FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Royal Road to Guane

Viewpoint at Guane

We were picked up by our local guide Andy who was a lot of fun. Where Julio was more intellectual, Andy was more of jokester. Perhaps it was a product of growing in a poor, tough and dangerous neighbourhood. He was perfect as a hiking guide, but we probably didn't appreciate Barichara and Guane as much as we should have. Barichara was well-known for being one of the Colombia’s most beautiful and best-preserved heritage towns. Looks-wise it was similar to Villa de Leyva. Barichara was probably more authentic and had a grittier feel where the homes, restaurants and shops looked like they belong to locals rather than catering to tourists.

At pick up, there was some confusion as Andy had a different itinerary compared to what we were given. It was seemingly sorted and we were off. Our hotel was about a 10 minute drive to the town of Barichara proper. We were dropped off at the trailhead of the the old El Camino Real or “Royal Road” where we hiked the 6km to Guane. The hike was relatively pleasant at the beginning as it was mostly in the shade and weather was still cool. It did heat up and by the end we were hot and sweaty. Andy had mentioned that if he had known we were hiking, he would have started earlier. The trail was mostly downhill with pretty views, but the stone paths actually made it tricky as you had to look down most of the time in order to not twist your ankle! My breathing had improved considerably since Bogota and I was happy to survive with only mild shortness of breath and not too much fatigue. For any other person who was relatively active, the hike would not be difficult from a cardiovascular perspective.

The Camino Real Barichara-Guane was built several hundred years ago by the now extinct Guane, the local indigenous people, as part of a larger network of paths in the region to connect villages. The blurb that we received stated - Discover why nowadays this road may be a gorgeous trek but with a controversial history of imperialism and exploitation. However Andy never expanded lol. He did mention that the track was restored in 1864 by a German called Lenguerke and that thanks to him and other Dutch migrants, Colombians in this area are taller!

Our breakfast. We were also each given a plate of fruits as well as coffee and juice.

Barichara

The start of the trail at Barichara

Nice and shady

Damn. We didn't bring our sombreros

Views from the start of the trail

Thankfully mostly a descent

Dem rocks make it tricky!

This is Andy. He was fun, loud and very opinionated!

It was a pretty walk

The town of Guane itself was tiny and quiet. We were shown the town’s church, then visited the archaeological and paleontological museum. We were supposed to better understand who Guanes were, but it was a museum of only 3 small rooms with pre-recordings in English which really was not that interesting. All the information was in Spanish. It was understandable but it made it hard for us to put the objects that we were looking at in context. At this point, we missed Julio and his many words!!

We had lunch back at Barichara where Andy suggested trying the typical cuisine including goat. I did not like it. I'm not sure why I though I would as I don't generally like it when my mother makes goat satay! Otherwise the other meats and cassava were tasty. This was where we had our second awkward moment. Lunch was meant to be included but Andy was of the understanding that it wasn't. We paid for it first and ended up taking it up with the local contact. To their credit, they were responsive and helpful. They refunded our lunch and bought us pizza and drinks back the hotel later in the evening as an apology. It was a lovely gesture!

After having lunch, we were meant to visit El Gallineral Natural Park in San Gil, where we were to see "beautiful trees with hanging mosses create a magical site full of exotic landscapes". However when we looked at the pictures, it did not look that magical. The children stated that it looked Oma's garden...we were hot, we were sweaty and it was nearly 3pm by now. We opted to return to the hotel and called it a day.