2 great days in San Augustin

11,12 Jan 2007

Once up and mobile we decide to go straight to the archeological park, where the famous stone statues are.

Once there we are met by Carlos the guide. He speaks excellent English but quotes us 30,000 for his services.. along with the 7,000 entrance each. We hum and har, then say so. But once entering the park and just staring dumbly at the staues, I change my mind and we return to find him.

By this time he has found two young American guys, but we agree to all go together. Carlos turns out to be an incredible character. His guiding is supposed to last 2,5 hours, but we spend the entire day with him. Admittedly we spend the latter part of the day discussing life in Colmbia, buying land in Colombia, and his aspirations more than the actual acheology.

Once he hears that I too am a tour guide he takes quite a shine to me, and he actively tells me that Colombia needs more foreign investment in the tourism sector. Hes almost read my mind, cos Im constantly looking for opportunity, and before I know it he has me talking to locals about buying land nearby. One character tells me his 2.5ha farm with all services will set me back around $17,000US. I hesitate, and he almost immediately follows up ¨but you can haggle¨... Interesting.

Carlos himself is pretty well read at 29. He quotes passages from ¨rich dad, poor dad¨and says he wants to be the richest man in Colombia. Thats why he hasnt married yet. Hes pretty intense....

As for the actual archeology, there are hundreds of statues of heads that were buried by an ancient civilization that dissappeared around 900 ad. Nothing is kown about them as fact, but the various theories extrapolated from the statues are pretty interesting. Of particular note is a small waterfall feature with carvings. The water passes thru carved channels etc, and makes quite an impresive sight.

The next day we go horse riding, again with the Americans, after negotiating a better deal with 4 of us. The horses are on a ¨Mexican Mount¨which is new to both me and Sara. Shes too used to British mounts and doesnt like it. I though, really do enjoy it. The saddle is further forward and its easier to get my legs around his gut. This beomes important, cos these horses just want to gallop... hard. Theres a few steeps which are thankfully taken slowly, but in general we motor. Its great fun.

Along the way we check out a few more statues, some with colour which is pretty cool. The guide is pretty hopeless, but we heard most of the archeological history yesterday.

In the eve we consider staying for another day, but now our hearts are set on the Carribean, so we decide to bail in the morning.