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Published: March 4th 2009
San Augustin was never on my initial itiniary but the fun thing about travelling and specifically travelling on your own is that you can make it up as you go along!
I´d been having a really great time with Ilse and Miriam (who I meant in Salento) I decided I would catch an overnight bus with them to San Augustin and then fly from Popayan to Cartagena rather than do 2 overnight buses to Cartagena going back through Medellin. Ok so I am giving up on doing the sight seeing thing in Medellin but I hear there is not that much to see anyway!
San Augustin is a small town in the SW of Colombia. It is reasonably close to Cali. It was supposedly half the size of Salento with a wopping population of 2000 inhabitants but it actually felt like it was a bit bigger. San Augustin is famous and on the map because it is probably one of South America´s most important archaeological sites. Lots of statues have been discovered from a mysterious group of people who went there to bury their dead and leave behing these statues as a monument.
I must admit we were
a little disapointed when we first arrived. After the magic of Salento it would have been hard for any town to live up to our then hightened expectations. San Augustin though is a place that grows on you and the archaeological park was interesting even for a lay person like me.
The thing that really made our stay in San Augustin memorable was the place in which we were staying. It was an ecological ranch run by a swiss guy. It was fantastic. Our dorm was a free standing Tipee with thatched roof and every little detail had been thought of. We decided to cook there every night as a nice change but the food they prepared was amazing too. Every morning we had warm milk from their own cows, fresh fruit salad and warm bread that was home made served with eggs from the chickens on their land too. It was never too busy, we went for a great afternoon horse riding and we still managed to fit in one night of a party as we had a reunion with some others from Salento and played a great (albeit stupid drinking game!!).
The morning after the night
before we got on a bus to Popayan (from where I would fly a couple of days later). This was the most stupid decision ever. We should have known before we got on the bus as it was a 6 hour journey to cover 120km. Man was it bad! For a start they only had one seat left on 1 of us had to sit on the floor at the frint of the bus and the other sit on a hard tiny bit of space between 2 seats. And the reason it tool 6 hours to cover 120km is because the road is so so so bad! It curves the whole way and is not tarmacked so is the bumpiest journey I have ever been on. Add to this no seat and a hangover from hell and I think you will get the general picture. It took all of my effort not to throw up!
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