From the northern
part of Colombia, I now enters the eastern part.
11. I head further south, first at the high plain I've been
driven on for some time. It is still astonishing, but I find it hard
to find truly new plants and motives. After 100 kilometres, the road
turn into the hills or mountains - and from being a almost empty
four-lane highway, it turn two-lane and filled with heavy trucks.
That does make it a bit hard to stop and make photos along the road,
but I try while driving. I get stopped at a police check-point, but
besides from waiting a long time, I get buy unharmed.
I reach the big and fairly modern city of
Bucaramanga in the early afternoon, and drive to my hotel. Here are
no parking, but paid, and I hope the hotel have. It does, and I get
a nice room with a desk fairly cheap. I have two sights around; the
marked and a mountain road. The market is 500 metres away, and I
start with it. If the city seem interesting, I might save the
mountains for tomorrow. I had hoped for a cosy imperial town, loaded
with cafés and alike, but not this time. Maybe the next!
Despite
the historical lack, it is rather interesting. At first the marked
disappoint; only some
vegetable stands. Then I figure next floor is
fruits, then come fish and meat, wood-work, spices and herbs and
whatever on the flowering stores. It look like a fairly new parking
house that have changed branch. I try to make some photos of the
goods and their owners, and I get a lot of wide smiles. As a new,
here are huge piles of hand-made cigars.
The streets around the centre
of town are busy. Besides from the shops, here are a lot of
carts with any kind of eating and drinking, watch repair and fruits.
The hotel is in the electric-ware street, some streets have cloths,
others shoos. I fail to find the
one with restaurants, but get a
nice meal at the market's food court.
As I make a bigger loop, I get to the remains
of the old city, around the square with chess players and alike.
Here are several churches, but I have not experienced any religious
behaviour at all! The new city have mazes of shops within the big
blocks, and in several floors.
I walk around till dusk, then I desperately try to find a
restaurant. End up in some strange place with great shakes and some
pirogues or alike. They have to sorts without meat, and along with
two genuine strawberry milkshakes, I call it supper.
The road to Bucaramanga and the town
12. I try to sneak out of Bucaramanga
before anyone else - and fails. I am heading up a small
mountain road, leading towards Venezuela. I had expected to have it
pretty much by my self, but wrong again. The first part, from Bucaramanga's
1010 metres to around 2000 metres is hilly farmland. Then the cloud
forest dominates.
The
motives
are fantastic, but I could do with some sun. The clouds move
in-between the bigger trees and the ranges. The trees are covered in
bromeliads and other epiphytes. Here are quite some flowers, most
familiar - within the family.
The waterfalls and rivers are clear, as there have been no
de-forestation above. I follow a ravine into the forest, but getting
into the forest itself is impossible: Too dense and too steep.
It is interesting to follow the changes in the vegetation, caused by
direction to the height, sun and "rain-side". Some plants cope
anywhere, some only in specific areas.
In around
3000
metres high, the trees disappears, and huge, soft grass fields
start. The farmers huts are shaggy, the farmers dressed in cowboy
hats, Wellingtons and ponchos. They do farm some onions, carrots and
leek. The few villages are poor too, and the main income is from
selling things to truck drivers and other travellers.
Despite the endless grassland, I don't se many cattle at all. Can't
figure what they use all that grass for?
I
reach the old colonial Pamplona, and drive straight to the central
market. My plan was to grab lunch and head back, but it is a
charming town, and I have to see a bit of it. It might have deserved
a whole day, but I head back after the short look, and a bite at a
small shop in the big market.
Getting out is difficult: The main road is
straight through the narrow hairpin-bends, and the big trucks can't
meet. And backing up is not easy around a corner in a 18-wheeler.
The drive back over the double mountain chain is not as fun: The fog
have come in strong.
I reach Bucaramanga close to five, and it is so
tempting to go back to the same, nice hotel. But it is only 125
kilometres to the cosy Barichara. It is by the Via Bogotá, and both
my GPS and I guess we can be there at dusk. I had not expected this
road to be interesting, but after spending a hour clearing Bucaramanga,
it turns out to be fantastic. Despite it is dusk, I can see the
almost vertical, several hundred metres high, almost barren
rock-wall on both sides. And some areas are a wall of large Cereus
cacti. This road deserve a closer look.
Then it turns dark, but the traffic remain
rather intense. I reach the little Barichara around eight, and
luckily, they have a room for me at the hotel. The streets within
the town are paved with big flat rocks, and it might be nice? The
morning will reveal.
I get a real nice and rustic room - unfortunately without hot water,
and it is only around 25C.
Then the girls upgrade me to the honeymoon suite, which is even
nicer, and have hot water. The entire hostel is like a little
village, and I decide to spend a bit of time here. (Mainly
because I'm to tired to finish work, and have to spend the morning
on it. And I just have to go back to see that gorge I passed last
night).
The
mountain road to Pamplona 13.
I head 100 kilometres back towards Bucaramanga to see the narrow and deep gorge
I drown through last evening. The first part of the road is through
grass land with stone walls and red clay. The houses are big and
beautiful - like the landscape. I pass through San Gil once more,
but will skip it until tomorrow.
At the toll gate, 16 persons are selling exactly the same nuts in
the same small bags - nothing else is offered.
After
San
Gil, the landscape is pretty much the same, until the road turns
over an edge. This is the giant Grand Canyon of Colombia; Chicamocha.
It is real dry, as the two mountains chains it it found in-between
have taken all the moist. I try desperately to capture it, but the
mist and share size make it impossible.
As the road descents into the canyon, large
Cereus and huge Agavas start to dominate. I do several long walks,
but the cacti spines are harsh! I find four species of Cereus
and two Agavas.
The
Opuntias might be more than one species. Here are a lot of other
plants, of which I recognises quite some.
When the road meet the river in the button of
the canyon, it narrows considerable in. Her are only room for the
road with the river under, in some stretches. And the huge trucks
seem to
be
too big to fit the gab. Then I get out on the 1000 meter plateau, and turn
around. I discover another, almost as big canyon on the other side
of the range. This one is green, and this is where de clouds deliver
their load.
Back in
Barichara, I start to explore the
town. It is a rather large, old town. The houses are white with high
green base and red roofs. All the streets are sealed with huge
sandstone bricks, nicely
cut into squares. All shops are hidden inside the traditional
houses, even the big discount supermarket.
I do some loops, and pass the central square, just as the bride
enter the church. At another church, the married couple leave in a
tuc-tuc with balloons on.
Here are not that many flowers within the
town, but the nature starts at the last house, and the views are
fantastic. Here should be several trails leading into the mountains:
Tempting!
When the sun decent, I find some dinner. Pretty much the usual, but
this time, it is a sweet potato and I get a few slices of tomatoes.
Evening spend the usual way.
Canyon
Chicamocha and lovely Barichara
14. Realising it might be Sunday, and waterfalls usually are
popular by the locals, I get an early start. Back through San
Gil
for the forth time. And it is always a zigzag road, which everyone
else seems
to follow as well. I have to pay to park the car, and to enter the
Cascada de Juan Curi-area. But then I get a guide to lead me and
five other up the only trail, saying nothing, not even in Spanish.
We almost run up the bad and steep road, and I
don't get to see anything we passes. Then we end up at a nice fall,
and the others change to swim suits - but can't talk them self into
the water.
I
wait for a bit, make some photos, and then I head back slowly,
exploring the rainforest. Here are several species of orchids and
many different bromeliads and other interesting plants like the
flowering lianas. Here are
also several species of butterflies.
When I look back at the Cascada de Juan Curi,
I realises: It was not the top we ended at, just the part that ended
in a pool you can swim in. I find a narrow trail behind the sheet,
selling snacks halfway. The girl in the shop tell me in clear
Spanish; I can not go up there without a guide - and then she turn
around.
It
is a rough
trail, but the flora is interesting. One of the liana is flowering,
and the inflorescence is up to five metres! It have fruits with huge
seeds in at the same time. Both flowers and fruits are quite similar
to Fabaceae. Here many other flowering plants, among them two
interesting Peperomias. One with perfect circular leaves, the other
with extreme long and narrow leaves for the genera.
The upper section of the fall is truly
amassing. I try to capture it, even on video, but its beauty eludes
me on camera. It consist of several falls in a horse-shoo-shaped
gorge. There are a great view over the lover part of the rainforest
to the other side. The low part of this section, is the top of the
lower part, and I can look down in the pool, where someone
finally are in the icy water.
When I give-up getting the perfect photo of the
fall, I walk slowly back, and find several interesting plants along
the trail. A minute flowering orchid among them.
When I reach San Gil for the fifth time, I make a stop. The
Parque
El Gallineral should have some overgrown trees, worth a stop. It is
a rather big and surprisingly nice park, only a few nametags from
being a botanical garden. I see some wild Green Iguanas along the
big river, and a emerald-green lizard on the trail. When I have seen
it all - but the impressive overgrown trees,
I make a short walk in the town, and end up with a great
spaghetti-meal. It have a strawberry on top, and fries next to, but
it taste great.
I head home to park the car in
Barichara, and start on,
what I thought was the local camino. It does turn suspicious narrow
quit fast, but it leads the right way, and the surroundings
and
views are great. The local "Öland rocks" have the same fossils, you
find in Sweden.
The
trail I follow heads over the edge and down towards the 1000 meter
lower valley - as it should. But when I reach the valley, it kind of
fades out on the barbwire fenced grass fields. Here are huge
epiphytic cacti in the small trees, and great view up the mountain.
An impressive stone wall run the entire length of the valley, it
seems.
I end out on a farmers gravel road. While I follow it, I find a
bright orange snake with a black head; Western Black-headed Snake;
Tantilla planiceps. Then I end up at the village
people elegantly catch the bus back from. Well, I find the trail,
and five kilometres with 1000 metres height don't scare me. The camino is sealed with large natural rocks, and NOT smooth.
The surroundings are real green, but here are
cacti. I find at least thee different Mammillarias and some other
cacti. A wasp nest have a lot of small wasps outside, but they are
real calm.
When I make it to town, I end up in a place which sell strawberry
shakes and brownies. I don't have the energy to start looking for
dinner, and buy a "Bomba" cake to go.
Back home, I start working in the kitchen/all
room, until the dusk's winds make it a bit chill. A half hour at my
rooms office, and it is nice again. It is just the dusk-wind that
make it chill. I pay my bill, and plan
tomorrow.
Juan Curi WF,
Parque El Gallinera and a camino
It is time to start on the Central Colombia and
Diary 5 |