San Gil, Barichara & Bucaramanga - 24/8/2013 - 27/8/2013

The alarm of my mobile rings at 7 am. I re-organize my bag, have a shower (after Fran gets the boiler ready) and have a rushed breakfast. Shortly before 9 I call a cab to the airport while Fran flags one down for her doctor´s appointment. It takes no more than a few minutes to get rid of my bag. Before clearing the security check, I just have to drop by at Dunkin´Donuts for my travel donut – kind of a ritual by now. The plane leaves half an hour late but as the flight only takes 35 minutes it doesn´t really matter. And anyway, had I taken the bus as I had planned before the road blocks, it would have taken me a lot longer to get to San Gil. The descent to Bucaramanga airport is downright spectacular, the terrain is incredibly rugged, forming bluffs and dramatic drops and canyons. The airport itself is situated right on top of a man-made plateau high above the city of Bucaramanga. It´s a 35-minute cab ride from the airport to the bus terminal. I get on a bus to San Gil right away and this means I should arrive by 4 pm and give me some time to have a look around. The bus leaves, everything´s going well until we almost reach a bridge down at the bottom of a canyon. There the journey comes to a sudden halt: road works, the bridge is temporarily closed for traffic. Temporarily means for 2 ½ hours! Then, after what feels like an eternity, we get moving again and the bus fights its way up the steep mountain and to the rim of Chicamocha Canyon, Colombia´s deepest canyon when suddenly there is a big bang, followed by many theories by the passengers of what that could have been. The driver has a quick look and decides to carefully drive on. He stops at the next roadside tire repair stall – and another 25 prescious minutes gone… 

Finally, around dusk, we arrive in San Gil, Colombia´s adventure tourism capital (because of the activities on offer, not because it´s dangerous) and I take a cab to the hotel, the Posada Familiar. US$2 for less than a minute in the cab. It´s literally just around the corner, well, OK, two corners. This doesn´t seem to be my day. My fate turns when the door of the posada opens and I receive another of those typically Colombian warm welcomes by the lady who owns this beautiful hotel. She shows me my room and I can smile again. The room is very nice, the patio wonderful. I walk to the parque principal, which is just 4 blocks down the road and enjoy watching all the people, families, lovers, friends chatting, parading up and down, skating, biking or just hanging out. I buy two chicken empanadas and a coke and sit down on one of the benches.

After a while I leave the plaza and walk the lively streets. Not far away I see a pedestrian bridge across the río Fonce full of people and I hear loud music coming from the other side of the bridge. Let´s check this out. It´s a new shopping mall, not really what I´m looking for and so I turn around and slowly stroll back to the posada. I sit in the patio and write my blog - time to catch up...

It´s a sunny morning and the patio looks even nicer now in the sunlight. It sure is a great place to while away some hours. 

But I´ve got some sightseeing to do: I want to see the privately owned Parque El Gallineral. The park is really beautiful  and covers 4 acres along the wild río Fonce. It´s full of massive trees, over and over covered with Spanish moss, "Old Man´s Beard". There are birds, butterflies and squirrels galore.. In short - a very pleasant place to spend a warm, sunny morning.

The local specialty: fried hormiga culona - fat-bottomed ant. I have to admit I didn´t try it, but people say it tastes like peanut.

Time to get back to the hotel and pick up my small travel bag (I leave the big one here as I´ll be back tomorrow). I´m going to Barichara, little more than 20 kilometers from here. Barichara supposedly is Colombia´s prettiest colonial village...

It´s a very scenic drive uphill to Barichara and takes only 35 minutes and then I´m left in the middle of the large and handsome parque principal. Very promising indeed. I ask for the way to my hotel, two blocks up a steep hill from the very prominent cathedral. Today I treat myself, I´ve booked into the Hostal Misión Santa Bárbara, a boutique hotel. Another warm welcome and then I´m shown to my beautiful garden room. Nothing to complain about, honestly...

 

My room - from outside...

... and from inside

I have a look around the hotel first and then explore the picturesque streets and plazas of Barichara in the blazing sun. There are hardly any modern buildings that would spoil the character of the sleepy village. And there are hardly any people around. They all seem to be inside, enjoying the cool of their patios.

The cathedral dominates the village and can be seen from most places. It´s really too big for a town this size but nevertheless beautiful. 

Time to cool down - it´s around 35°C. I return to my room, but soon I get ready for the hike of the day, seven kilometers on the historic Camino Real down to the village of Guane. It´s mostly downhill but the cobblestoned path is not really good for feet, knees or the back.  The scenic walk makes up for any hardship or pain, however. I see very few people, 12 goats and 8 cows on that 75-minute hike to Guane. After around 40 minutes the sun disappears behind dark clouds. I hope it won´t rain on me. At least the heat is less unbearable now.

Guane is a tiny village and still very much untouched by tourism, domestic and international. There are people on the plaza. A young man with a Nikon SLR approaches me. He needs help with his camera and has seen my Nikon. I can help him. His name is Luís and he´s from Bucaramanga. He introduces me to his girlfriend Mayra who is sitting next to an elderly man, Don Álvaro. He loves to talk and share his wisdom with us. It´s fun talking to him (which basically means listening to what he says) but I´m afraid I won´t get to see anything because he doesn´t stop. Finally I find a polite way out and have a look at the church.

The trees on the parque principal are swarming with all kinds of birds. Some are small and very colourful. I wonder what they are.

It´s about 6 pm when the bus to Barichara pulls up. It takes about 20 minutes to get back and when I get off the bus at the parque principal, the heavens open. I get back to the hotel and wait for the end of the rain. In the meantime I have a really hot shower with loads of water (this alone justifies the higher price). It´s ime to grab a bite to eat after the rain has stopped. I walk to a little restaurant that was recommended and have fettuccini and tomato sauce and fresh Lulo juice. Before I return to the hotel I walk a little through the empty streets of Barichara.

I spend the rest of the evening in the wifi area and work on my blogs until the battery has run off. And I´m tired anyway, so time to call it a day.

I sleep really well and until 8:30. There was no noise except for the tree frogs and cicadas, and those are perfect noises for sleeping. Breakfast is a treat - fresh fruit, fresh pineapple juice scrambled eggs, (good!) arepas and bread with jam. And good coffee, of course!

Now I feel ready for some more exploring. It´s not even 10 o´clock, but it´s even hotter than yesterday. There are a few people out and about, but still not too many. Where is everybody? I wander around until my water bottle is completely empty - which is after 2 hours.

the "Mirador"

Ode to the fat-bottomed ant, la hormiga culona

That´s when I return to the hotel. I put my swimming trunks on, throw my stuff in the bad, pay the bill and go to the pool. I can stay there as long as I want. And I want to stay until 2:45 pm, when it´s time to go down to the parque and catch the bus to San Gil. 

Another downpour starts moments before we reach the town. I seek shelter from the rain at the bus stop but after a while I get bored and decide to take a cab for the 6 1/2 blocks back to the hotel - it´s only US$ 2,10 we´re talking about, no big deal. I am given the same room I was in before. My bag is still in there, they didn´t give the room to anybody else. I sit in the patio and work on my blog until I feel somewhat hungry. I venture out and buy a chicken empanada and a coke and eat it while sitting on a bench on the parque principal. Then I walk around a little more, but return to the hotel in time for The Big Bang Theory. I´m really going to miss that show in the original version when I return to Germany! After TBBT I continue working on my blog and then go to bed.

In the morning it´s time I got to see San Gil in the daylight. The Parque de la Independencia - the main square - seems to be the favourite place for the elderly male population of the town. They sit together and chat or sit all by themselves and observe. So do I, enjoying fresh Mango juice and an empanada.

San Gil still preserves part of its colonial legacy, but it´s not as intact as Barichara or other cities in Colombia. Still, it has got a lot of flair - and traffic...

I walk back to the hotel to get ready for the 11.30 service to Bucaramanga. I get to the bus company´s place early and just in time to catch a bus that´s ready to leave. It´s a very smooth ride all the way to the impressive Chicamocha Canyon.

No stop due to road works this time and so we´re in Bucaramanga in no time. It´s not even 2 pm when I arrive at Kasa Guane, a typical backpacker place. The room´s not ready yet, so I make myself comfortable on the big rooftop terrace in the 2nd (US 3rd) floor and chat with another guest and the caretaker´s son. Then I´m taken to my room. It´s OK, but quite expensive for what it is.

After a while I want to explore the city, despite the rain showers. Bucaramanga is a fairly modern city, yet a little pocket of the colonial city remains. Mostly its apartment blocks, though. Still, the city has its charms. Maybe that´s why Colombians have nicknamed it "la ciudad bonita" - the pretty city.

the cathedral

Cakes...in case you wondered what these were.

I come back to the hostel around 7:15 pm, write my blog, have a shower and then read a bit. Who knows, maybe I´ll have a beer on the terrace later. Tomorrow I´ve got to catch a flight to Santa Marta, at the Caribbean coast. From there a colectivo will take me towards Tayrona National Park. It could well be that I´m without wi-fi for some time now. We´ll see. Watch this space