all of the surrounding mountains.  Below, is the view, the fog rolling in, property flora and pics of one of our breakfast and dinner meals.

On our first day we walked 7.5 miles which took us a little over 5 hours including stops at Pozo Azul, Faunel, and La Victoria.  We were all exhausted and dirty.  After a few beers, we showered and enjoyed some rest on the rocking chairs.  Matt and I had the only private room & bath in the facility.  The remaining 26 people shared 2 bathrooms.  Dinner and breakfast were absolutely amazing and very tasty!  Who would have thought the food would be so good at a hostel?

The next day we were prepared for a HUGE hike.  Yes, bigger than 7.5 miles!  We were told that the hike would be “gentle and easy” which was perfect as we were a bit tired from the day before.  Look at the map below, find the feather on the left hand side – that is Casas Viejas.  Our plan was to hike to El Campo, to Los Pinos, to Cascada de Marinka, to the hidden falls, and end up in Minca.  A “short 4-5 hour” walk, but alas this was not the case.

Image below: Los Pinos (upper left), view from Los Pinos (upper right), view along hike (center left), coffee farm (center right), Manuel and Nadja horsing around (lower left & right).

The hike from Casas Viejas to El Campo is all up hill on yet another muddy road, but it was cool and we were in good spirits.   Using our trusty Maps.me app we easily found Los Pinos which is where we found 5 indigenous pine trees.  Shortly thereafter we came upon Casa Elemento which brags about having the largest trampoline in the world.  At this junction, we missed our turn and continued on the same path we’d been on for the last hour.  Unfortunately, that did not get us to our destination and as a result we had to back track a mile.  Teach us to not pay attention to Maps.me!

We found Cascadas de Marinka and had the entire place to ourselves.  It was another beautiful waterfall surrounded by trees and fauna.

We cooled off and headed back to the main path toward town.  The Hidden Falls were so well hidden we nearly walked right past them.  We could not access this waterfall, so we took it all in and kept moving.  Six hours and over 12 miles after we left Casas Viejas, we eventually arrived into the village of Minca.  We walked into Lazy Cat, extremely exhausted, super dirty, and ridiculously sweaty.  Despite our appearance, and smell, they seated us on their lower patio with a view of the falls.  After another delicious meal, we had to say goodbye to Manuel and Nadja as they head back to Santa Marta.

Matt and I decided we had tortured our bodies enough so we hopped on motobikes to take us to our lodging.

It took a nap, a shower, and dinner and two drinks to make me feel human again.  Shortly after we crashed and slept for 10 hours.  We had to regroup as we signed up for a 3 hour hike around the coffee plantation on our last day.  You think we are crazy and I’d have to agree!

This was the most difficult hike for me as I was tired from our previous two hikes (logging over 20 miles), had a group of strangers to keep up with, and fought with my flip flops and the muddy trails.  I did my best to keep up, but it was tough – every bone, joint, and muscle in my body was revolting!  On top of that, we had our backpacks with us as we did not plan to return up the hill to Casas Viejas.  We met some lovely back packers from all over the world, found 2 waterfalls, got a little history on the coffee plantation and enjoyed some majestic views.

The tour ended at La Victoria and I had intended on taking the coffee tour, but my body was not having any of that!  So, we rested a bit, hopped on two motobikes into town and caught a bus back to Santa Marta.

Sorry for all of the collage photos but we took so many photos I did not know how else to post them all.

Here are a few more standout photos: