El viaje

When we were in Bogota, we originally planed to go to a place called Caño Cristales. When you research it on the internet, you only find offers that fly you there with a plane. We checked around but all the flights were fully booked so we scrapped it form our list. But our new friends in San Augustín told us that you can get there by car also. The alge that blooms in these rivers, only does so between June and November. So finally having the timing right for something we were extremely excited that we would get to see it even though we had already dismissed the idea.Obviously ignoring the warnings about the condition of roads and the length of the journey there.

Being right at the delta where The Cordillera Central and Cordillera Oriente meet, we left San Agustín eastbound, over the Oriente , through beautiful but endless coffee fields,

down the other side,

through weird jungle towns like Florencia,

where you can buy the best but white piñas in the world,

and combine them with aqua de coco.

Temperatures range dramatically from high up in the mountains back to the very hot tropical jungles , so we were not the only ones that needed a break.

Back on the road , now northeast bound along the east side of the Cordillera.Here an overview with the red arrow roughly marking our final destination La Macarena.

After around 7-8 hours and as the sun set, we decided to call it a day in this strange but clean , nevertheless mosquito infested, hotel right before El Paujil.

Knowing that the roads would get even rougher from here we left early. Quick breakfast in El Paujil.

Strange little cheese breads that were super yummy and a banana piña juice.

Quick check at the local pharmacies, just out of curiosity.

From El Paujil you take a right, east bound now, onto some dirt road and leave normal civilization.

At first the roads are ok, but that quickly changes. Sometimes the road is being made as you go.

Luckily, we stocked up on snacks and water,

that quickly ran out since there is no shops, no gas stations or anything but cows really. But a lot of those.

The entire area used to be thick jungle but you can clearly see by the treeline where and how it was cut and burned in order to have feeding land for the cattle that is being held everywhere here.

This is all , mostly illegaly, claimed farm land that hosts space for huge cattle farms like this one.

Like in so many places here, you are being left with little doubt about who is in charge.

The roads got worse and having learned in Nicaragua,sometimes we needed to check first.

At every water hole we refilled our containers because the hours and hours of mountain passes and endless dirt roads started to show their effects on the motor. It constantly acted up in on way or the other.Some of the little rivers gave some signs why we were coming here , so naturally excited,we did not pay it too much mind.

Then after another very tedious and lengthy 8 or so hours we arrived at La Macarena. Immediately food!

Bernd hooked us up with the best possible contact here. Anjelica has an agency which organizes tours and is a very knowledgeable sweetheart of a woman. We all instantly bonded while she unloaded an insane amount of information about the canyons, the locals, the guerrilleras and her history on us. We loved it but it was hard to take it all in after such a strenuous journey.

She convinced us to take an even worse road further up north. A place called Caño Canoas. It was going to rain the next day and since you want to see these river and canyons in the sun, it made perfect sense to spend a little more time traveling while it rains, to then get the full beauty with the sun. So decided, onward the next day. Quick dinner with some very curious locals,

who were not all too impressed when they had to go to bed.

We, on the other hand were extremely happy to do so, and we went to bed early. Public transport in the morning to the wonder that is Caño Canoas.