truly beautiful Boyaca and Santander
regions including El Cocuy where we
reached 4200m, and Los Nevados Na-
tional Park, where we also discovered
a truly fantastic natural hot spring.
My other favourite was Colombia’s fa-
mous coffee region ... not just for the
roads!
The Boyaca region of Colombia is
home to some well-preserved colonial
towns, two of the most popular being
Villa de Leyva and Barichara. I enjoy
looking at unspoilt buildings and old-
town architecture, but what I enjoyed
most about our time there was the
amazing viewpoint that we found at
the far end of Barichara. It was like
the town just came to an abrupt halt,
and as I stood on the burnt orange
dirt, the land just dropped away into
a gigantic valley that was awe-inspir-
ing. It made me, and my bike feel so
small in comparison and I just stood
there, mesmerised for a little while.
Villa de Leyva, was also very pic-
turesque, with a gigantic main square
surrounded by lots of little restau-
rants. As we watched a huge rain
cloud descend on the town, we de-
cided that was the perfect time for
dinner and promptly took shelter in a
little pizzeria. Mm mmm.
Further North in the Santander re-
gion is where we found El Cocuy na-
tional park and the little, non-touristy
town of El Cocuy itself. It was quaint
and friendly, and everyone wore their
traditional toasty warm ponchos
and hats, so we stood out like a sore
thumb. There was a beautiful, circu-
lar route which you could do in less
than a day looping eastwards from El
Cocuy, which we really enjoyed, and
then the route out travelling south
was spectacular.
Initially we were a little wary of
TRAVERSE 84
going into the really remote plac-
es, with all the negativity of people’s
opinions of Colombia (who had never
been there I might add) still fresh in
our minds, but the more we dipped
our toes into the back-of-beyond,
the more we loved it, and the more
we realised that listening to all of the
negative media and nay-sayers was so
stupid.
We ended up in the coffee region
several times, for various reasons,
mostly because we loved it and part-
ly due to its central location, our
favourite stop-off’s being Filandia
and nearby Salento. Filandia, as well
as being a colourful and vibrant little
town, had the draw of a newly open-
ing overlander’s hostel called Steel
Horse Finca, set up by a young En-
glish couple. The food, the company
and surroundings were top notch.
Salento was home to ‘Brunch’ cafe,