Tierradentro
We head towards the "Parque Arqueologico de Tierradentro" and expect two days of driving.
Our first stage leads us to "La Plata" city to prepare the next stage (filling up with water and supply).
We know that the road to the village is difficult on the last 15 km, so we prepare ourselves mentally.
A moment of doubt... At one of the few places where the road narrows we find ourselves face to face with a dump truck and a bus ... no panic ... Jean Pierre steps out and directs the maneuver ... Christophe at the wheel ... a few millimeters on each side.
The weather is not nice, but it does not prevent us from admiring the marvelous landscape that we cross between the "rio Magdalena", the coffee and banana plantations on the hillsides and the green mountains.
We go to our camping-hotel and take information to organize our stay.
Tierradentro is a sacred place where the descendants of the indigenous Paeces live. In honor of their gods and their dead people, they have elaborated deep and complex graves decorated with geometric figures painted in white, red and black.
The park, declared a Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, is the 2nd most important archaeological site of Colombia.
The largest underground burials (or hypogea) are mostly carved in tufa. They are sometimes decorated with bird, animal or geometric motifs.
At altitudes between 1,200 and 2,700 m, the sites are visited hiking a 7-8-hour loop circuit for the whole, but it is advisable to visit the sites in two days.
The departure is at the level of the archaeological museum and starts with a climb to the village of "San André" then continues with another climb to the last sites to finally descend.
To avoid unnecessary fatigue, we take a taxi to San André and hike on the first part to the museum.
You descend quietly by visiting the sites in the middle of the mountains sheltering coffee and banana plantations ... We are very happy to have to go down and not to go up ... the path is steep!!!
It rains a good part of the night, but when we wake up it’s nice. We take our taxi back to start the second part ... A calvary awaits us there ... most of the trail is muddy and the climb proves to be a hell ... We are wading in the mud ... a real obstacle course!!!
Once at the top, the site is empty, no guard , and we do not find the painted hypogea ... What a disappointment and what a discouragement ... We feel a certain anger towards the organization of this park ... but we have to go back down.
Despite this mishap, we keep an excellent memory of this park.
We go back to "La Plata" to get closer to the next stage.
San Agustin
When we wake up, the rain comes and the landscape changes completely. We were lucky to see this beautiful desert under the sun.
Our next stop takes us to San Agustin, some 273 kilometers away.
It takes us 1 day 1/2 to reach our destination. We drive between the "Eastern Cordillera" and the "Central Cordillera" through a beautiful landscape.
A real treat for the eyes, but difficult to photograph or film because it is impossible to park on the sides of the road.
The Central Cordillera is the source of the two main Colombian rivers, the Rio Magdalena and the Rio Cauca. At the heart of the mountain are some of the highest peaks in the country at an altitude of more than 5,000 metres, including the Nevado del Huila, a volcano located at 5,750 metres.
It also houses many preserved natural parks.
The Coffee Region is also crossed by the central cordillera that shape these unique hilly landscapes between coffee and banana plantations.
Many typical villages are nestled on the heights of the eastern cordillera. Accommodating mountainous reliefs, these villages owe their charm to their steep streets and colonial architecture.
San Agustín and its surroundings are considered to be one of the largest necropolis in the world. Still today, these sculptures contain many mysteries.
The civilization called San Agustín by the Western world is still a mysterious civilization. This civilization appeared in -600 BC and disappeared a few decades before the arrival of the Spanish, around the 14th century.
After joining the campsite we visit the "Parque Arqueologico Nacional"
Classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, this park is an extraordinary place, with its hundreds of stones erected, its crypts and impressive statues. The remains are scattered on both sides of the imposing Río Magdalena gorge.
The park consists of three sites "El bosque de las esculturas", "Las mesitas", "El alto de lavapatas" and a museum. We stay there for 3 hours as it is so fascinating.
Access to other sites is so difficult that we decide to book a guide with his vehicle for the next two days and admire especially:
* Bordone Salto waterfall: the highest waterfall in Colombia, rising to almost 400 m
* Alto de los Ídolos is the second largest archaeological park in the region. His stone sculptures include the largest anthropomorphic statue in the San Agustín region, which is 7 m high.
* El Purutal: The only site with coloured statues.
* Alto de Lavapatas: On a beautiful meadow overlooking the entire San Agustín Valley is a magnificent group of statues.
* Alto de las Piedras: on an artificial plateau that houses funerary rooms, decorated with colourful geometric figures, and a few statues, one of the most famous in San Agustín: «el Doble Yo» with its intriguing double face.
We enjoyed going through all the sites with our driver "Edouard".
ROAD BOOK 125
MAVROS ODYSSEE