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There’s absolutely nothing to do at Tierradentro or the town of San Andrés de Pisimbalá after the park closes at 4pm. So what are your options?
- Rest
- Take a trip to Pirámide
While visiting the tombs at Segovia, one of the park rangers asked us if we wanted to go on a trip to see a natural pyramid and a few other sites at 4pm. With nothing else to do, we agreed to his price and accepted the offer. The guide picked us up at our hotel, La Portada, with a group of other travelers.
El Hato
Our first stop was El Hato, which is part of the archaeological park at Tierradentro but not on the hiking circuit. There are a couple unique monoliths that date back to the 2nd century. One depicts a frog and another a crocodile.
There’s also a huge hollowed out stone bowl but nobody knows what it was used for. Because there’s a small hole at the bottom, some believe that it was used to make chicha while others think it was a sacrificial stone.
Pirámide
Next, we drove to the entrance of Pirámide. We had to walk about 30 minutes uphill to get to the farm where it’s located. Once there, visitors pay an admission of COP$6,000 to the owners (as of May 2023) to let us onto their property to see the rock formation.
Pirámide is a natural stone pyramid that can be climbed for incredible views of the countryside. It sits on the edge of a ridge with steep drops down to the bottom.
Mysteriously, there are two tunnels that were carved into the bottom of Pirámide by the Spanish conquistadors. Nobody to this day knows why. Some speculate that it was to find gold or other precious minerals while others believe it was to build a church.
Inside the tunnels, there are usually lights for visitors to enter, but the electricity was out during our visit. The guide lit the way with a flashlight and we were able to see bats and cave spiders along with a few carvings made in the rocks. One was a figure of a face and there was also a cross.
After we left Pirámide, the guide drove us back to the hotel. The tour took about 2 ½ hours in total and it was an unexpectedly enjoyable time.
