Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [187]
Tour company Ecosistemas (see left) runs the spectacular Hotel Termales del Ruiz (r per person COP$45,000) at the edge of the national park, and their tours all include a stop here on the way down the mountain. It has a restaurant and thermal springs, and price includes breakfast and access to the thermal springs. Ecosistemas offers transport here (COP$100,000 per group), or take the 2pm bus to Murillo (COP$10,000, 1½ hours) and get off at the crossroads, from where it’s a 1½-hour walk downhill to the hotel. Returning to Manizales, you can generally hitch a lift with other guests on the weekend, or walk back uphill (minimum two hours) to the crossroads and take the Murillo bus, which passes around 8:30am.
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PEREIRA
6 / pop 455,000 / elev 1410m
A throbbing lust pulsates through this city, the hum of desire and greed. By day, sharp-nosed paísas pursue profit, too busy, too avaricious for too long to beautify their otherwise ordinary-looking town. In the hot afternoons, juice vendors line the city streets, selling jugo de borojó (a local fruit, reputedly an aphrodisiac). Twenty-four hour restaurants serve ready-made meals to a city too busy to linger over its food. At night, on weekends, in Pereira’s throbbing discotecas, concupiscent locals gyrate to their carnal desires.
Nowhere is a city’s statue to Bolívar more emblematic of its people than here. Set in the middle of the main square, presiding over the city’s commerce and interaction, sits Arenas Betancur’s Bolívar Desnudo, an 8.5m-high, 11ton bronze statue of the Liberator, naked on horseback, urging his stallion forward with a manic passion, buttocks clenched to his plunging steed.
Founded in 1863, Pereira is the capital of Risaralda and the Zona Cafetera’s largest city. The Dosquebradas district outside the city is a major manufacturing center, and business travelers easily outnumber tourists. The town itself is a bit thin on attractions, perhaps because earthquakes have repeatedly damaged the town center, most recently in 1995 and 1999.
The biggest drawcard here is the nightlife; work hard, party hard is the motto here. The town is also a good base for visiting the nearby thermal springs Click here, and venturing up into Parque Ucumarí and Santuario Otún Quimbaya.
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Information
There are numerous ATMs across the street from the Pereira bus station in the LA14 shopping center.
Bancolombia (Carrera 8 No 17-56)
Ciber Matrix ( 335 5705; www.cibermatrix.com; Carrera 8 No 20-58; 8am-9pm Mon-Sat, to 7pm Sun)
Cybernet ( 339 8898; Calle 19 No 7-49; 8am-9:30pm Mon-Sat, 10am-8pm Sun) On Plaza de Bolívar.
Giros & Finanzas (Centro del Comercio, Carrera 7 No 16-50) Agent for Western Union.
Hospital San Jorge ( 335 6333; Carrera 4 No 24-88)
Tourist office (Oficina de Fomento y Turismo; 335 1676, 334 0706; www.risaralda.com.co; fomentoalturismo@pereira.gov.co; cnr Carrera 10 & Calle 17) In the Palacio Municipal.
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Festivals & Events
Fiestas de Pereira (Aug) The town switches into super-party-mode to celebrate the city’s founding, with live music, dance shows, art exhibits and the obligatory beauty pageant.
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Sleeping
Hotel Cumanday ( 324 0416; Carrera 5A No 22-54; s/d COP$35,000/40,000) A step up from the rest, this small hotel caters to tourists, and offers discounts during the week. Facilities include hot water, cable TV and laundry service; there’s also an exercise machine in the lobby you can use. Rooms at the back are quieter.
Hotel Mi Casita ( 333 9995; www.hotelmicasita.com; Calle 25 No 6-20; s COP$45,000-50,000, d COP$59,000-69,000; ) One of the few hotels that specifically