Chicamocha Park, Santander November 1, 2012
This is my last blog about Tony, Jane, Siggy and Hilary in Santander province. (As soon as we got back to the boat after our travels in Santander, we set off for Kuna Yala where we didn’t have any proper web access; so I wasn’t able to post any of the Santander blogs last month.)
The view from Chicamocha park.
Tony and I liked Santander best of all the places we visited in Colombia. Bogotá is too high and too cold. Cartegena is too hot. But Santander is just right! Maybe our opinion is affected by the fact that our friend Jaime Torres lives in Santander. Jaime and his family were generous and delightful hosts and tour guides throughout our stay in Santander.
Our first day in Santander, Jaime drove us to el Parque Nacional del Chicamocha. Chicamocha hard to describe. It’s a sort of hybrid of a US-style national park and a theme park. The natural beauty of the place is breathtaking. The Chicamocha canyon is the deepest (one of the deepest?) in the world. We took the 6.3 km telefericó trip that travels from the pleasant countryside of the mesa at top of the canyon on one side, down to the river at the bottom and then up to the main park on the wild side of the canyon. There are also amazing viewing platforms in the park.
But, wait, wait, there’s more:
- The park has a magnificent sculpture commemorating the independence of Gran Colombia and the struggles leading up to it. The independence movement began in Santander province.
- There is also a nice exhibit about the Guane Indians. (The park would like to relocate the museum in Guane to the park; it would receive many more visitors then. However, I don’t expect that the current curator of the museum in Guane will support such a move.)
- A couple of zip-lining setups. The former President Uribe (dressed in suit and tie) is shown zipping in the advertising poster. Now that shows government support for the park!
- An ostrich pen.
- A good assortment of snack bars, restaurants, coffee (organic Colombian coffee, yum!) bars, and gift stores.
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- Entrance to the park.
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- Another view of the park entrance. Money has not been spared to make this an attractive facility.
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- The park is on one of the major transport routes. There is lots of heavy truck traffic on this road.
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- Jane waiting to board the telefericó. We were among the first passengers of the day.
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- Step carefully into the telefericó
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- The view from the teleferió.
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- Subsistence farmers live on the slope of the canyon.
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- The telefericó puts these small plots and homes on display.
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- The park as a number of pleasant look out stations. Jane, Jaime and Hilary climbed to the highest one.
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- This is the view we see.
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- And one more.
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- Admiring another view.
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- This is the view that we are admiring. The landscape is the star attraction. Photos can’t convey the grandeur or the clean fresh smell of the thin dry air.
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- In the heart of the park is this amazing statue or collection of larger than life statues depicting the independence movement.
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- View from below the statue.
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- Dramatic figures of the statue. A loud speaker explains who the figures are and the role they played in Santander history.
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- Detail of a vase made by Guane indians.
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- Hormigas Culonas (translates as fat-bottomed ants) are a very popular snack in Santander. We ate a morning snack of roasted ants and local plantain chips.
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- Lunch was also typical local fare. Roasted goat served with steamed yucca and pepitoria (rice mixed with finely chopped goat offal and goat blood). All delicious and calorific.
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- The park was quiet the weekday we were there. The tourists are mostly domestic. But, as the area develops and Colombia becomes a more attractive destination for tourists from other lands, this should change.