March 17-19 - 07

A trip to Santander. Monday was a holiday so we decided to get out of the city and do a little tourism around the country. This weekend's mission would be to visit San Gil, Barichara (a tiny village which carries my mother's side lineage) and finally Bucaramanga, Colombia's 5th largest city (I think). Santander is a department in Colombia, a place full of activities for the non-faint hearted. Because of the many topographical features that characterize this area (beautiful mountains, canyons, rivers, cliffs, etc.), Santander has become over time the local capital of extreme sports (kayaking, paragliding, white-water rafting and much more).

During our paragliding trip to El Cocuy, I had met this pilot called Richi Mantilla. Richi has set up a pretty nice business in Ruitoque (near Bucaramanga) called 'Colombia Paragliding' (please visit his website). Richi lives a dream. His house, located on top of a mountain only 20 meters away from a beautiful take-off, is paradise for any paraglider. Richi offers not only great quality housing but also great food and opportunities to organize fun tours around the area.

Anyhow, we did some rafting down the Suarez river, great fun, highly recommended to anyone into outdoorsy stuff. After that we went to Barichara which is like I previously mentioned, a small village founded by one of my great great great great great great great grandfathers. The village is engulfed by old colonial style architecture. The uneven sloped streets and colored walls make of Barichara a truly great destination for anyone interested in traveling around Colombia.

Here are a few pictures of the trip.

March 12 - 07

Candelaria in downtown Bogota. Here are a few pictures of the colonial section of Bogota, an area called "La Candelaria". I've posted some before, but I guess there's nothing wrong with posting a bit more. On this day I went out to take pictures, was the day US President Bush made his 7 hour visit in Bogota. This explains the solitude invating the streets.