Immersive Spanish - Immersive Spanish - Colombia Adventure - Episode 9 - Medellín Cafe

Episode Date: September 16, 2026

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Season 7, Episode 9. Ola Viejos, welcome back to Massif Spanish. I'm roaming the streets of Medellín, heading to a very special coffee shop called Purgamino. These guys take coffee seriously. They work directly with coffee producers around Colombia. Roaster beans here in Medellin, 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 Medellin 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 Minka which is up in the Colombian jungle so first I need to be a bit of

book an internal flight from Medellijin 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. Let's get a coffee. Hello, a coffee with leech, for favor.

Sure, what granos want? Uy, no see. What do you recommend? It's more strong or more suave? More force, always. So, I recommend these granos. They're from a finca like a hour of here. In serious?

Fua. Go to pay an effective or with a targeta? With targeta, for favor. Sure. You can't sit where and he'll get him when is ready.

Perfecto. Thank you. Awesome. Okay. Let me break down some of that. I started with A coffee with A coffee with leech,

for favor. A coffee with leech, for favor. A coffee of milk, please. She then asked, What granos quere? What beans would you like?

Coffee beans are Granos de coffee beans are. Granos de coffee. To be honest, I had absolutely no idea, so I used one of the most useful phrases you can learn when traveling. What me recommenda? What? Me recommenda.

What do you recommend me? She asked, Lo chere more Fuerte or M ma suave? Lo Kierre Mast Fue or Masewave. Which means

would you like it stronger or milder? Fuerte, obviously we like it strong. And suave, meaning mild or smooth.

Mast Fuerte is what I said more Fuerte Siempre Always She recommended some beans from Athinka About an arrowway

One Finka So Una 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 To pay an effective Or contargeta That means Are you going to paying 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, see. Here's my coffee. Muches graces. De nada. Ah, these guys now have to do their latte art.

This is top. Let's try it. We're going to have a little sip. Ooh, yeah. It's a very good, eh? It's very good. Okay. First things first, I need to book a flight.

How would you say that? I need to book a flight. Necessito reservar a whel. Necessi to reserve a un, Wuelo. Necessi, meaning I need. And reservar, meaning to book.

And of course, a voolo being a flight. Un voolo. So I need to book a flight from Medellin, de Medellin to Santa Marta. De Medellin to Santa Marta. Ah, look, great. There's a plane leaving tomorrow at 5pm, and it's only $30.

I'm booking that. Choose seats. Well, I definitely want a window seat. A window seat is A siento Acento de Ventana Acento Acento

Aventana 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

Necessi Necessi Reservar Aloamiento Necessito Reservar Alohamiento Meaning I need to book accommodation

So let's have a quick search Minka Alohamiento 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, To get a lojomiento, Necessita a vehicle total terreno, because no there's a carretera normal. Hmm. To get to the

lojambiento, Necessita a vehicle to do the terrain because no a carreterer normal. Hmm. What do you think

that means? Let's break it down. To get to the accommodation. To get to the accommodation. Then it says,

Necessita a vehicle total terrain. This means you need an off-road vehicle. Necessita a vehicle. To do terreno. That's a great word, actually. Todo tereno.

Totally. Literally, all-terrain. An off-road vehicle. Moving on. Because no way a carretera normal. because there isn't a normal road. Because no, there,

a, carretera, normal. Well, that sounds exciting, actually. Hang on, there's another description here. He says, El Camino Passa for Rios,

selva, and canes of Tierra, with subidas many empinadas. Also, and serpients for the did you understand that? Let's go through it again, but slower.

El Camino pass for rios, selva, and canines of the tierra, with subidas very empinadas. Also

can find animals and serpientes for the camino. Wow, it's a tongue twister. let's break some of it down. Rios, rivers, selva, jungle,

and Caminos de tierra. Dirt tracks. So, El Camino Passa for Rios, Selva, and Caminos de Tierra. Right?

Then, it says, Subidas Moe-empinadas. And this means very steep climbs. Suvidas. Very empinadas. Do you remember the word empinado from our hike with Manuel?

It means steep. And finally, animals and serpientes. Animals and snakes. Serpientes sounds an awful lot like serpents. So, apparently to reach this place, I'm going to be traveling through rivers, jungle. and steep dirt tracks in an off-road vehicle, potentially with snakes and wildlife along the way. Perfecta. De una, I'm booking it.

Pardona, I'm booking it. Pardona, I'm sorry, but you're reservando a lojambiento in Minka? Hmm, see, I'm going to-mana. For what you, questions? Ah, that good. Is that I go to Minka in two days. What casuality, no? Yes, it seems precious.

In the middle of the selva with cascadas, animals, Oye, where are you? I'm saying an accent Spanish? Yes,

you, you're acerated, I'm of Barcelona. Ah, excellent. I know very in Barcelona. I've passed much time there.

And you, where are you? Of course? Of course of South America? Adivina. Um, I'd say

Medellin or Bogotah Incorrecto In reality I'm of London In serious? But You're Spanish?

Well, I decided Be different to the other tourists Britannical And I Dermendal the

Dime What do you Opinus of the Tourists In Barcelona Um No

I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm Adelante. The truth,

they're much noise. Dicen palabrotas and they're and when I'm going to the ventana

abirate in the I'm they're gritting burrachos for the call.

Wow. De really those odias. But how you know, how you know you're not you

many many many many many there's It's right, but normally they're

they're clothes of football Englishes. There, I'm there's I'm

I'm trying I'm I'm my my clothes in house

I'm that I'm well well, I'm I'm to go

but give, but give me you know for you

want to give you in sure? Uf if yeah

sure it's Estaria genial. How do you Amas? Me Lola.

And you? Lola? Caff. Me am I Kav. Okay, Kav. After Luego.

After Liga. In Minka. Whoa. What a beautiful name. Lola. Did you catch all of that? So,

I was minding my own business, booking my trip to Minka when this Spanish girl called Lola apparently noticed what was on my laptop. And she asked, Estes reservando an alohamiento in Minka. Estes reservando an alohamiento in Minka. Which means, are you booking accommodation in Minka? She told me, I'm going to Minka in two days.

I'm going to Minka in two days. I Go. Vo. A. Minka. N. Dos.

Dias. Interesting. Very interesting. I then asked her where she was from because I thought I could hear a Spanish accent.

De Donde is. Where are you from? De Donde is. And she said, I'm de Barcelona. Or as she said it, I'm from Barcelona. She's from Barcelona.

Then she asked where I was from and rather flatteringly thought I was from South America. I told her to guess. Adivina. Adivina. Which means guess. And she guessed

Medellin or Bogota. So obviously I let her know that she's actually speaking to a sophisticated English gentleman from London. She seemed surprised. En seria? In seria? Seriously?

Apparently my Spanish is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Then we got onto the extremely important subject of British tourists in Barcelona. Lola said, Asen muchissimo ruido. Asen. Muchissimo. Ruido. Which means they make

loaves of noise. She also said, Dissen Palabrotas and they swear and they fight. Disen Palabrotas and se belean.

Wonderful ambassadors for our country, know? And apparently she can identify them because they've been camisettes of equipes of football Englishes. Jevan.

Camisetas. De. Equipos. De. Football. Inglesses. They wear English football shirts.

Fair enough, huh? Hard to argue of that one. But then, just as she was leaving, Lola told me, Damme your number

for if you want to keep in Minka. Damme. Tu. Numuro. for si kieres

Kedar in Minka and this means give me your number in case you want to meet up in Minka Now the most useful phrase there has got to be

Kedar Kedar In this context Kedar means to meet up So for example we could say Kieres Kedar manana Do you want to meet up tomorrow?

Kieres? Kiedar. Manana. Okay, Villajeros, I better get out of here. If I stay any longer, I'll order another one of these coffees and probably be up all night. And I have got a flight to catch tomorrow, so I better go and chill. Next stop, Minka. If you'd like to listen to a master's Spanish completely ad-free, you can join us over on Patreon,

where you'll also get full transcripts, vocabulary lists, bonus episodes and photos from the adventure. You can also subscribe to the immersive Spanish YouTube channel, where you can actually see me traveling through the Spanish-speaking world and interacting of locals. And if you want to practice everything you're learning in these episodes, check out the Immersive Spanish Fluency Builder app. There you'll find interactive exercises, quizzes,

and speaking practice to help you actually use your Spanish in the real world. Thank you so much for listening, Via Herodos. I'll see you at the airport. Asa la Proxima.