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Date: 30/08/2018
Position: Santa Marta, Colombia
Buenas Dias Chicos!!
Deputy Captain Alex here with part 3 of our Colombia story.
After a few wonderful days in the beautiful village of Jardin it was time to move on. We left town on an open ex US bus that looked like it was previously used to transport chickens or maybe cows – bench seats, no windows or doors and a top speed of 20 (downhill). It was cold that morning, so we resorted to fleeces and marvelled at the scenery – and the road, which would have been good territory for off road motorbiking – I’m not kidding, I would have never expected a bus to go down that track. After 3 hours we got to Riosuccio, changed bus to Pereira, changed bus again and arrived in Salento at the end of the day. Salento is a beautiful village in the heart of the coffee region – a bit more touristy, but charming nevertheless. We checked into the hostel – with a private garden room – and went to explore and plan.
The lovely hills and mountains surrounding Salento just wait to be hiked on, and the famous Valle de Cocora with it’s wax palms was going to be the highlight. While waiting for a good weather forecast for the Valle de Cocora, we hiked to a coffee farm, completed a circular walk through one of the lushest valley we have ever seen and explored town. It was unbelievable how green the grass was! Alec and Nicki were there too and the evenings were spent playing billiards and drinking beer. Dinner was sometimes cooked “at home” in the hostel kitchen and sometimes we went out – favourite place was Lucy’s were you get a soup and a plate of either trout or sausage, with rice, vegetable, potatoes and salad, accompanied by a fruit juice – all for US$ 3 per person – and that’s in a tourist town...
Finally the weather forecast was great and we jumped on an ex US army Willys jeep for the 18km ride to the start of the walk into the Valle de Cocora in the Los Nevadas National Park. Remember, the elevation here is 2,500 meters at the start of the walk, and we went up to 3,200 meters (almost 10,000 feet), so it’s not at all common to see palm trees alongside fur trees – and this particular species can only be seen in a handful of locations – the pictures don’t really do it justice, it is very beautiful.The wax palm which is Colombia’s national tree grows up to 60m high and lives for as long as 120 years. After a stop at the Hummingbird house, with it’s resident population of birds feeding just a meter away from you, we decided to burn some extra energy by going up further to Estrella de Agua and officially enter the famous Los Nevadas National Park – just to be able to say we’ve been there! Increasing cold and turning weather at 3,240 meters made us turn back for the long downhill including nine rickety wooden Indiana Jones style bridges and muddy riverbeds. A great walk, and an absolute must see if you are ever in the area.
After 5 days it was time to swap the colourful architecture of the coffee region with the white, stonewashed houses of the Boyaca region north of Bogota. So we hopped onto another bus to Pereira for a one night stop to catch an early flight to Bogota to catch another bus to Sogamoso – to take a “direct” bus would have taken 2 days...
Sogamoso itself is not much to look at, but as a base to explore the surrounding mountains, it was great. We stayed in a room in an apartment, like in Medellin, unfortunately, it was quite noisy due to the main road just outside our window – never mind it was only $14 a night. The town lies at 2,800 meters elevation, and it’s quite weird to walk around a normal town – in Austria, to get to 2,800 meters, you are in high alpine territory.
A day trip to Lake Tota (the largest in Colombia) and a stop in Aquitane gave us the opportunity to witness a local music festival. We were the only tourists in town, everybody else was dressed in ponchos and cowboy hats against the harsh climate (elevation 3,000 meters) and it was just how one would imagine a typical Colombian village. We sat in our fleeces and jeans eating ice-creams and enjoying the atmosphere, and then hiked up to the church for a view over the lake, with fields of onions growing right up to the lake edge and to build up an appetite for lunch. The bbq was a 2m square fire pit with huge meat skewers – great to stand next to and warm up a bit – it was cold! A plate from the bbq consisted of approximately 600g of mixed pork and beef, two small potatoes and a tiny cup of Guacamole – I guess their diet is just a little meat focused J
We had planned to do a guided high altitude hike from Mongui into the Paramo de Oceta, which would have taken us to 4,000 meters, but Carla didn’t respond well to having half a cow for lunch (or maybe a reaction to the elevation), so we had to cancel that and just explored Mongui instead. It was a shame as it is considered one of the best paramos in the world with unique vegetation. Never mind, Mongui was a charming little village with picturesque whitewashed architecture and plenty of poncho clad Colombians. The village also sports about a dozen or so factories/ shops that all manufacture the same item. Footballs. Don’t ask why or how – they just do. In the mountains. In the middle of Colombia. And no, they don’t seem to have a football field. Go figure.
Our departure from Sogamoso was aided by heavy rain and 10 degrees C brrrrrrrrr – definitely time to go. Our bus journey to San Gill in the region of Santander took several hours – and it was all downhill, so when we arrived we were greeted by lovely 24 degrees and sunshine. It was to be our last stop on our tour de Colombia and the area was again geographically very different from the other places we had visited. Large wide valleys with lush vegetation and depths of up to 1,000 meters dominate the landscape. San Gil has established itself as the adrenaline capital of Colombia and hosts a whole variety of activities – whitewater rafting, mountain biking, climbing, caving, paragliding etc. We used San Gil as a base and did a couple of great hikes from the village of Barichara – another absolutely stunning Colombian village. The villages in this area are linked by an old stone trail called the Camino Real and a two hour hike one way wound along the edge of a beautiful canyon, through Santander’s lush, green countryside to Guane, another stunningly beautiful pueblo with delightful little cobbled roads. A couple of days later we did a four hour hike in the opposite direction, dropping into the canyon with stunning scenery and waterfalls before arriving at the pretty pueblo of Cabrera.
One of the most famous features of this area is the Chicamocha Canyon, with a maximum depth of 2,000 meters top to bottom and some fierce thermals, that make this one of the prime locations for Paragliding – so we had to have a go. It was actually Carla’s idea, which didn’t stop her from accusing me of pushing her to do it (24 hours before) – as it happens, I was probably the more nervous of the two on the day. It’s an awesome starting place, on a ridge high above the canyon floor, you get strapped to the harness, pilot behind you – they launch the chute, tell you to run, and off you go, heading directly towards a cliff edge, looking 1,000 meters down to the valley floor. Why would anyone be nervous?????
What a great experience!! The thermals lifted us 700 meters up in less than 5 minutes and gave us amazing views of the canyon. After a 20 minute flight we landed again at the starting point – after some “tricks” that sent our stomachs on a rollercoaster ride – we had a great time and Carla even wanted to go again....
On the way back to San Gil we had to try Santander’s beloved snack – hormigas culonas – fat-assed ants! They crackle and crunch in your mouth and actually taste quite good. The inhabitants believe that eating hormigas culonas is an aid to good health, curing all manners of ailments from sexual dysfunction to Alzheimer’s. For all our family at home, don’t worry you don’t have to travel to Colombia to experience them. We are bringing a packet back with us for you all to experience J
Unfortunately our time was running out and a couple of days later we boarded another bus arriving 15 hours later back in Santa Marta after 3 weeks on the road. It is impossible to fully describe the beauty, diversity, hospitality, resilience and optimism of this amazing country. It’s all here just waiting for you to explore and experience. Viva Colombia!
Friends Jack and Fizzy and woof Lucy on Carpe Diem had arrived in the meantime and together we then waited for the arrival of Tim and Gayle and woofs Gem and Pip on Wild Bird – the whole team reunited again, even if only for a few weeks.
We are now slowly preparing to leave Santa Marta to sail to Cartagena, with a stop at a kitesurf spot on the way. We’ll lift the boat out towards the end of September and fly to Europe to visit family and pick up boat parts.
After our return, the adventure continues as we make our way to the Pacific via the San Blas islands and Panama.
Until then
Hasta Luego
Ari B out
Valle de Cocora, Salento
Mongui, Boyoca
Barichara, Santander
Cabrera
Alex paragliding over the Chicamocha Canyon
Jardin to Riosuccio
Salento - hike to coffee farm
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Salento
Valle de Cocora
Lake Tota, Aquitane, Boyoca
Aquitane, Boyoca
Meat fest
The Camino Real from Barichara to Guane
Camino Real from Barichara to Cabrera
Carla paragliding over the Chicamocha Canyon
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