Armenia and Manizales

Wow, what a crazy few days...I'm sitting here just trying to remember everything that we've been doing.
After Ibagué, we drove to Armenia on a crazy mountain road that twisted and turned and went up and down for hours. The scenery was really beautiful, but I think all of us just wanted to sleep instead. The schedule has been punishing - a concert every day in a different city. I think the hardest part is actually not being able to sleep well on the bus because the roads are so curvy.
My oboist friend Pablo has family in Armenia and invited us to his house for lunch. His mom and grandmother made an amazing meal - beans that they had shelled and made that same day, a hunk of well-seasoned beef, some kind of raw cabbage ensalada, rice, plantains, and I don't remember what else. It was so good! And it was interesting to go to a real Colombian house. They are all so different and seem hobbled together with all kinds of materials. Everything was so comfortable. We got to look at Pablo's baby photos. I couldn't understand his mom or his grandmother at all because they have very thick accents. I think they were really happy to meet all these people that Pablo had told them about for so many years.
The next day, we drove to Manizales, which is where I am right now. We are staying at this beautiful convention center that has natural hot springs! Thankfully, we got a full day of rest here. Yesterday we didn't have a concert - we didn't have to do anything, in fact. So of course we did everything. After staying up late soaking in hot volcanic water, we slept in. Then we piled into a taxi to take us into Manizales to have some food. I have been eating so much meat here that I was hoping for something a little different (usually meals are served with some beef, a little chicken, some chorizo, and then some pork skins, which I don't really like) so I ordered fish. I got the ENTIRE fish! It was looking at me. It was delicious, but the attached fins were kind of gross.
After breakfast/lunch we met our friend Ricardo, who plays flute with the Filarmonica Joven de Colombia, the other orchestra we've been traveling with. Manizales is his hometown, and he had his car, so he picked us up. We drove about 30 kilometers through mountains to another little town where Guillermo lives. He's one of the clarinetists in our orchestra. We wandered around the town for a while looking for his street. Ricardo kept pulling to the side of the road asking people where the street was, since there are no signs. Finally we found the street but were unsure about the house. He asked a guy if he knew Guillermo - and once he described him as playing clarinet and that he had long hair, the guy was like "oh, yeah, his house is over there." We knew we were at the right place because there was this amazing Colombian music coming out the windows from Guillermo's band. His house was already full of people from the orchestra dancing and drinking beer and eating food - it was only 1:30 in the afternoon.
Eventually we got back into Ricardo's car and headed into Manizales again, where we wandered around. Ricardo took us to his father's jewelery store and introduced us. We rode a gondola that is strung along the city. Manizales has streets that are even steeper than San Francisco. Finally, Ricardo took us to his house for dinner! Another amazing family and amazing meal. The hospitality just blows my mind. We listened to Colombian music on the radio and danced in the living room.
Today we are driving to Medellín and we'll play a concert there tomorrow night.