Immersive Spanish - Colombia Adventure - Episode 9 - Medellín Cafe

Kav (0:00)

Season 7, episode 9

Hola viejeros, welcome back to Immersive Spanish. I'm roaming the streets of Medellín, heading to a very special coffee shop called Pergamino. These guys take coffee seriously. They work directly with coffee producers around Colombia, roast the beans here in Medellín, and interestingly, they actually keep some of Colombia's best coffee here rather than exporting all of it.

I'm going to order a coffee and sit in, because I have a very important job to do today. I'm booking the next leg of my trip. I've seen a lot of Medellín now, but it's time to explore more of Colombia. This is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, and I want to venture out of the city for the first time. I'm going to a place called Minca, which is up in the Colombian jungle. So first, I need to book an internal flight from Medellín to Santa Marta. Then I need to find somewhere to stay and book that. I've brought my laptop with me today. This level of booking requires more than a phone. And apparently they have free Wi-Fi too, or Wi-Fi as they say in Spanish, which is always useful. Ah, here it is. Wow, this place does look awesome. Really nice decor.

Loads of wood and there's a beautiful outdoor terrace. Let's get a coffee. Vamos.

Hola, un café con leche, por favor.

SPEAKER_2 (1:39)

Claro.

Kav (1:39)

Qué granos quiere?

Uy, no sé. Qué me recomienda?

SPEAKER_2 (1:45)

Lo quiere más fuerte o más suave.

Kav (1:49)

Más fuerte. Siempre.

SPEAKER_2 (1:51)

Entonces le recomiendo estos granos. Vienen de una finca como a una hora de aquí.

Kav (1:57)

En serio? Fuá.

SPEAKER_3 (1:59)

Va a pagar en efectivo o con tarjeta?

Kav (2:03)

Con tarjeta, por favor. Claro.

SPEAKER_2 (2:05)

Puede sentarse donde quiera y se lo llevamos cuando esté listo.

Kav (2:09)

Perfecto. Gracias. Awesome. Okay. Let me break down some of that. I started with un café con leche, por favor.

Un café con leche, por favor. A coffee of milk, please. She then asked, Qué granos quiere? Qué granos quiere? Which beans would you like? Qué granos quiere? Coffee beans are granos de café.

Granos de café.

To be honest, I had absolutely no idea, so I used one of the most useful phrases you can learn when traveling. Qué me recomienda?

Qué me recomienda? What do you recommend me? Qué me recomienda?

She asked, Lo quiere más fuerte o más suave?

Lo quiere más fuerte o más suave? Which means, would you like it stronger or milder? Fuerte, obviously, we like it strong. And suave, meaning mild or smooth.

Más fuerte is what I said, más fuerte, siempre, always. She recommended some beans from a finca about an hour away. Una finca, so una finca, a finca, is basically a farm or a rural estate. In Colombia, you hear it all the time when people are talking about coffee farms. Then it was time to pay. So she asked, va a pagar en efectivo o con tarjeta? That means, are you going to pay in cash or with card?

Right then, coffee ordered, laptop out, free Wi-Fi, connected. Now I need to work out how I'm getting from Medellín to the middle of the Colombian jungle. Ah, sí, here's my coffee. Muchas gracias. De nada. Ah, these guys know how to do their latte art. This is top. Let's try it. Vamos a dar un sorbo. We're going to have a little sip.

Oh, yeah. Está muy bueno, eh? Está muy bueno.

Okay. First things first. I need to book a flight. How would you say that? I need to book a flight.

Necesito reservar un vuelo.

Necesito meaning I need, and reservar meaning to book. And of course, un vuelo being a flight. Un vuelo. So I need to book a flight from Medellín, de Medellín a Santa Marta.

Ah, look, great, there's a plane leaving tomorrow at 5 p.m. And it's only $30. I'm booking that. Choose seats. Well, I definitely want a window seat. A window seat is un asiento de ventana.

It looks pretty full. There's one window seat left but it's right at the back. Come on, let's be quick. That'll do. Okay, plane booked, success. Now I need to find somewhere to stay. Necesito reservar alojamiento. Necesito reservar alojamiento.

Necesito reservar alojamiento. Necesito reservar alojamiento. Meaning I need to book accommodation. So let's have a quick search. Minca alojamiento. Ah, this one looks nice. It's affordable. The views look, the views look incredible. I wish you could see. And apparently, you can pay a little bit extra for them to collect you from the town down below and take you up to the accommodation. Well, that does sound useful. Oh, look at this. There's a little warning here in Spanish. Oh goodness. It says, Para llegar al alojamiento, necesito un vehículo todo terreno porque no hay una carretera normal.