To be adventurous or not?

We headed south from the Northern coast, through some amazing mountain scenery, to the tiny city of San Gill. San Gill is known as the adrenaline capital of Colombia. This is a well made claim. Some of our group participated in grade 5 white water rafting. Others went to the top of a nearby mountain and paraglided into the stunning canyon below. There was mountain biking and caving also on offer as well as walks and treks into the surrounding countryside. As I have done the high adrenaline activities before, I opted for something more relaxing and sedate.

Barichara is described as the prettiest town in the whole of Colombia. This is a quite a claim so I took a local bus and travelled the half hour or so to the tiny colonial town. It is nestled high in the mountains and has cobbled streets and whitewashed houses. It really does live up to its reputation. It was a stunning little town. I watched a wedding in the main church – the churches here are always open and anyone can walk in and out whilst services are being conducted. I was watching respectfully at the back but some local dog walkers, in their muddy clothes, took themselves and their dogs right to the front to get a good view!

As well as a renowned cookery school and pottery school, the town is also home to a women’s collective that make hand-made paper. They grow a variety of plants on site which they use for the paper. Most people know about paper from papyrus, but these ladies make it from pineapple, plantain, sugarcane, corn plants and even from marijuana plants! Natural dyes such as red cabbage are used and then they make beautiful notebooks, wrapping paper , sculptures, even paper earrings!

Moving on from the San Gill area was slow going as the majority of the steep, winding mountain roads had road-works on them. This however gave us the chance to really appreciate the views and we were able to pull over to make lunch at some spectacular view points. These sort of stops make over-landing so much better than getting places quickly by plane or high speed minivans or cars.

This is the view from the truck door when we pulled over to make lunch at the side of the road. And if you haven't already worked it out...I chose not to be adventurous!