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Published: October 23rd 2009
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By 7am we are in town to wait for a collectivo to take us to Pitalito. A taxi was waiting as well we figured it will be faster if we got on it but it did not want to leave until one more person comes, we got tired of waiting we asked him to leave but would not budge so when the collectivo started moving we hopped off the taxi and got on the collectivo leaving the driver without a fare at all, his loss. Took roughly 45 minutes to get to Pitalito, a bigger town and a nicer bus station. We haggled again for bus/ collectivo prices for La Plata where we can get a bus for Tierradentro. We were ther at roughly 8am, one dude said they leave at 9am despite the schedule posted saying 10am, so we agreed to go with him, did not leave until 9:30am, we all squished in the back, very uncomfortable 3 hours nubmpy ride, plus a stop for lunch.
Arriving in La Plata we got a pick up truck to get us to Tierradentro, 4 1/2 hours of bumpy ride again but the scenery more than made up for it, spectacular, big
mountains and deep gorges, we all clicked away despite the bumpy roads. People get on and off sitting wherever they can, transport here is scrace so they take advantage of every opportunity they get. stopped at Inza a big town, we waited for more passengers then we moved on again, 1st we stopped in Tierradentro, we wanted to be in a bigger town to be able to do more things so we ended up in San Andres de Pisimbala, 2kms away. We found a hostel called Viajero, this grandma runs the place, for 8,000 pesos a nite not bad, we can use the kitchen as well, the old woman running the place was not that tidy, the kitchen was dirty but at least the rooms are clean and 2 toilets and a very cold shower which we all dread to use. Dropping our things off we headed to town.
We visited some shops for booze and food to cook for the night. Its a very small town, we hang out at a store slightly downhill from the church and everyone stared at us, we are the only tourist in town at the moment. We went back and cooked our
Tierradentro
how do we get past the cows?? meal and head to bed to get ready for tomorrow, big day of sightseeing.
After cooking our breakfast we headed down to Tierradentro , we followed the gravel road and stopped at the museo to pay the fee then visited the complex very very quickly, not that interesting for us, we all dislike museos, we want to get out there and check out the tombs right away. first sight is Segovia, a number of tombs in caves buried on mounds atop hills, its a bit of a hike to get up there, some have good paintings on the walls and ceilings hence no flash photography allowed, some are bare and boring, but we have to remember this is more than1,000 years old so we were told. i hit my shoulder in one of the wooden coverings protecting the tombs, it hurts!
From there to El Duende site, same thing climb the freakin hill, a few tombs to visit. After that a long walk to get to the next one, El Tablon where they have statues and some petroglyphs. From there we went back to town to have lunch at the El portadora, good cheap lunch then me and
Elliot decided to see some more sights, we went to Alto de San Andres, boring. from there we got ready to set up to El Aguacate the last sight on top of the hills, but 2 minutes into the walk it started raining so we headed back to the shed and waited it out 45 minutes! We fell asleep lying on the cold floor , Elliot snoring loudly. We headed off quickly soon as the rain abated, slippy muddy trail, we got lost lots as the trail is not well used and we have to backtrack many times but we got to the top anyhow and we figured it must be the shack in the distance that the burial sites are, so we headed that way through barbed wires then 2 big black cows were in our way grazing in the trail we tried to shoo it did not budge, we threw rocks at them nothing we are scared to go near them as they might attack and run after us, one has a nasty pair of horns! we went around them, cursing the stupid cows for making it a tad bit more harder for us.
Past the cows
we saw mounds with holes, and they follow a kind of straight line along the ridge of the mountain, cool site to see! The grass is very green and the view is amazing the holes made by this caves/tombs gives it an eerie feeling. We checked out some, and a few have faint left over paintings, after all this is more than 1,000 years old so we were told. We took awhile to check out most of the tombs, then we decided to head back, we can see the tombs go all the way down the other side of the ridge but its getting dark so we need to head back. We moved down pretty quickly, getting down for me was harder, its slippery and we got chased by a dog so we ran for a bit. About an hour later we are back in the town of San Andres thirsty and tired we headed straight to the local store and bought beer. we came back to the hostel and the senora is off to church, she told us to lock up if we go out .
We cooked our dinner and had a few beers then its time
for me to turn in, very tired, had a long day hill climbing and a little trek up the mountain as well, besides I wanted to sleep before Elliot does, we shared a room and we both snore, but he is louder so i want to be sleeping when he starts his concert. we got up early to catch the direct 6:20 am bus, we have no problem getting up early all the roosters were crowing in this small town! The bus was late by an hour, it was a 6 1/2 hour bus ride on bumpy roads again but the view is still amazing, Elliot and I sat next to each other, and we fell asleep quickly, Cristina and John at the back. The bus is a chicken bus with a crazy dude in front of us talking to himself and singing along with the bus music of sentimental love song, a young kid begging money earned his keep by singing Juanes' "La Camisa Negra" at the urging of the locals, it was quite funny. oh we have a flat tire too! Then a brief stop for lunch, eventually we got to Popayan and we headed straight back to
Hosteltrail.
Had lunch and siad our goodbyes to Elliot who goes to Cali. Had our 1st cold shower in days! Good cause we all stink.
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