Road Trippin'
Trip Start
Sep 20, 2008
1
17
29
Trip End
Sep 2009
Bucaramanga,
Colombia
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Finally arrived to San Gil - the adventure trip centre of this region - to find it packed with adventurers. So quickly moved on to nearby Barichara, a colonial town with cobbled streets, antique styled houses, and plazas with churches, not too dissimilar to Villa de Leyva, but much smaller. Tourist season had just finished so all the hotels here were on a rest break, so we found a nice little place just off th road between San Gil and Barichara, with our own hut way off the road, where we were assured the only noises would be the birds and the bugs. The hotel owners had some contacts in the adventure industry in San Gil, so we got ourselves booked on a rafting and horse riding adventure trips (avoiding the crowds of San Gil). Dinner was in a brand new spa resort just further down the road, opened just a few weeks before, and after a little chatting we came to realise this whole hotel and restaurant area did not even exist before December. Made us feel special.
Early start (not woken up by the birds, but nice accompaniment), went straight to San Gil to explore the botanical gardens in Parque Gallineral. There we had an awesome old woman guide, who told us the stories of the tree of energy, the golden duck, and the bridge of lovers. Spectacular park, full of huge trees draped with dangling ´gallineral´ silver plants.
Next stop Bucaramanga - the department capital - to reach a small town just to the side that was recommended for its colonialness. The entire trip took around 4 hours, but the road was just sooooo amazing. Winding up and down canyon Chicamocha (South Americas answer to the Grand Canyon), dodging dangerously in and out of the swarms of buses and trucks. Best road trip we´ve ever done, and really gutting there are no photos to prove it! Eventually arrived at Giron, nice town but clearly had seen better days we got a 3 course meal + drink (for less than a pound each) in a beautiful restaurant with its own plaza, horse cart and colonial museum. It was already getting late, so we decided to enjoy the scenic road again back to San Gil. This night we ate in another brand new restaurant reopened late at night just for us, located in some kind of ranch, with gourmet european food and very friendly owners. The food was delicious and we´re really annoyed that we forgot the name!!
This was the day of our activites, so another early start went to San Gil prepared in jeans and hiking shoes (for the horse riding) about to get soaked on our first rafting adventure. Through some mix up we arrived after everyone else had left, so we rushed to the river and stuck in a boat for 2 (as opposed to the standard beginners crats of 10). This was either lucky or unlucky. This boat was much more likely to tip us out, but the ride was more extreme, the size , meaning we felt every wave. Very quick instruction guide (forward, backward, rest) we were off against the waters and rapids. It was amazing. Look at the photos for proof of our enjoyment! The ones of us in the water were intentional (not like anyone will believe it), and at one stage while trying to get us wet, we managed to tip the guide into the water!! Finished clearly dripping wet, and with plenty of adrenaline! Our guide happens to run a rafting centre in the coffee zone of Colombia, so we've already booked our places there!
We were bundled straight into a waterproofed taxi(!), and taken up the hills to Hacienda Santa Barbara to meet our horses and get ready for our next activity. Ali got another tiny horse, while Caro got lucky with a paso fino (really comfortable walking). A guide took us on a tour around the hacienda, and the hillsides nearby with some great views over the city, finally getting back sore arsed to the farm for a typical santanderiano lunch of cabro (goat) and pepitoria (god only knows but looked like a mix of rice and haggis). The goat was delicious, so tender and with a completely unique flavour. They even persuaded us to have caramelised chorizo, which worked surprisingly well!
Once back in San Gil, we did some last minute shopping for hormigas culonas (giant fried ants) the Santander speciality, which only Ali tried (afting spending several weeks building up the courage...).
Although we were now finished with Santander, we had not quite finished our trip - on the way back to Bogota, we made a relaxing stop in Paipa, in a gorgeous hotel with its own personal natural thermal baths and natural steam room. After all the driving we had been doing, we felt we deserved it..... Really gutted there are no photos of this, its probably the nicest hotel we´ll see for a while!!
Hope everyone is good, Hasta luego!!
