San Gil, Barichara y Guane

The night was pretty rough but we got a few hours of sleep in and arrived early in the morning in Bucaramanga. We had decided to continue directly on to San Gil because from there we can take the tours. We got the tickets for the bus at 07:00 at 07:02 and ran to catch it. But that wouldn't have been necessary as they just started boarding 20 minutes later 😅
The drive was super scenic through mountains and canyons through winding roads. And I could actually enjoy the view. On a little downhill slope a truck drove into the back of our bus 🙈 We stood there for about half an hour with the drivers and the police sorting things out. But at least we were able to drive on to San Gil and despite some weird noises we made it there just a bit later than planned.

We had found a hostel directly in the center and were lucky to be able to check in already at 12. We had planned to go paragliding in the afternoon but the better tour leaves in the morning. Therefore we reserved the tour for the next morning and went to explore the surrounding area as we were told that there is a scenic little town just about 20 kilometers away. It's considered to be the most beautiful little town in Colombia, so we couldn't miss the opportunity to pay a visit. And it is really beautiful with the cobblestone streets, white houses and colourful doors and windows 🤩 We walked through the town and checked out some viewpoints, especially into the surrounding valleys.
A trail named Camino Real led down from Barichara to a small village in the valley, Guane. It is about 6km and mostly downhill, so not very tough and we needed to move our legs after the bus rides today. And the walk was great with shadow giving trees and a well maintained trail. Also the village at the end of it was a real treat with a beautiful little church and a cosy town square. The bus that would take us back to San Gil was supposed to come after about an hour so we walked a bit over the main plaza with a tasty Aguila beer. The bus was late but at least it came because it was the last one of the day and brought us in an hour back to San Gil and the Terminalito.

On the way back to the hostel we stopped by a supermarket to buy something to drink but they also offered Arepas filled with cheese that Julia had wanted to try for a while. And we also had leftover vegetarian rice from lunch, so we cooked that in the hostel. It was really tasty or we were really hungry but either way we were happy with it 😅 Afterwards we went almost directly to bed 💤Read more