Southwest Colombia: Tierradentro

  My favorite part of southwest Colombia was Tierradentro, an extremely small town with absolutely nothing to do but hike.  We actually stayed in San Andres de Pisimbala, a town right up the hill.  This was the first place we had hot water, and my razor just about broke while trying to get through the jungle on my legs.  Plus, the bandeja paisas we had been eating (remember: rice, meat or fish, beans, salad, plantain) for breakfast, lunch and dinner were losing some appeal, and the lady at the one restaurant in town was an amazing cook and used the freshest ingredients to make the best food we had on our trip.  For example, we saw the owner carrying the squash to the restaurant where a couple hours later we ate squash soup.  It doesn't get much fresher than that. 

  Tierradentro is known for its elaborate underground tombs built sometime between the 7th and 9th centuries AD.  This is only a conjecture, but archaeologists have uncovered about 100 tombs, and from the looks of things, there are quite a few more to be discovered.  

  After a quick breakfast, we started the 14 kilometer (almost 9 miles) hike around 8:30.  This dog bounded down from the restaurant balcony and accompanied us almost the whole way before being chased off by the tomb police towards the end.  Here, he is soaking in a puddle of water, exhausted after chasing after every known dog and cow in the region.  

There were a few obstacles to cross, but nothing too serious or nerve racking.












The majority of the first half of the trail was covered in knee-deep mud and droppings from the animals that crossed the way.  Thankfully, I was wearing my water-proof hiking boots, but Elizabeth was not so lucky in her breathable sneakers.







                                     
  The tombs were of all different shapes and sizes and mostly had extremely steep and narrrow steps to get down them.  Some of the chambers had red, yellow and white paintings, and the really intricate ones also had large figures carved into the columns and walls.  Obviously, I am not an archaelogist because after seeing five to ten tombs, I felt like I had seen them all.  Of course, I'm not one to shy away from a great quads workout, and I didn't want to miss anything new, so I went down just about all of them.

  Like the rest of our trip, the scenery was fantastic.  The hike took us up to the highest point, made a steep decline to the museums at the very bottom, then climbed back up to more sites.  Even though Tierradentro is not the most accessible place, I would return to this place just for the awesome hike.  

  Down by the museums, we ran into two college guys we had met the night before, and they joined us on the rest of the hike.  Afterward, we ordered some coconut wine at the restaurant and continued to practice Spanish.  Unfortunately, the night ended rather weirdly as Daniel (the one on the left) believed they might have a chance with us.  Ummmm....no.  Alas, only really young or older (as proved the next night in a bar) guys hit on us.  If one of them was a rich drug lord, fine; I would have no qualms with the age.  But, no, these people are just students or hardworking farmers.  Don't worry, Dad: my sights are still high.