Puentes

I actually have something to write about! I went to San Gil with 11 friends for the first 'puente' (3-day weekend). For those of you who don't know anything about Colombia, San Gil is in the department of Santander and is the 'adventure' capital of Colombia. It took us 5 1/2 hours to get there in a FREEZING cold bus overnight on Friday, and 8 hours to get home on Monday (ugh!).

Saturday we were all exhausted and some people went rafting (more like floating) but that didn't sound appealing to me so I went to a swimming hole with a waterfall, which was gorgeous and fun. Afterwards I went to the town of Barichara, which is supposedly the prettiest colonial town in Colombia. I did a 9 km hike/walk from Barichara to Guane, which looked very similar to Barichara except smaller. I had THE BEST AREPA I have ever had in Guane. The arepas in Santander are different than the arepas in Bogotá, and I loved them! They are made with fresh corn and are just delish.

On Sunday I went to the Juan Curi waterfall in the morning, which was totally packed with people, so we didn't stay in the crowded area for long. We wandered down the waterfall and discovered more little pools and cascades-- it was super pretty! After Juan Curi I went to Chicamocha National Park, the newest National Park in Colombia. I went alone because everyone else was doing something, but I really enjoyed it. The canyon was gorgeous and I hiked up to the 360 degree lookout point and had an amazing view. That night we went out to the local discoteca (with a lot of groaning and moaning from me, because I just wanted to sleep), and ended up having tons of fun! The next morning we woke up and tried to buy bus tickets, but the person at our hostel told us they were all sold out! We had about 20 minutes of panic but ended up going to the bus station and getting tickets.

(I actually wrote all of that about two days after I got back from San Gil, two weeks ago, but never posted it because I wanted to include pictures. Too bad! Now I will continue with the new stuff..)

This past weekend was another puente, and we went to Villa de Levya. It was by far my most fun and relaxing weekend here in Colombia. I had been kind of down and wanting to come home, but that weekend with my friends really helped me! We got the number of the nameless hostel from a friend of a friend (who is Colombian). We only had a cell phone number-- no e-mail, webpage, or address. We easily arrived in Villa de Levya after switching buses in Tunja and called the number that we had. The owner, Clara, walked to the bus station to get us. She was so absolutely caring and mom-like. She made us dinner both nights, and tailored the dinner to exactly what we wanted! The hostel itself was really cute and I know I will definitely be going back there!

Villa de Levya was one of the places I had really been wanting to go to because my guide book says it's really pretty and not to be missed. It wasn't anything too special, but the overall experience was great. On Saturday we went to a French bakery in the early afternoon (which we spent about 5 hours at over the whole weekend) and in the late afternoon we rented horses and rode to Pozos Azules, these bright turquoise pools about an hour away on horseback. On the way there the horses just walked and I felt really uncomfortable on them, but on the way back I started feeling more comfortable and it started raining, so the horses started trotting and almost even galloping! It was really fun, and now my fear of horses is pretty much gone. On Sunday we set out early and walked 6 km along the road to "El Fosil", the most complete kronosaurous fossil ever found. It is still in the same place where it was discovered but is now covered by a mini-museum that also includes other little fossils. We then walked about 3 km more to "El Infiernito" which is supposedly the "Stonehenge of Colombia" but it was really disappointing! We didn't even pay to go inside because it didn't look like much. We were all really tired and did not feel like walking when a zebra painted tour jeep with two rich Colombians pulled up. I asked the driver what the best way to get back to the main road was, and he said we could just ride with them! That was a nice treat, but we forgot to get pictures of the jeep. On our way home on Monday morning we stopped off in Chiquinquira, a religious town. The Pope visited it in the 1980's at some point, and it also has a church in the main square that houses the oldest documented painting in Colombia. It wasn't that exciting, but it was a cool thing to say that we did.

This weekend I am hoping to go to the Laguna Guatavita on Saturday and do some hiking! I am trying to get in shape and prepared for my El Cocuy trek in mid-December. The weekend after this one is a puente, and we are going to go to Rio Claro, which is another place I have really wanted to visit. The weekend after that, I come home!