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Parque Principal

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33 travelers at this place

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American Odyssey
    Day141

    San Gil

     February 17, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    The overnight bus reached San Gil at 8 am in the morning. We didn't have any places booked so we decided to go around the bus terminal and see if we could find a place to stay nearby for one night, before we try and find something better.
    For a small city, San Gil packs a lot of punch. This is the outdoor capital of Colombia and a mecca for extreme-sporting enthusiasts. The area is best known for white-water rafting, but other popular pastimes include paragliding, caving, rappelling and trekking. We had planned to be here 3-4 days depending on what all we would be interested in and also the cost of doing the various activities.
    We couldn't find anything within a reasonable budget around the bus terminal so we started walking towards the town. The bus terminal is about 2 kms from the town and we couldn't find any good places to stay on the way. It was downhill all the way to the 1st bridge across the river Rio Fonce into San Gil town. Here, there was a very beautiful view of the whole town. Just across the bridge we found a nice Hostel Santander Aleman Terrace Vista at a very decent price of around 70,000 COP for the 3 of us per day. After checking in, we slept for a few hours. The night bus had stopped at Bucaramanga on the way where we had had to change buses to San Gil. Because of that, we had not been able to sleep properly. We woke up around 3 pm and were hungry. We scouted around our hostel and found a nice place in Restaurante Balcon Colombiano. Here we had a sumptuous meal of eggs, rice, yukka, red beans, fried plantain and avocado salad. After the meal, we went to the main square to find tour and activities operators so that we could start off by next day only.    Read more

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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American Odyssey
    Day141

    Catedral de la Santa Cruz, San Gil

     February 17, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    We went around the main square trying to find operators who could offer the different activities San Gil is famous for. We couldn't find any conspicuous ones which surprised us since the town is famous for outdoor activities only, but you can't really do those activities without a proper equipment and an operator organizing the activity. We looked up on our offline maps on Maps.me and found 3 of them near the main square. We went to all of them one by one but couldn't make up our mind since there was only one who we felt had all the information we needed, but this one wanted the full payment for all the activities in cash. Our hostel too had pinups with the different activities and their prices, so we decided to go back and check there before finalizing.
    Right on the main square was the Catedral de la Santa Cruz, we decided to go in and have a look before going back. It was a beautiful cathedral and this building along with the main square reminded us the main square and cathedrals in Cusco, Peru. Here too, there were graves that were not below the ground but above the ground in chests in walls.    Read more

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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American Odyssey
    Day141

    Around the main square

     February 17, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    Maria was feeling a bit drained due to lack of sleep so she headed back with Hristo to our hostel while I roamed around the main square enjoying the atmosphere and also trying to find if I could find any other operator in the side lanes. There were no other operators to be found near the main square but as it started getting dark, I noticed the fancy buses with their aileron accessories and flashing lights :)Read more

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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American Odyssey
    Day141

    Dinner at Balcone Sengiteno

     February 17, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Hristo came back after about 40 min. Our hostel too had been able to provide us all the activities we had wanted but they too wanted all the money in cash. Interestingly, the price Hristo had been able to negotiate at the hostel was exactly the same as that we had been able to negotiate with the only tour operator we had liked near here. So, basically, there was nothing to choose between as far as the cost was concerned and since we were now at the main square, we decided to book them there at the Paravolar agency nearby. It took us quite a while to find an ATM with the least withdrawal fee but eventually, we managed to withdraw the required amount. In all, we paid a total of 915,000 COP in cash as a discounted package of Hristo and me doing Para gliding, white water rafting, caving in the Vaka cave and Abseiling while Maria would join us in the rafting and abseiling.
    After arranging the whole thing, we went back to the hostel and came back to the main square with Maria. We had our dinner at Balcone Sengiteno restaurant there.    Read more

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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American Odyssey
    Day142

    Para gliding time

     February 18, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    The activity planned for the day was para gliding. Hristo and I were up and ready by 8 am and headed for the terrace for our breakfast. The views from the terrace were amazing. It reminded us of our hostel with similar terrace views in Potosi (Bolivia). After the breakfast, we walked over to the office of Paravolar. As per schedule, the van to pick us up, arrived at 8:30 am. Then, we were off to the Chichamocha National Park where the para gliding happens in the canyon of the Rio Umpala. The starting point for the para gliding is about 40 kms from San Gil and takes about an hour to reach. We reached the Chichamocha Canyon at around 10 am.Read more

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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American Odyssey
    Day142

    Lunch and off again...

     February 18, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 6 °C

    Everybody in the group was done with their flights by 12:15 pm. After that we set off back to San Gil. It was fascinating to go through the valleys and rods we had been seeing from high above just a while ago. We were back in San Gil by about 2 pm. Maria joined us there and we went to the main square to have our lunch. We had planned to do caving in Cueva de la Vaca in the afternoon. We were supposed to take the local bus to Curiti and reach there by 3 pm. There, a local representative would be waiting to take us into the cave. After our lunch, we walked to the local bus terminal and found that the bus frequency was much less than what we had been told. The bus we caught left the terminal at 3 pm. Curiti is about 15 kms from San Gil so we would arrive about 30 min late there.Read more

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  • The Full MoonThe Full Moon
    Day167

    San Gil

     August 9, 2017 in Colombia ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    Ce matin nous sommes arrivés dans la ville de San Gil après 12h de bus de nuit très confortable mais frigorifiques. La ville en elle même nous est apparue un peu calme comparé à celles de la côte caraïbe. Le centre historique est joli mais on en a vite fait le tour. Cette ville est surtout réputée pour les activités d'eaux vives qu'elle propose (rafting, canyoning etc) et nous avons donc réservé un rafting pour dans 2 jours (le temps de faire quelques balades et visites de petits villages avant).
    Dans l'après midi nous sommes allés visiter le parc botanique de la ville "le parque natural El Gallineral". C'était très minion et agréable et nous avons pu voir des perroquets se prendre d'amitié pour des écureuils 😂
    Lors d'une petite pause dans le parc, Guillaume m'a également fait goûter un met fameux de cette région de Colombie : les fourmis géantes grillées... spécial dirons nous!    Read more

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  • The Full MoonThe Full Moon
    Day168

    Le ventre qui gargouille

     August 10, 2017 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Ce post aurait du etre ecrit il y a qq mois, lors de notre session " qu est ce qu on reverait de manger " .
    Cela se passe a huanchaco, nord du Pérou. , Imaginez vous Après des mois à manger des almuerzo a base de pâte et de riz, après deux semaines de turbulences gastrique on a imaginé notre repas de retour. Alors pourquoi je sors ce poste maintenant... cela n est pas du tout intéressé ( j espère Catherine que tu sens le second degré, Freddy prépare la cave), mais voilà on a dépassé les 5 mois de voyage, on arrive à la fin. On commence à rencontrer les chanceux backpackers qui sont au début de leur voyage. La roue tourne, un déjà vu inversé. C était nous il y a 5 mois. Bon attention c est pas fini, le 18 on décolle pour la rep dom pour 14 jours puis 10 jours a Cuba. Mais on voit le retour arriver. On commence, à penser au retrouivaille de la famille et des amis, a se projeter, a penser à ce nouveau projet: continuer notre aventure hispanique et s installer a Barcelonne.

    Voilà le ventre commence à gargouiller !!    Read more

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  • Fines Reisen228 Tage unterwegs
    Day151

    San Gil

     January 15, 2019 in Colombia

    Um 6 Uhr kommen wir in Bucaramanga an - 400km entfernt von meinem zu Hause in Medellin. Total verschlafen trinke ich gemütlich einen Kaffee, esse einen Apfel und warte auf meinen Bus, der mich 7:15 Uhr nach San Gil bringen soll (18.000 Pesos). Ich denke viel an meine Zeit in Medellin zurück und bin so dankbar und so furchtbar traurig! Die Busstrecke führt wunderschön entlang des Canyons Chicamocha und man hat wahnsinnige Einblicke in seine tiefen Täler - beeindruckend! Gegen 10:30 Uhr komme ich dann endlich in dem nochmal 100km weiter entfernten San Gil an - reicht für heute mit dem Busfahren. Ich finde ein Bett im süßen Hostel Travellors und komme erstmal an und lege mich ein wenig ab. Gegen die Mittagszeit mache ich mich dann auf und schlender eine Runde durch das Dorf und gehe am Park etwas Essen. Typisch für das Departament Santander ist Cabro - also Ziegenfleisch. Gestärkt wander ich zum Cerro de la Cruz und habe einen guten Blick auf das Städtchen San Gil - nicht ganz so schön :). Danach mache ich mich auf den Weg zum Terminalito und nehme einen Bus nach Charalá, denn ich möchte zur Cascada Juan Curi wandern (der Busfahrer schmeißt mich auf Nachfrage mitten in der Pampa raus). Ich laufe auf einen kleinen Hof und frage mich durch. Die nette Frau schickt mich mit ihrem italienischen Volenteer Mädel und Walkytalky los :) (für Kolumbianer ist es immer und überall gefährlich und sie sind übervorrsichtig, ganz süß!) und es geht ab durch den Dschungel. Der Wasserfall ist der Hammer und erstreckt sich über mehrere Felsen wie eine Treppe - wirklich wunderschön! Im obersten Pool tauchen wir ab in das glasklare Wasser - huuuuu kalt! Gegen 17:30 Uhr sind wir wieder zurück, sie laden mich noch auf eine Limo ein und ich dann warte ich mitten in der Pampa auf der Straße auf den nächsten Bus und erreiche San Gil im Dunkeln. Auf dem Heimweg treffe ich Fabian, einen jungen Kolumbianer und Guide hier. Er läd mich auf einen Shake in einer süßen Bar ein und nachdem ich ihm schildere, dass ich gerne in den Canyon wandern würde morgen, aber es überall nur die Action-Aktivitäten gibt - schlägt er mir vor, dass er mich doch begleiten könnte (eigentlich bieten sie es nicht nur für eine Person an, aber da er morgen eh keine Tour hat ist er frei) und er alles organisiert, inklusive Essen und Trinken für 150.000 Pesos. Perfekt! Ich dachte schon ich finde keinen mehr, der mit mir Wandern mag :). Wir besprechen noch alle EInzelheiten für morgen und dann gehe ich auch schnell schlafen, da wir uns schon 6 Uhr treffen!Read more

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You might also know this place by the following names:

Parque Principal

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