San Augustin de Tierradentro was our last stop in Colombia before moving on to Ecuador. After a nice long stay in Bogota, Lisa and I decided that it would be nice to get off the beaten path, out into the countryside, and do some hiking. We spent one night in Popoyan and then headed south to Tierradentro. We had heard that it was nice and thought that we'd check it out. Like Mompos, Tierradentro is a very isolated place. Getting there involved a six hour bus ride through dirt roads that ran up and down the sides of mountains high up in the Andes. It had been raining alot, and the roads were like mudslides, especially on the way out. Riding a 30 year old bus with no suspension up and down the sides of some of the tallest mountains I've ever seen on bumpy muddy dirt roads made for an interesting trip. There was more than one moment when I seriously thought we might not make it out of there, at least not any time soon. I was amazed that the bus was able to continuosly move uphill, very slowly, mile after mile through the mud. The roads were some of the worst maintained and scariest that I've ever seen. The 50 mile trip took about six hours! San Augustin itself was a very laid back little village full of friendly people and in an incredibly beautiful setting. Its main attraction is some pre-colombian tombs left behind by the areas indegenous people. The tombs themselves were mildly interesting. The real attraction for us was hiking through some amazing countryside. It rained quite as bit during the time that we were there. We ended up getting very wet, but it wasn't all rain. We did see some sun for at least a little while.
The road to Tierradentro.... one of the better portions:
All taken from the bus window:
San Augustin de Tierradentro:
A view from one of the tombs surrounding the village:
Hiking through the countryside:
Descending down into an ancient tomb.... we were told by our guide that the tombs were over 4000 years old. This didn't seem very believable to me and it turned out that the real number was closer to 1000.... still, pretty old:
Inside the tombs:
The rain comes and goes quick in this part of Colombia.... a view from one of the tombs:
Same view, not even five minutes later.... needless to say, we were wet and cold, but it was worth it:
All taken from the bus window:
San Augustin de Tierradentro:
A view from one of the tombs surrounding the village:
Hiking through the countryside:
Descending down into an ancient tomb.... we were told by our guide that the tombs were over 4000 years old. This didn't seem very believable to me and it turned out that the real number was closer to 1000.... still, pretty old:
Inside the tombs:
The rain comes and goes quick in this part of Colombia.... a view from one of the tombs:
Same view, not even five minutes later.... needless to say, we were wet and cold, but it was worth it:
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