Jericó & Jardín

It was a pretty relaxed day today. We took the time to enjoy our hotel in the morning before a late pick up of 11am. It was then more steep and windy roads to the town of Jericó. This was the land of Mother Laura, where Colombia's first saint was born! As a result this tiny town of 15,000 has a cathedral, a sanctuary, three churches and eleven chapels. Fortunately for us, today was not a church tour...

It seemed like every town we visit was described as the most beautiful and and best preserved town lol. We learnt today that this region has a republican style, typical of the Antioquian colonization. We see it as like the village in Encanto! Pablo took us for a stroll through the historic center, visiting the town museum, and the most interesting one of all, paying a visit to Ruben, the artisan at the carriel (guarnileria) workshop. The guarniel is the traditional leather bag carried by male farmers, with 5 main pockets and many compartments, some of which are hidden. In other words, a bag that my mother would love! Ruben's family has been hand making guarniel for 140 years and the gift that was given to the Pope on his visit to Colombia was made by him! Even Paris Hilton owns one of his bags. Jericó is one of the few towns left that has kept the skill to make these bags.

The morning view from our balcony

From the upstairs lounge area looking down at the grounds

Cauca River just outside the hotel. The mist has not lifted yet

Breakfast! Eggs were made to order

Mal at the children's balcony, trying to wake them up!

Relaxing by the pool after a morning swim

A free drink! And local candies to take away

Aerial view of Jericó

Strolling through the hilly streets with colourful buildings

Ruben showing us a traditional guarniel

Hidden compartments! Used to store photos of secret girlfriends!

Made by Ruben!

This guarniel is 110 years old!

The Chiva are all handpainted

Pablo then took us to a coffee shop with espresso machines and we had THE best iced lattes, made even better by cheese "sticks" (more than soft bread) just freshly made out of the oven. We started with 4 and ended up buying more!

Onwards we went towards Jardín. Guess what? Another beautiful and well preserved town! I jest, I actually think Jardín was the town I like most, with the best vibe. We took a quick walk around the town centre to ogle at the street vendor and pretty Cathedral lit up at night before returning to our hotel Casa Passiflora Hotel Boutique, yet another charming little hotel. 

Oh we did try to see the Andean Cock-of-the-rock! Alas our trek down the STEEP walkway was in vain as we just missed them. Pablo asked if we wanted to try again tomorrow, the answer was a resounding no. Pictures would do just fine thank you!

Omg so nice to have an iced latte

The cafe

Main square of Jericó

we were supposed to pose but everyone bailed...

Nativity scene on steroids

Where people recreate the artwork in a series called the people behind the canvas

Found a door that matched my outfit

So you can get an indication of the kind of steepness that we see everywhere here in the Colombian Andes

Good Asian children being able to squat to enjoy the view

I know it is all the same but I really like the bean soup dish!

Serious business...choosing ice-cream flavours! Mal chose guave and cheese

Mine is coconut and arequipe

The promise of Andean cock-of-the-rock. We would keep going down and down...to see nothing!

Our charming hotel in Jardín

Welcome drink! Made from a type of fruit belonging to the passionfruit family. Today I learned that what Mal told me was a Mexican passionfruit was in fact NOT. Grr...

Our room

As found in most traditional homes, the windows face into the courtyard

Very modern bathrooms though

More freebies!

The bird we were supposed to see. A photograph of it taunting us from outside our room

Jardín central square

The Cathedral

Jardín known for its street food

Támesis

Volcanic rocks in Támesis with petroglyphs

It was time for another road trip, this time south of Medellín. Our destination today was Támesis. It was known as one of the places with the greatest density of indigenous pre-Hispanic petroglyphs in Colombia. Today's education session on the van was on agriculture in the Colombian Andes! Pablo went through the various types of crops and trees that grew at different elevations explaining why scenery could change so quickly throughout the drive. 

When we arrived at Támesis, we met up with Rodrigo, our local guide and petroglyph expert. He took us to a local restaurant for lunch before leading us through a tour of the surroundings of Támesis to visit the archaeological sites in the region. The petroglyphs have been dated between 400BC to 400 AD, with a few outliers which were dated earlier. The civilisation that made them, along with many other indigenous tribes in the region all disappeared around the same time around 400AD. No one really knew what happened. Interestingly, the petroglyphs could only be seen with certain light conditions and Rodrigo demonstrated these with the setting sun. The others he pointed out with his torch. Being the silly inattentive people that we were, we didn't remember Pablo telling us to wear longs pants today...the grass was long and itchy!!! The best part of the tour was that it didn't really feel like a "tour". The rickety jeep that we jumped on was one drive by a local youth who micromanaged his music all the way down. Despite the steep descents (it was like 30 minutes of isotonic ab workout!), turns and bumps, there were no seatbelts. Everything felt authentic. We finished sitting down together in the town square for drinks which was lovely.

Lara's graffiti T-shirt we bought from Casa Kolacho

Steep, small, windy roads means slow progress

Hurray for Pablo providing snacks!

A short pit stop for coffee

The clouds were rolling in and out

All trying to time lapse the clouds moving...

View of the cafe

The coffee. I'm not a great fan of tinto coffee but this one was decent

Umm...trying to capture Elliot camouflaged against the matching wall

Crossing the Cauca River

The cultural centre of Tamesis

Rodrigo taking us into one of the local coffee producers

Bags and bags of coffee!

Going through the process of how they sort coffee

Can you tell the difference?

Walking through town

Lunch time!

Love the flora here

I also love the bean soup and accompaniments!

Tomato tree juice. A little like diluted papaya with tomato aftertaste

Ready to tour! Pablo looks like a Colombian version of Steve Carrell and Fix-it Felix

petroglyph

As you do, dry your coffee on the sidewalk

We picked up 2 tag-alongs, the real Edna Mode and her son Daniel, who now lives in France and speaks English with a french accent

Tomatino, the red version of Bananito. If were Colombians, there would be 20 on the jeep

Going under the electrical fence. Sure why not!

Beautiful view but itchy itchy long grass and I could see bugs everywhere!!

Explaining how petroglyphs work

Now you can't see them

Now you can!

Hey there's Olaf

Rodrigo showing us a whole heap of different ones

Kids super excited to ride at the back on the way back up to town

Beautiful Tamesis

Drinks with locals at the town square

Quick pastries for dinner on account of the big lunch

Our hotel for the night was Casa Jacaranda, close to but not quite at Jericó. What a beautiful place it was! There were only 7 rooms and only 4 were occupied tonight. Can't wait to see what it looked like in the morning!

Such a beautiful building

The lobby area

Upstairs sitting area

View from our balcony to the kids balcony

Outside hallway

Our gorgeous room

Large shower with seating at the end to put your stuff 

The closet 

Love the fan!

All included!