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Published: February 25th 2013
There are places whish are considered skip-able by travelers, Bogota being one of them. Whenever we are in such situation that we have to choose if we should stay or not, we simply cannot decide. On one hand we know it is not going to blow our minds, on the other however, we feel that maybe we can find something special over there. This way we have some regrettable choices of places on our list (Boracay, Bali and even Gillis) but curiosity somehow always wins. We had to go through Bogota anyway, as there was no other way to get out of the Amazon but we did not have to stay, of course. And of course we did anyway.
When we landed in
Bogota, people started to put layers on their very light clothing (Leticia is in tropical climate) and we were wondering why. When we got out of the terminal in our flip-flops and shorts we immediately understood why. I had forgotten to read the intro in our guidebook where it was clearly mentioned that Bogota gets an average of 14C throughout a year. Ow, bummer … we don’t like that. Despite of what LP said about their Tourist
Office we got loads of help and information from them and easily got to our hostel by a local transport. No taxi is necessary over there as bus system is fantastic. We stayed in the first hostel that ever had been open in Bogota – Platypus but because of prices we had to take a dorm. I will not mention the price and location as the place has been now sold and will no longer exist. We were one of the last people staying there, sadly.
With breakfast we got a nice surprise as we met two Polish girls, who were on vacation. We had some time to talk, exchange plans and get contacts before they left. They told us what was worth seeing in the capital and what was overrated. First I had to deal with my last dose of anti-rabies vaccine and it proved to be very difficult. As it happens Colombia does not have much problem with this disease so they don’t offer this service in their hospitals. The receptionist was nice enough to call all the clinics for me and finally we were told that maybe one hospital could help me. Tree hours and 40$
later plus taxi fee I was free of rabies for good hahah
The next day was Sunday so we were lucky to see the
‘car free day’ with loads of people jogging, roller-skating, walking their dogs and cycling through the historic part of the city. We walked around, enjoying sunny weather, got to see many beautiful churches and the most anticipated
Museo del Oro (Gold Museum). It was simply fantastic – one of the best we have visited on the continent. With all the expositions, films and pictures about gold, pre-Columbian craftsmanship it was really interesting. It was also exhausting as the information they provide is abundant. You simply cannot visit Bogota without seeing this – a must do!!!
We decided we had seen enough of the capital city and it was time to leave. Bogota is also one of the places marked as ‘dangerous’ in any storytelling. Is it really? We did not feel anything suspicious about people around us; however we always stay very vigilant. There is loads of police everywhere so chances are really slim unless you wander around some far-away barrio and just get unlucky. There were so many places in Colombia we wanted
to visit so we had to hurry up. We did not like that but we were too interested in this country to do otherwise. Before we left however, we managed to meet another Polish couple, what are the odds really? As we were all headed to the bus terminal we went together which gave us more time to get to know each other and talk. Wow, so far so good…
In this high spirit, we boarded a 10h bus to
Pitalito, just 60km away from San Agustin which was really our next destination. It was the first time ever I got motion sickness on the bus … I never have problems but the combination of being at the high altitude again and winding road made it so horrible for me. The worst bus journey ever, even though the vehicle was really luxurious (price, 30$ each). I was so glad when we reached Pitalito that it did not even cross my mind to look for a nice hotel. We just took a room in some motel next to the terminal so that we were close to it in the morning when we move on to
San Agustin. Not all days
local snack
we are not sure what that is but it's sold cold just like ice-creamon the road are great and fortunately something like this does not happen very often…
In the morning we ‘enjoyed’ being ripped off when buying breakfast and then moved on to San Agustin by collective. Unfortunately in Colombia you pay a
‘white man tax’ everywhere you go, so you may as well get used to it. We don’t speak Spanish to be able to argue with them so what was there to do then? San Agustin is a very unusual place, because of stunning terrain but also because of its archeological park that showcases gravestones estimated to be 5,000 years old (created between 3300 BC and 600 BC) - that is way before any described by history civilization on the continent. You think Inca Empire existed long time ago? Well this was 4,500 years earlier. On the time map, this place can be put next to Luxor in Egypt, just that San Agustin civilization was much less advanced and all there is left now are megalithic sculptures instead of an ancient city. Nevertheless, it is one of the oldest ancient sites we have ever visited - how exciting.
When we arrived we got surrounded by touts trying to
burial site
the cave used to be behind the stone figures push us towards their chosen accommodation but we really had our demands that majority could not meet: we wanted guest kitchen and Wi-fi. They were a little bit confused as budget accommodations over there have kitchens but no internet, and pricey hotels with wi-fi don’t offer the use of kitchen but restaurants. We somehow managed to find a beautiful boutique hotel (the name is really overrated) with both, for only 20$ per night (room with shared bathroom, 30$ for own). The cheapest room elsewhere was nearly half of that price so even though it seems low we really paid double for wi-fi.
We went exploring straight away although I did not feel myself yet. Maybe it was because of being back at the high altitude that made me feel that way. We ventured around town, got to see some incredible views and just enjoyed the countryside. It is hard to describe how blissfully calm San Agustin is. It is low key, with some stunning scenery and amazingly nice people. Only here we started to notice the difference between Bolivians and Peruvians when compared with Colombians. We finally understood what other travelers meant when it comes to loving Colombia so
much. People in the Andes don’t belong to the group of the most
‘friendly nations’, that is true, but somehow we did not pay much of attention to it. It was just so hard to get anybody to smile over there, and believe us, we have tried so many times. They say that smile goes a long way so we tried to use it a lot…without success most of the time. In Colombia it is all magically different. People seem happier and fulfilled and very chilled out which makes your experience so much better.
Nobody tried to push any tour on us even though you can do a horseback riding, jeep tours to local waterfalls and many archeological sites. Nobody gave us the -
what the hell they are doing - look, when we walked all the way to the
UNESCO Heritage Archeological Park instead of taking a taxi. It was a good trek up the road and we were glad we did that. Archeological Park is a vast land divided into 4 sections (they are called
mesitas as ‘tables’) and you have to find your way around it with a map, unless, you can off course hire a
guide. We decided to take it easy and we walked from mesita to mesita, enjoying the views. This place is considered to be the largest collection of religious monuments, gravestones and megalithic sculptures in South America, represented as gods, wild as well as some mystical animals. Some of them are really realistic and some, well…the -
what author had in mind - type.
Nevertheless, we thought they were great and a huge bonus is their location. It is not a typical museum but a beautiful landscape with lush, green jungle around and the stone monuments scattered around it. Beautiful walk worth doing even if you don’t necessary enjoy the history that much. When you finish the walk you are taken through an exposition of ‘lost and found’ megaliths that were recovered from museums and private collections. It was a good closure, no doubt. We were not totally satisfied with this Archeological Park and we wanted to see more. The stone figured are to be found everywhere around San Agustin town, not only in this place. We took a morning bus to another park but we only could see closed road ahead of us. Unfortunately roadwork had been taking place
for some time over there and the traffic was allowed to pass by only before 8am and then between lunch. As we would have had to wait for another 3h we just took a bus back to town. Tomek went exploring more of the beautiful landscape and I stayed at home cooking and relaxing. We will have to go by with just seeing this one park, then….
Additional Information: •
More information about ancient San Agustin civilization you can find here: http://www.colombia.travel/en/international-tourist/sightseeing-what-to-do/history-and-tradition/archaeological-tourism/san-agustin-archaeological-park , or here on the UNESCO Heritage webpage: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/744 •
Be advised that: most guidebooks may tell you this area is guerrilla territory, but this is no longer the case •
It is said that some of the agents organizing jeep tours are more interested in your personal belongings, just ask in your hotel for recommendations
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ron & lisa & rumi
non-member comment
peru & bolivia
Hi -- gud morning! It's my day off and it's snowing hard in Flagstaff!! I've been following your blog through South America cuz we are scheduled to go to Peru, Bolivia and Chile in this upcoming July > October! Thanks so much for the effort that you've been putting into this documentary!! It's been very informative. We'll be taking our 11 y.o. son Rumi with us on our trip! We did take him to India in '09 and he loved it very much! What kid wouldn't like waking up to his parents every morning for 2 months with now school to go to?? Anyway, I'd like to ask you if we need to take sleeping bags with us through Peru & Bolivia for the hotels?? It sounds like you are staying at about a similar economic level that we like to do when travelling so is it necessary to take sleeping bags or is the hotel's beds warm & clean enough?? We'll be travelling in their winter/dryer season but we do plan on spending a lot of time in Bolivia for sure. I liked your comments about being turned off by the over-the-top tourist trap in southern Peru...I've been in situations like that in certain places around the world and it certainly is a turn-off!! Anyway, keep safe and you have a place to stay here in Flagstaff, Arizona when you come through here!!