Mesita A is an artificially levelled zone and was the first Mesita open to the public. It has the biggest funeral mounds. Before excavation they were 4 meters high and 30 meters wide. The sculpture at the entrance of Mesita A is quite grand. It is about 2.5 meters tall and wears a loincloth in… Continue reading Mesita A
San Agustín Archaeological Park
San Agustín is considered by archaeologists to be one of the most significant ancient places in Latin America. It has a collection of ceremonial and burial sites scattered over an area of 250 square miles and is considered the world’s largest necropolis. Necropolis is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The word comes… Continue reading San Agustín Archaeological Park
Akawanka Lodge
Akawanka Lodge deserves a post of its own. It was a fantastic place to stay, set in the natural landscape just 1 km outside the town of San Agustín. The views of the Andean scenery from the balcony were stunning and we could see why it is the best-rated location to stay in the area.… Continue reading Akawanka Lodge
Drive to San Agustin
San Agustin is 520 km from Bogotá, in the eastern foothills of the Colombian Massif, from which the three Andean mountain ranges emerge, traversing the country from south to north in the Andean Region. It is in these foothills, on plateaus either side of the canyon formed by the top of the Magdalena River, where… Continue reading Drive to San Agustin
Neiva
We flew from Bogotá to Neiva, in central Colombia. It is a smallish city, with about 380,000 inhabitants. It is a city with lots of history and was very important during the colonial times, because of its strategic location on the trade route. I was keen to look out of the window before we reached… Continue reading Neiva
Botero Museum
Fernando Botero’s art is very unique and has its roots in satire. His famous “fat figures” makes his style recognizable from a mile away. I read that his inflated figures are possibly a depiction of the figures’ inflated egos and sense of self-importance. Botero’s version of Mona Lisa was painted in 1977. It is so… Continue reading Botero Museum
Gold Museum Ceramics
The oldest Colombian ceramics date back to 1000 BC. The many different clays of the rivers and lakes of the valleys on the high plateau made a variety of ceramic types possible. Muisca ceramic art has typical shapes of slit eyes and mouth with a sharp nose. The production of pottery was done by the… Continue reading Gold Museum Ceramics
Coca Leaves
Some people questioned our choice of country to visit, because they equate it with cocaine and the drug issues. Having seen for ourselves how complex the issues are and how entwined the coca leaf is to the Colombian culture, it made us aware that things are not as black and white as we often assume.… Continue reading Coca Leaves
Gold Museum
The Gold Museum was amazing! It has the largest pre-Hispanic goldsmith collection in the world with over 35,000 pieces of gold and tumbaga (alloy of gold and copper). It was astonishing to see how intricate some of the artwork was. It also has pottery, stone, shell, wood and textile objects that were also made by… Continue reading Gold Museum
The Streets of Bogotá
Bogotá is an 8 million people metropolis and with the narrow streets in the old city, traffic is crazy. There are over 50,000 licensed taxis in Bogotá, with their bright yellow colour and it seems many people use them to get to work, because of the traffic issues. Even if you drive, finding parking is… Continue reading The Streets of Bogotá
Colombia Trip 2019 