On August 7, 1819, an army led by Simón Bolívar crossed a small bridge known as Puente de Boyacá and defeated royalists and troops from Spain in the Battle of Boyacá. The victory sealed independence for Nuevo Granada (now Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama). Today, you can visit the battlefield and see the bridge and the many monuments commemorating the battle.
One of the best extreme sports destinations in Colombia is located a short drive north of Bogotá in the small town of Suesca. Although we didn’t visit Suesca specifically for that purpose (it was a great place to break up our drive to Boyacá), we took a couple hours in the morning to check out what outdoor activities are available.
Early in 2017, my friend Sabtain from Toronto contacted me to ask if we could help coordinate a charity project, Bags for Belén. He was organizing it with his new charity, Creating Change Together (CCT). They raised over US$2,000 in order to buy schoolbags for children in our hometown of Belén de Umbría and wanted to come distribute them in early May.
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?
Tierradentro is an archaeological park in Colombia with a fascinating collection of underground tombs, the largest in the Americas. The tombs are at least 1,000 years old. Many contain painted geometric designs or rock carvings. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage site but is endangered due to landslides and human interference.
Tierradentro is hard to get to. It’s well off the beaten tourist trail and all roads that lead to it are horrible. I was second-guessing my decision to visit while driving there. It was easily the worst road I had ever driven on with some terrifying stretches. Once we arrived and settled in, however, I was sure our time spent there would be a spectacular few days.
Parque Los Arrieros is an entertaining theme park in Colombia’s UNESCO World Heritage listed coffee country aimed at protecting the Coffee Region’s culture and heritage. It’s located on the road between the towns of Quimbaya and Montenegro. When traveling through the region, you don’t hear much about it and it isn’t well publicized, but it has been around since January 2014.
As one of the top cities in the world for graffiti, quite possibly the best tour in Bogotá is the Bogotá Graffiti Tour. This tour is held twice daily and run by the street artists themselves.
