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Tierradentro is an archaeological park in Colombia containing the largest collection of pre-Columbian underground tombs in the Americas.
Introduction to Tierradentro
The Tierradentro, part of the San Agustín culture, was one of the ancient pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia. It flourished between roughly 200 BC through the 17th century and is known for its spectacular hypogea, or underground tombs. The chambers are entered via a spiral staircase and typically sit 5 to 8 meters below the surface. The main chamber is surrounded by smaller chambers, each containing a corpse. The walls are painted with red, black and white geometric, anthropomorphic, and zoomorphic patterns.
The tombs had been documented since the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century but nobody knew their significance until German geologist Georg Burg and archaeologists José Pérez de Barradas (1897-1981) of Spain and Gregorio Hernández de Alba (1904-1973) of Colombia began to study them in 1936. Today, the park consists of 162 tombs, several open to the public, dating between the 6th and 9th centuries. The area was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995 but is also endangered due to landslides and human factors.
Tierradentro appealed to me for one simple reason. It combined my love of archaeology and history with the enjoyment of hiking through a beautiful mountainous area. In all honesty, 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.
Getting to Tierradentro
Before packing up and heading out, you should understand Tierradentro is hard to get to. It’s well off the beaten tourist trail and all roads that lead to it are horrible. The easiest way to get there is through Popayán. The bus ride takes a good four hours or more and the road, as I mentioned earlier, is rugged. The nearest town is San Andrés de Pisimbalá and there is typically one direct departure daily.
San Andrés de Pisimbalá
The nearest town to the park is sleepy San Andrés de Pisimbalá, which is located about a 20-minute walk uphill from the park entrance. It’s a small settlement of friendly and welcoming people. There’s absolutely nothing to do in the town or near the park, so come prepared with your own forms of entertainment. The only point of interest in San Andrés is the 17th century adobe church.
Where to Stay at Tierradentro
There are several hostels and simple hotels near the park entrance. There are also a couple places in San Andrés de Pisimbalá.
La Portada Hospedaje
We stayed at La Portada, a small hotel and restaurant run by Leonardo and Eva, a sweet couple who have been welcoming tourists for over 40 years. Leonardo started by selling breakfast to tourists in the 1970s and eventually built a lovely bamboo hotel with spacious rooms. The hosts are wonderful people who were extremely helpful in giving us information and making our stay as comfortable as possible. They can also help with booking guided tours or arranging horseback riding trips, and they also have laundry service.
La Portada has five rooms with private bathrooms and six with shared bathrooms. The rooms are clean and have beds that are perfect for resting in after a long hike, and the bathrooms have hot water. Breakfast is included in the rate. We stayed three nights in a simple double room with a bathroom.
Where to Eat at Tierradentro
As far as food, your choices are limited. La Portada has the best restaurant in San Andrés and there are a few choices by the park entrance. They didn’t look appealing at all.
La Portada Restaurant
Most of our meals were eaten at the restaurant across the street from the hotel. Doña Eva makes excellent home cooked meals, and there are usually two or three choices for lunch and dinner. Meals are reasonably priced.
Street Food
After one hike, there was a woman who set up a tent on the corner near La Portada. She was offering a local stew called mote. We decided to sit and try this meal, which is basically like traditional Colombian sancocho but with corn and beans instead of vegetables.
Safety at Tierradentro
Tierradentro lies to the south of some hostile territory. It’s located in the Cauca department, which has had its share of problems in the northern region, but the archaeological park is safe for tourism. Leonardo told us he has lived in San Andrés his entire life and there have never been any problems with militants, and no harm has ever come to tourists.
Tierradentro National Archaeological Park
Tierradentro National Archaeological Park (Parque Nacional Arqueológico de Tierradentro), which is the second most important archaeological site in Colombia after San Agustín, protects the fascinating collection of tombs. The entrance to the park is about a 20-minute walk downhill from San Andrés de Pisimbalá. Admission is COP$65,000 for foreigners (as of October 2024), and visitors get a passport book to stamp at each site they visit. The sites are open from 8am to 4pm. Check the official website for more info.
Advice for Visiting Tierradentro
You can reach each site along the 16-kilometer loop trail. Each site, except for one, contains a set of tombs you can climb into as well as spectacular views. Most of the tombs display interpretive panels with a detailed description in Spanish and English as well as a photo of what’s inside. This can help save time by allowing you to decide which tombs you want to climb into.
If you start early enough, you can do the entire loop in a full day. However, I highly recommend splitting it into two days. First of all, you can spend more quality time visiting the tombs. Secondly, the hiking can be strenuous at times, so it’s better to take your time rather than rush.
If you decide to split up the hiking, it’s best to start at La Portada Hotel each time. On one day, go clockwise to do the east half of the park. On the other day, go counterclockwise for the west half. This helps avoid the most difficult uphill hiking.
Finally, be sure to take as much water as you can carry because there’s nowhere along the trail to buy any (at least when we were there). Also, wear good hiking boots. There were some German tourists in flip-flops and I had no idea how they were able to manage.
Museums at Tierradentro
Before doing any hiking at all, it’s worth visiting the two museums near the park entrance. They’ll help give a better understanding of what you’ll see on the hike and about the indigenous culture that dominates the area. The first is the Tierradentro Archaeological Museum (Museo Arqueológico de Tierradentro), which contains pottery, stones, and replica tombs that can be seen along the trail.
The Tierradentro Ethnographic Museum (Museo Etnográfico de Tierradentro) exhibits how the indigenous people of the area have lived for centuries and how their culture has shaped the region.
Alto de Segovia
On our first day, after buying our passports and visiting the museums, we did the eastern part of the park. From the entrance, it’s a short 10-minute walk to scenic Alto de Segovia, which is the most accessible site on the trail. 64 hypogea have been located there and 25 are open to the public.
The tombs at Segovia have the greatest variety in terms of shape and decoration. Among them are the largest tomb at Tierradentro as well as the most complex and best preserved. They average 2.5 to 6 meters in depth, and several contain central columns and niches.
The tombs with the most impressive decorations are S1, S4, and S9. Funerary urns, bowls, and pots found at Segovia are on display at the Archeological Museum.
Alto del Duende
Next, it’s a short 10-minute walk to Alto del Duende. 13 hypogea have been discovered there and 5 are open to the public. The average depth is 1.4 to 5.8 meters and all of them contain paintings. D4 is the most impressive because it has “a rectangular chamber with the representation of a hipped roof, decorated with rhomboids and black lines that come down from the ceiling and cross horizontal lines”.
We ended up visiting with two friendly children who live in a small house underneath. We gave them some coins and snacks and they were very happy. From El Duende, there are good views Segovia.
El Tablón
Next, we walked to El Tablón. The first part is along a narrow ridge that was quite muddy during our visit, then a moderate uphill path followed by a road leading to the site. It took us about 45 minutes to reach it. It’s actually much easier to reach the site by walking 10 minutes from San Andrés de Pisimbalá.
El Tablón was a residential site during the 1st millennium BC, a funerary site from the 1st through 9th century AD. and a residential site again from 900 to 1530. Of the 42 monolithic statues found at Tierradentro, 11 were found at El Tablón, but only 9 are exhibited today. It’s the only site at Tierradentro without tombs.
The statues are similar to the ones found at San Agustín but have their own characteristics. They mostly represent humans, and some are over 2 meters high. Unfortunately, looting has been a problem at El Tablón
Alto de San Andrés
On our second day at Tierradentro, we did the more difficult hike to the west side of the park. The first part is the easiest. We started at La Portada and got to Alto de San Andrés in about 10 minutes.
23 hypogea have been located at Alto de San Andrés, of which 7 are open to the public and 1 has collapsed. Their average depth is 2.7 to 5.2 meters. Each tomb features central columns and is decorated with red and black patterns over a white background. SA5 is the most important because it includes representation of human faces.
El Aguacate
The real fun starts on the hike to El Aguacate, which is the most difficult site to access. By difficult, I mean brutal! It takes an average of two hours to reach. After leaving Alto de San Andrés, it’s a difficult march uphill for a good half hour, followed by 15 minutes of downhill. The views from the top are breathtaking, and when we reached the bottom we had to cross a small creek.
Next, it’s an agonizing uphill hike that for us lasted over an hour. The trail was mostly a deep and narrow rut, sometimes with mud in the middle. It seemed like it was never going to end, but we finally reached El Aguacate.
62 hypogea have been found at El Aguacate, practically one beside the other. 42 are open to the public while others have been damaged by erosion or illegal excavations and vandalism.
Because they sit along a narrow ridge, the tombs at El Aguacate are relatively small and entered using the original steps. They have niches but no central columns as at other sites. The highlight is a tomb that features a carving of the sun and the moon.
The views from El Aguacate are incredible. On the west side of the ridge, you can get a good look at the town of Inzá in the distance.
Hiking Down from El Aguacate
Hiking down to the park entrance took about two hours of extremely steep downhill. Some scrambling was involved near the end. I can’t imagine how anyone who decided to walk up this way would have felt at the end because going down was bad enough! Our knees definitely needed a break once we reached the bottom.
El Hato
El Hato is part of the Tierradentro National Archaeological Park but not on the hiking circuit. It’s about 3 kilometers from the park on the road to Inzá. Some unique monoliths dating back to the 2nd century are on display there. One depicts a frog and another a crocodile. Other statues found at the site are now in the park’s archaeological museum and other museums in Popayán and Inzá.
There’s also a huge hollowed out stone bowl but its function is unknown. Because there’s a small hole at the bottom, some experts believe that it was used to make chicha while others think it was a sacrificial stone.
Pirámide
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. With nothing else to do, we agreed to his price and accepted the offer. The tour takes about 2 ½ hours in total and is an unexpectedly enjoyable time.
The guide picked us up at our hotel at 4pm and we set off with a group of other travelers. After visiting El Hato, we drove to the entrance of Pirámide. It’s about a 30-minute uphill walk to the farm where it’s located. Once there, visitors pay the owner COP$5,000 (as of January 2024) to access 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. There are a few interesting carvings on top as well.
Tunnels
Mysteriously, there are two tunnels that were carved into the bottom of Pirámide by the Spanish conquistadors. Nobody to this day knows exactly 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 led the way with a flashlight and we were able to see bats and cave spiders along with a few carvings on the walls. One is a human figure and there’s also a cross carved on top of the entrance to one of the tunnels.
