COLOMBIA: CHICAMOCHA & BARICHARA

Posted February 23, 2010 by Rahul Aggarwal

After some 45mins struggling to get all of our cases on the roof rack of the mini-van, we left the city of Bucaramanga for the attractive sounding Chichamocha Canyon, situated 2 hours away. El Parque Nacional del Chicamocha has now been set up by the Santander local government to promote the natural beauty of the park and the adventure activities on offer. Since we had come at a drier time of the year, the river level was a lot lower, and the land parched dry in areas.

We started off with zip-trekking some 450m… which was a lot of fun, and would have been even more so had I not confused the brakes for the regular straps, so I was unable to come down at full velocity. No worries though, as the Mexican girl, Karla, hurtled down at breakneck speed crashing directly into the safety canvas which was supposed to cushion the landing!

From there we moved on to the cable car to experience the world’s longest cable car ride. The ride was smooth, and the views of the canyon were breathtaking. Large birds of prey jostled for position above (hopefully not looking out for us!) and cacti resembling long prickly skyscrapers reached for the sky. We passed over the occasional villager who was riding atop his burro (donkey) carrying home his wares.

The first part of the ride descended deep into the canyon and the second part rose up again to the other side. A boat filled with large metal sculptures depicting Santander’s key role in the struggle for independence from colonial rule, sat atop one of the peaks. Further down from there we jumped into buggies for a ride around a dirt track circuit that had been created.

After that extra adrenalin rush, we finally made our way to what many people have dubbed as Colombia’s most charming and genuine colonial town – Barichara. More often than not, when a place is hyped up it turns out to be disappointing, but Barichara really is a town of the most elegant beauty.

We arrived late evening, so it was rather dark, but nonetheless after checking into the superb posada where I was staying, three of us (Dan, Adam and myself) wandered to the main plaza where we had a drink by the fountain, absorbing the atmosphere of this old colonial town. Later on, we joined the others at an excellent Spanish restaurant sat in the middle of a courtyard enjoying delicious tapas.

Afterwards we wandered some of the narrow streets, which resembled something from another era, with its small churches eerily lit up, and locals silently slipping home after a hard’s day work. I returned to the comfort of my posada and can’t wait for tomorrow, which is going to be a day of adrenalin-packed sport.

This blog is part of an Off-The-Beaten-Track Travel Diary. Click on the links below to navigate through this journey.