Snow-covered in Nevado del Ruiz
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
Colombia’s nearness to the Equator lends many visitors to consider they can go everywhere in the country wearing a pair of shorts and flip flops. These people fail to account for the mountainous topography that covers a good swath of the country, including Bogota and El Cafetero, the coffee area.
Manizales is a small town built on hillsides, a five hour truck trip south of Medellin. Located at an elevation of 2,100m, it is the central jumping off point for trips into Parque Nacional Natural de los Nevados to see the forceful, snow-covered Nevado del Ruiz volcano. The 5,300m volcano is even high sufficient to have a few glaciers.
For most Colombians, a day trip by minivan to the square is the most available, reasonable occasion they will have to experience snow. For tourists, there is an irrefutable innovation to looking for out snow in a country so often associated with tropical beaches and jungle.
