Category Archives: _South America_

Around San Agustín

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We made it into San Agustín in the late afternoon of Jul 8th; it was an evening spent over mainly trout-based dishes and red wine, ultimately ending (not sure how we got there) in a discussion focused on udder recipes (cow udder eclairs anyone?) … might sound weird (and hell yes – it was), but is a clear sign of working group dynamics. 😉

We now had a full day around San Agustín; after (an udder-free) breakfast, we took taxis over to San Agustín Archaeological Park. The park is yet another UNESCO world heritage site and features a huge number of monolithic religious monuments, as well as many dolmen graves. Given the number of graves, I guess, one could technically count the place as a necropolis.
The San Agustín culture goes back to around 1000BC, it then thrived for the next two millennia with its decline kicking in around 1000AD (so well before any fun with the Spaniards). There are still many question marks around this culture; check out the wikipedia pages for a good starting point (Spanish, German, no English version unfortunately).

We had an extensive tour around the park taking in the main monuments, graves, the ceremonial spot around the river, made it up to a viewpoint and had the chance to sample the gastronomic offers of the park (yummy empanadas).

The afternoon saw us heading out to the small village of Obando to visit the small museum – to see some more graves and a compact exhibition (and summary) on the San Agustín culture. From here we continued to the Estrecho Del Magdalena (Magdalena Narrow), a spot at the Magdalena river, where the water gets pushed through a narrow channel between the rocks, resulting in high pressure and speed.

Welcome to Bogotá – Welcome to Colombia

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I have had Colombia on my bucket list for some time now; with the security situation well improving over the last couple of years – and a good offer at hand (for both tour and flight), I decided to get booked for this summer.

I made it into Bogotá in the evening of July 6th after a quick 11.5 hours flight (straight in from Frankfurt). After a good night of (jet-lag induced) sleep, I had a full day to explore the city – before the initial meeting with my group in the evening.

This morning I had a walk around the touristic center, making my way around to Plaza Bolivar, the cathedral, the presidential palace and Santa Clara museum; I also paid a visit to Bogotá’s Gold Museum. In the afternoon – after a late sandwich lunch – I walked up to the cable car station, to make the way up to Monserrate to see the church and shrine – and (certainly more important) get a view of the city.

I made it back to the hotel in time for the group meeting. It turned out, that there were only four of us (including myself, plus Andres, our tour leader) for the next ~twelve days (until Cartagena), so a fairly small group. After the usual introduction, we made our way into a nearby restaurant for dinner – followed by a first visit to the BBC and a great IPA introduction.

The next day – after a tea-based introduction to Starbucks – Colombia’s air force (or better the air force controlled airline SATENA) was happy enough to get us to the first stop of our tour itinerary – San Agustin.

 

La Serena

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An 18 hours bus ride did brings me from the Atacama desert to La Serena – next to the Pacific Ocean. I had some late breakfast (one could probably call it ‘brunch’) before checking out the town, its churches and museums.

Once I had enough of churches and museums I headed for the sea. On the way a Japanese Garden got my attention, so I had a quick stop here. Having seen real Japanese gardens before, I was not overly impressed. Nevertheless it seemed, the garden is quiet an attraction for the locals – it was packed by visiting school children. From here I continued my walk down to the waterfront, around 3km from the city center. I was not overly impressed with the beach and seaside.

Hike to the Pukara de Quitor

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Today I kicked if off with the local museum of  San Pedro – after which it did not take too long to realize that I had already seen the entire city center. My guidebook suggested a walk to the Pukara de Quitor, the ruins of an old Inca fort, strategically located on a hill, over-looking the oasis and the valley – a good 3km out of town.

Another hiking route started next to the Pukara’s entrance, leading up to the top of two other hills with even better views.

San Pedro de Atacama

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Today I left Argentina; a ten hour bus ride got me from Salta to San Pedro de Atacama and over the border into Chile; I got there in the late afternoon, moved into my hostal room and started to check out the town.