Tierra Dentro, Colombia

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Tierra Dentro (close to San Agustin) is a popular and fascinating place to explore. It's an area with mysterious underground tombs, a few hundred of which have been discovered already. Not a lot is known about their history or origin, which adds to the mystique. The tombs are of varying size (a few meters), and some are quite deep. The area is misty and hilly.

You can easily spend a week here exploring the hills, walking around and stuff.

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Places to stay:

Hospedaje Luzerna (1 comments)
Cheap hostel close to the museums (there are other hostels too).

La Portada Hospedaje (1 comments) In San Andres de Pisimbalá on the main road from Inza Email: jkbeam7 at earthlink dot net Private rooms available.
New 11 room hostel just opened. First floor is fully open, but 2nd floor is still a few months away. There’s a fantastic view of the mountains from all the rooms. The rooms with private baths are spacious with two beds, each with thicker more comfortable mattress than normally found in Colombia. There are 5 rooms with private baths and 6 rooms with shared bath down the hall. The same owner has a restaurant across the street with excellent reasonably priced meals – also the only one that seems open all the time. The hostel is right in the village of San Andres de Pisimbalá only 150 meters from a 400 year old church with a thatched roof. The owners Leonardo and Maria Eva are great and will happily answer any questions you may have about the area. Inquire at the restaurant across the street if there's no one around.

Things to do:

Things to do

Explore the nearby tombs and museums (ticket 5000 pesos). All the sights are within walking distance. You can also rent a horse.

Tierra Dentro is an area close to the town of San Andres De Pisimbala. You can walk from the town to the various tombs and to two museums (about half an hour walk). All the sights are within walking distance, so just walk around, explore the various tombs and such. You can also rent a horse around the museums, for about 2.5 US$/hour.

You have to buy a ticked (US$ 2.5) in the museum that allows you to visit the area (all the tombs) and the museums, and is valid for 2 days. The museum has a 2m high coca plant, in case you were wondering what they look like. It's worth a visit to get an overview of the various tombs before your exploration.

In this region, Paez Indians still live, and they visit markets at Inza (market day on Saturday) and Belalcazar (market day on Saturday too). There are small Indian villages in the mountains - more exploration opportunities!

You can buy guarapo (a local drink) in many local houses.

At night, check out the stars!

This area is also popular for people who eat hongos (mushrooms) - of course, never try this by yourself, always have trusted friends around and know what you're doing.

Birdwatchers: like many places in Colombia, this is a great area for birdwatching.

Safety

This area has seen its share of problems (guerilla) in the past, but is basically ok to visit. Just check before heading off the beaten track. If you're a single woman, don't wander around alone at night.

Getting around & transportation:

You can take a bus here which stops at El Cruce de San Andres (aka Cruce de Pisimbala). From there, walk to the museums (20 mins). Buses from Popayan take about 6 hours. Buses to La Plata take about 3 hours, and from there you can move on to San Agustin or Bogota.

 

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Comments

sbf says on Aug 3, 2009, 09:34: SCT-"Safe Colombian Tours" Inexpensive English speaking guides and interpeters starting from 3 usd per hour (groups can share the cost, i.e. a group a 4 people will pay less than one dollar per traveler!!!!!!!!) We can find you the cheaper option available in road and air tickets (clearing out the always present tentation of overpricing goods and services to foregin looking visitors) only paying a very small fee Low Cost Travel Agency but with a very warm an personal touch. contact: cafemaya at telefonica.net 0 funny, 0 helpful.

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