San Agustin is a little town nestled high in the Andes Mountains but all is not what it seems.
A mysterious ancient civilization once inhabited these parts and they left behind the largest group of monuments and megalithic sculptures in South America. Historians and archaeologists are still trying to unravel what these gods and mythical beasts represent. Over 300 statues have been found but scientists can only narrow their age to between 50 – 400AD. No writings have been found to help and whilst some statues are clearly guarding tombs, what the others are doing is anybody’s guess!
I spent a very enjoyable morning walking around the archaeological site trying to work out what things could be. There were no signs or information boards explaining anything, just statues in a beautiful location. It was clear that some statues were placed at entrances of tombs and in some places you could see the length and shape of the tomb. It would have been helpful to know if anything else had been found in the tombs, bodies (how many – one or a whole family), grave goods – anything! With it being a public holiday (more on that later) there were many local families walking about with their children and multiple small dogs. Having small pet dogs seems to be very popular in Colombia!
San Agustin is lucky to have many natural water springs in the area. It is overflowing with water – literally. In fact so much water comes out of one spring that the town has built a free swimming pool. The water drains into a river at the other end of the pool. Whilst it was a warm day and the water looked so inviting, just dipping my toes in made me realise I wouldn’t be going in. Natural spring water is icy cold!
Semana Santa (Holy Week) is one of the most important celebrations in all Spanish Catholic cities. It is the celebration of the Passion of the Christ and it runs the last week in Lent or in other words the week before Easter Sunday. It starts the Sunday before Easter and ends on Easter Sunday. The day we were in san Agustin was the start of Semana Santa. Whilst I had been at the archaeological site, a major procession had been happening in town leading into the church. I went down in the afternoon and saw the display of floats. Each display shows one event in the life of Christ or it depicts a saint or other important person from the new testament. This was the first time I had seen such displays but it would not be the last!
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