After a short stay and a sleepless night at Salamina, we had another long drive ahead of us going south. We had a few places of interest pinned on our Colombian map and to visit them, we have to zig zag through the east and west of the country few times and based on what we experienced so far, it wasn’t going to be easy.
This leg of the trip was our first traverse toward the eastern side of the Colombia. From Salamina, we drove for few hours south toward a big city called Manizales. On our way we stopped at another cute little town called Aranzazu for a coffee and of course a workout. Theses little Colombian towns are all built on extremely steep hills and going up and down the alleyways definitely was keeping us fit in Colombia.
Manizales is a big city with a stunning cathedral but the day we passed it, it was raining heavily and we had to make it to our next destination before dark so we bypassed the city and continued east on the edge of Parque Nacional Natural Los Navados or in english, Clouds National Park. It was an stunning drive and the area looked amazing but we didn’t have plans to enter the National Park that day. We were about to get to the southern entrance of the park on our way west in few weeks and the weather wasn’t great to have the best views too.
Our next destination was a camp spot on top of a hill with amazing view over the clouds national park. After an hour drive, we took a stunning narrow dirt road and headed toward our camp spot for the night. The clouds were low and dense and our view was limited but every now and then, it was clearing up and we could have a glimpse of what was ahead.
We finally arrived in the afternoon and could hardly see anything. A lovely kind old lady opened the gate for us and guided us to the camping spot with the best view. At that stage, we had no view though. It wasn’t cheap but it was done tastefully with the basic and clean bathrooms and hot showers and we were the only ones there.
For the first time since we entered Colombia, we felt cold. It was in fact freezing at 2:00 pm. After having a conversation in my basic Spanish with the lovely old lady that was looking after the place, we realized that we can have a home cooked meal in the main farm house somewhere down the hill. So we ordered our lunch and started to set up camp for the night.
The fog was so dense that we we couldn’t see anything. After managing to find some warm cloth, we walked down the hill and found the farm house which was the original house in the property. It was decorated tastefully with a nice living room which made it an ideal place for camping longer term while having access to the amenities.
The lunch she made for us was delicious. A combination of fresh made local cheese, grilled local sausage, salad and the best of all, the local beans. Colombian beans are the best and they are masters when it comes to cooking beans.
After lunch, we walked around camp a bit and played with the dogs before getting in the car and call it the day since it was cold and miserable.
The next morning, we woke up to this scene.
It was just breathtaking, vast and beautiful. Unfortunately, we had this view for a short time and clouds closed in the view again.
We decided to move on and start driving to our next destination.
As mentioned before, there are two mountain ranges in Colombia and for going east toward sartender area, our next destination, we had to come down the western range all the way down to the sea level and back up again in the next mountain range.
These two mountain ranges join in Southern Colombia and form the Andes.
But before reaching southern Colombia, we had to zig zag between these two ranges a few times.
As we started heading down toward central Colombia, the scenery started to change and the weather got hotter and hotter.
Since we had few projects to work on and it was too hot to camp, we found a nice place with AC to stay for few days on the outskirt of a city called Honda.
That was a peaceful place with lots of Mangosteen trees.
Our stay in honda was great. We were surrounded by fruit treats and Coffee bushes, nice and kind owners like all the Colombians we met. A cute parrot that was saying few words like Hola and Fuego and a nice room with AC and unlimited access to Tinto ( Colombian brewed coffee).
After having our works in order, it was time again to get back on the road and toward the higher altitudes. On our way out of Honda, we stopped at its historic and beautiful central market to witness the local everydays life and see how it differs in hot and humid riverside town from the mountain towns that we visited so far. It was also a great place to stock up with fresh fruit and vegetables.
From Honda, we headed north on the main road 46 toward La Dorada and Puerto Boyaca, both on the shores of Rio Magdalena, before heading west. As soon as we headed west and started climbing in the lush mountains, the weather got cooler and the stalls selling river fish and tropical fruit, changes to stalls selling local cheese. The views were stunning too. Never ending rolling green hills before our eyes with deep valleys, Coffee plantation and lots of cows. The local sausages, fresh made cheese and Frijoles (Beans in spanish) were on our list of favorites dishes and we used every opportunity to try some as we were climbing up.
What makes overlanding experience priceless is feeling and living each country as it changes through the terrains, climate, access and how all these elements affects each area over time. It just makes sense when you feel it changing as you go through each country and also crossing between countries.
As we were getting to the right altitude to have pleasant temperature again, we were searching for a small town to call it home for few days. We still had some work to finish and the best way to finish it off was to have a daily routine and focus on doing the job rather than driving. After checking few options on the map, we decided on a town called Chiquinquira. It had a good infrastructure to do some maintenance on the car, having access to nice and cheap food and grocery and also having decent accomodation with car park for reasonable price. We stayed in a hotel, right on the edge of the town main plaza with secure car park.
It was a beautiful lively town and the first one we experienced on the western side of Colombia, After few days of working and enjoying feeling like a local in a small town, finding our favorite spots in town and doing lots of bits of pieces like doing a haircut and aligning Chaapaar wheels, it was time to leave again.
The next stop on the way was a unique waterfall close to a small town called Florian. Ventanas de Tisquizoque is a unique waterfall emerges from a high, natural cave (a “window”) and falls over 300 meters, divided into three distinct stages. The waterfall volume changes based on the recent waterfalls but it is a beautiful natural wonder in a stunning location.
To get there, we went through some more windy dirt track and helped a local to take his car out of a big mud pool. So far, we only used our winch to help others, fingers crossed it stays the same way for the rest of the trip.
We set camp in a nice rock climbing spot just outside Florian. The next morning, we walked for half an hour in a beautiful dense forest to reach the start of the track. A short walk on the slippery track took us inside the cave and the top of the waterfall. The views from top of the waterfall was just spectacular. From the cave opening, the small villages in the mountain ranges in the distance were visible and we could see our next destination. The drive to Florian wasn’t easy but it definitely worth the visit.
Colombia keeps surprising us everyday. In the next post, we’ll visit some more natural wonders of Colombia and will visit more epic places. Till then take care and have fun.
