4-28
We arrived into Pitalito bright and early in the morning and took a short truck ride to San Augustin. We picked a place to stay based on our guide book, a small farm run by a swiss-colombian couple. It was a bit out of town and up a steep hill, but when we arrived, the dorm was full. So they offered us to stay in the Tipi (maybe translated to teepee) which was a round traditional cabana with a thatched roof and a firepit in the center. The firepit was surrounded by 3 beds with mosquito nets. There was an outside attached bathroom where you could shower with hot water under the stars (or sun). It was a pretty cool place to stay!
After checking in, we quickly rented a couple of horses and a guide to visit 4 of the archaeological sites: El Tablon, La Chaquira, La Pelota, and Purutal as well as to get to a nice viewpoint of the canyon of the rio magdalena and a couple of waterfalls.
San Augustin is famous for its large stone statues dating back from well before Christ to 900AD whn the civilization vanished. The statues range from 3ft to 15ft and depict anthropomorphic animals as well as people, warriors, and gods. The statues are quite cool looking and are definitely located in beautiful locales.
This half day horseride that we did was no boring trail ride that one would find for tourists in Estes. No, it was quite the opposite. I had told the guide I didn't want to pay money for a boring trail ride, and apparently he really listened. I should have gotten some clue as to the nature of the ride, when he asked me if I had insurance because if I did not, I could buy some through his company as hospital bills in San Augustin can be expensive. For some reason, Elisha's (Lucas) and my (Reyne) horses were quite competitive. Elisha's horse wanted to always be at the front and usually was. It would keep its ears peeled back to sense any movements my horse would make as well as often keep an eye on my horse. My horse was constantly trying to pass, so Elisha's horse spent a whole lot of time weaving and cutting me and my horse off. Because of this competition and my horse's desire to take the lead, we spent most of the time at a gallup between sights and often at a pretty good sprint. For some reason, they loved to race up the hills (and also on the flats). As soon as we would round a corner and there would be a hill, the horses would take off at full gallup. It was actually quite physical (and scary) to hold onto the horses as they ran at full steep up hills. It also was scary with how they passed each other as there were trees, branches, ditches, potholes, and barbed wire fences all around. But the truth is, we had tons of fun. Elisha and I would be laughing pretty uncontrollably as our horses would race through the countryside. Even the guide was laughing. The funny thing is what we had thought would be a mellow and perhaps even boring trail ride actually turned into an adrenaline filled activity. Elisha and I laughed and joked a lot about our competitive horses, especially hers, which I told her was appropriately named as Pocatello Lucas when running through forests with his hotshot crew is also often comparatively competitive.
The scenery on the tour was quite nice and it was cool to race past all the agricultural fields of coffee, bananas, tomaotes, lulo, avacados, oranges, maize, and sugar cane. I also felt very good on the tour bc the guide, who spoke no english, spoke a very clear spanish, so I was able to understand about 95% of what he told us, and I think Elisha was impressed at how well I was translating back to her.
After the fun-filled horse ride, we walked around the Parque Archaeological site by ourselves. There were 3 main mesas filled with lots of statues as well as the tombs that the statues guarded or watched over. There was a cool walk through the forests where statues from other locations had been placed. And there was also one area where they had carved figures into rocks that a stream ran over. We had a good time walking amidst the statues and wondering about the people who had carved them and disappeared. The statues were cool and often almost looked cartoonish/videogame esque. We wondered how they got the inspiration and ideas for the design.
That evening, we ate icecream, tried some beverages from Colombia that we had yet to try as this would be one of our last nights in Colombia (if you go to Colombia, you can skip the Pony drink...ugh gross!), and then attended night mass before heading back up the steep hill to our tipi.
We arrived into Pitalito bright and early in the morning and took a short truck ride to San Augustin. We picked a place to stay based on our guide book, a small farm run by a swiss-colombian couple. It was a bit out of town and up a steep hill, but when we arrived, the dorm was full. So they offered us to stay in the Tipi (maybe translated to teepee) which was a round traditional cabana with a thatched roof and a firepit in the center. The firepit was surrounded by 3 beds with mosquito nets. There was an outside attached bathroom where you could shower with hot water under the stars (or sun). It was a pretty cool place to stay!
After checking in, we quickly rented a couple of horses and a guide to visit 4 of the archaeological sites: El Tablon, La Chaquira, La Pelota, and Purutal as well as to get to a nice viewpoint of the canyon of the rio magdalena and a couple of waterfalls.
San Augustin is famous for its large stone statues dating back from well before Christ to 900AD whn the civilization vanished. The statues range from 3ft to 15ft and depict anthropomorphic animals as well as people, warriors, and gods. The statues are quite cool looking and are definitely located in beautiful locales.
This half day horseride that we did was no boring trail ride that one would find for tourists in Estes. No, it was quite the opposite. I had told the guide I didn't want to pay money for a boring trail ride, and apparently he really listened. I should have gotten some clue as to the nature of the ride, when he asked me if I had insurance because if I did not, I could buy some through his company as hospital bills in San Augustin can be expensive. For some reason, Elisha's (Lucas) and my (Reyne) horses were quite competitive. Elisha's horse wanted to always be at the front and usually was. It would keep its ears peeled back to sense any movements my horse would make as well as often keep an eye on my horse. My horse was constantly trying to pass, so Elisha's horse spent a whole lot of time weaving and cutting me and my horse off. Because of this competition and my horse's desire to take the lead, we spent most of the time at a gallup between sights and often at a pretty good sprint. For some reason, they loved to race up the hills (and also on the flats). As soon as we would round a corner and there would be a hill, the horses would take off at full gallup. It was actually quite physical (and scary) to hold onto the horses as they ran at full steep up hills. It also was scary with how they passed each other as there were trees, branches, ditches, potholes, and barbed wire fences all around. But the truth is, we had tons of fun. Elisha and I would be laughing pretty uncontrollably as our horses would race through the countryside. Even the guide was laughing. The funny thing is what we had thought would be a mellow and perhaps even boring trail ride actually turned into an adrenaline filled activity. Elisha and I laughed and joked a lot about our competitive horses, especially hers, which I told her was appropriately named as Pocatello Lucas when running through forests with his hotshot crew is also often comparatively competitive.
The scenery on the tour was quite nice and it was cool to race past all the agricultural fields of coffee, bananas, tomaotes, lulo, avacados, oranges, maize, and sugar cane. I also felt very good on the tour bc the guide, who spoke no english, spoke a very clear spanish, so I was able to understand about 95% of what he told us, and I think Elisha was impressed at how well I was translating back to her.
After the fun-filled horse ride, we walked around the Parque Archaeological site by ourselves. There were 3 main mesas filled with lots of statues as well as the tombs that the statues guarded or watched over. There was a cool walk through the forests where statues from other locations had been placed. And there was also one area where they had carved figures into rocks that a stream ran over. We had a good time walking amidst the statues and wondering about the people who had carved them and disappeared. The statues were cool and often almost looked cartoonish/videogame esque. We wondered how they got the inspiration and ideas for the design.
That evening, we ate icecream, tried some beverages from Colombia that we had yet to try as this would be one of our last nights in Colombia (if you go to Colombia, you can skip the Pony drink...ugh gross!), and then attended night mass before heading back up the steep hill to our tipi.
1 comment:
Oh, man, that horseback tour was one of a kind! It was so hilarous, those horses and their competitive speed between sights! I think I was sore from laughing as well as the saddle;)
Post a Comment