San Gil, Barichara, Paragliding!

After a marathon bus day (almost 23 hours in total) we arrived in San Gil! The next morning we were pleased to wake up in a lovely town in a valley surrounded by green mountains and with a refreshingly cooler climate. San Gil is one of the outdoor adventure hotspots of Colombia. We enjoyed the quaint mountain town’s tasty restaurants, awesome fruit market, fun excursions, and social atmosphere so much that we ended up staying much longer than we originally thought.

This was the view from our room in Hostel Macondo looking back down over the town after sunset. 

While recovering from the previous day’s lengthy journey, we checked out the local park on one of the many rivers in the area. The massive Ceiba trees were covered with ¨grandfather’s beard,¨ a thin gray vine that hung from the branches and gave the park a dark mystical feel. 

Below the trees grew many bird of paradise plants and other tropical flowering plants. 

Colombia is also full of beautiful colorful butterflies

...and birds

On the 4th of July insted of watching fireworks and praising America, we met a group of Americans and Colombians who all work together in Bogota and were on holiday in San Gil. They convinced us to join them at the salsa club where we proceeded to make fools of ourselves to the amusement of the fancy foot-working Colombians. We could use a few lessons, but it was a great time. 

The next day we visited the nearby village of Barichara. The hilly streets of this quiet small town are lined with whitewash buildings with green and blue trim and red stone roofs. It was really beautiful and well kept and looked like something out of a movie. From there we walked the historic camino built by the ancient Guane people to the town of tiny Guane. The stone path with big mountain views was inlayed with hundreds of fossils. After a lunch of goat and a taste of the local specialty liqueur we caught a ride back to Barichara in a 1960 Chevy Camero with an old man and his son. While the car barely made it up the hill, the owner was delighted to show off his American car to a couple of Americans. 

Along the walk we took a wrong turn and ended up on top of a large waterfall!

View of the cloud topped mountains from the camino

Tobacco is the main crop and export for the farming region of Santander. The hillsides are covered with tobacco farms. It was interesting to see the big green leaves growing then hanging after harvest to dry.

Parapente? Spanish for high flying fun!

Rolling hills, nearby canyon, and unique wind patterns make San Gil an excellent spot for paragliding! Very intrigued but a little bit nervous, we decided to give it a try. Take off was a rush as the wind was strong enough to catch the kite before you even knew what was happening. The guide’s lack of explanation added to the excitement and before we knew it we were soaring hundreds of meters above the hillside. We each had a tandem ride with pilots who effortlessly navigated the wind currents, spun the kite in loops, dipped above the canopy top, and soared us almost to the clouds. As we were flying around at the same time, it was pretty hilarious to wave to each other as we floated by in the air. It felt like a cartoon, or the best rollercoaster ever. The experience was surprisingly peaceful and comfortable and really not scary at all! (Molly is hanging off the orange kite in the photos)

A ways outside of town, we hiked up to this tall waterfall, Las Cascadas de San Juan. Heavy rain the night before made the fall especially powerful and standing close to it here in this photo we got soaked!