Cajamarca is a small town in the mountains of the department of Tolima, Colombia. It’s located about halfway between the cities of Ibagué and Armenia.
On November 13, 1985, the people of Armero, a prosperous town in Colombia, were busy going about their daily lives. At 9:09pm, Nevado del Ruiz, a volcano located 48km away, erupted. Just over two hours later, deadly lahars (mud flows) wiped out Armero and killed almost 25,000 people. In an instant, lives were changed forever.
The town of Honda, Tolima, Colombia, doesn’t look like much when passing through, but get to the heart of the city and you’ll realize there’s more to it. Honda is one of the country’s prestigious Heritage Towns (Pueblos Patrimonio) and is known as Colombia’s “City of Bridges”.
Colombia’s “City of Bridges”, Honda, sits at the confluence of the important Río Magdalena and the smaller Río Gualí, and is one of the country’s prestigious Heritage Towns (Pueblos Patrimonio). More than 25 bridges cross these and two smaller rivers that pass through the city, some of them over a century old.
The absolute best thing we did in Ibagué was visit the San Jorge Botanical Garden (Jardín Botánico San Jorge). It’s an impeccably maintained and incredibly beautiful botanical garden with three trails.
