From San Gil I took a 40 minute bus ride to Barichara, a beautiful little colonial town that was declared a national monument in 1978. Whilst on the bus, another example of amazing Colombian hospitality occurred. I received a phone call from my neighbour in Bogota who was checking to see how I was doing. When I told him I was on a bus to Barichara he exclaimed “Oh, I have friends there, I will call you back!”. True to his word he phoned back within minutes and told me his friends would be delighted to meet me and promptly gave me the address! Hah!
I arrived in the town’s central plaza and orientated myself with the street numbers and walked to find Manuel’s friends’ house. I did feel a little weird just rocking up and knocking on someone’s door and saying “hey, I know your friend in Bogota!”…… but I did it anyway!
The Leon family have a beautiful home that they designed themselves and they were having a a family gathering for New Year. I was immediately made to feel welcome and invited to stay for lunch.
After enjoying the family’s wonderful hospitality I hired a tuk-tuk and went sightseeing around Barichara and Guane.
As well as being very beautiful, Barichara is a really fascinating little colonial village. Legend has it that in 1702 the image of the Virgin Mary suddenly appeared carved into a rock. People came to worship the rock. The Spaniard, Captain Don Francisco Padilla y Ayerbe is credited as being the instigator in founding a small village there, after hearing about the rock.
The name Barichara reflects the influence of the indigenous Guane indians and means “the place of rest”. The Guanes were the first to breed the big ants that are a traditional dish here. The houses, white facades and the various churches are built out yellow rock that is found locally. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in honour of the rock, stands in the main square. Today Barichara has a population of 8000.
Just 9 km away is the very small village of Guane, named after the indigenous people of the Santander area. Here time has stood still. It is so small, you can see the entire village by standing in the town square. It has a cute little museum full of fossils found in the area, but no photos are allowed.
Please enjoy my photos…… click on the right hand corner to enlarge.