The one destination that I really wanted to go to in Colombia was Bucaramanga, Santander Provence. Just 2 hours south of Bucaramanga is San Gil, the adventure spot of Colombia. It's got a great location partway up the mountains and next to the Chicamocha Canyon in the middle of the country.
San Gil, another touristy town, was a good jumping off point for the small colonial villages.
From San Gil you can take a short bus ride to Barichara, the main village, and then walk to the other villages. I went with Claudia, a German girl I met in my hostel. The Camino Real from Barichara to the village of Guane is supposed to be one of the original paths that the Spanish used when they first came to the area. The path is an easy, although stony, 1.5 hour walk to Guane. Guane was the same style, white houses with red tiled roofs, as Barichara but a lot smaller and much less touristy. They each were also built around the main square where the old church is.
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| The streets in Barichara |
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| Veiw of Cabrera from the path |
From there we took a bus back to Barichara to walk to another village, Cabrera.
Cabrera was really nice because you could tell that almost no tourists bother going there. There's almost no tourist shops trying to sell you this and that and the children are still curious about the foreigners who showed up in their village.
The next day we took a bus to another small village close to San Gil. From there we walked only 30 mins to the stream and the Pescaderitos (fisheries). They are natural pools that you can swim in all along this beautiful stream that runs over stone earth.
The bird watching was also pretty good there.
For me the weather turned out to be amazing that day. Warm and cloudy in the morning, with a bit cold water but good to swim in, then it poured down rain for an hour while I hid under a huge rock overhang. Immediately after the rain stopped the sun came out an dried up everything. Perfect timing at 3 pm, still time to dry out, go swimming a little and it's not too hot.
The town of San Gil.
I was staying next to this beautiful modern church. This is the first church I've ever been to that was so open and integrated with nature. The sides were completely open and had a kind of jungley thing going on. The arch of the building let in natural light and a wonderful cool breeze. Such beautiful architecture.
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| San Gil |
San Gil, another touristy town, was a good jumping off point for the small colonial villages.
From San Gil you can take a short bus ride to Barichara, the main village, and then walk to the other villages. I went with Claudia, a German girl I met in my hostel. The Camino Real from Barichara to the village of Guane is supposed to be one of the original paths that the Spanish used when they first came to the area. The path is an easy, although stony, 1.5 hour walk to Guane. Guane was the same style, white houses with red tiled roofs, as Barichara but a lot smaller and much less touristy. They each were also built around the main square where the old church is.
From there we took a bus back to Barichara to walk to another village, Cabrera.
The next day we took a bus to another small village close to San Gil. From there we walked only 30 mins to the stream and the Pescaderitos (fisheries). They are natural pools that you can swim in all along this beautiful stream that runs over stone earth.
The bird watching was also pretty good there.
For me the weather turned out to be amazing that day. Warm and cloudy in the morning, with a bit cold water but good to swim in, then it poured down rain for an hour while I hid under a huge rock overhang. Immediately after the rain stopped the sun came out an dried up everything. Perfect timing at 3 pm, still time to dry out, go swimming a little and it's not too hot.
I was staying next to this beautiful modern church. This is the first church I've ever been to that was so open and integrated with nature. The sides were completely open and had a kind of jungley thing going on. The arch of the building let in natural light and a wonderful cool breeze. Such beautiful architecture.
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