Sang Gil, Santander

10/04.11

Today was really special. Don't think I ever fitted so many exciting things in just a single day. Will eventually write more about it, but here's a bit for now.
- visited a colonial village
- went rafting
- bought some Hormigas Culonas which litterally means ANTS WITH BIG BOTTOMS
- I gave the ants to the cook of a restaurant who cooked me a steak with them in a sauce

Will send pictures as soon as I find a chance.

-------------------------

So, I'm in San Gil, on my way up north to Santa MArta. This place is meant to be some sort of a spot where people stop to get off tourist tracks. It's a small place and it looks quite lost, like a small village would be europe in the middle of the country side. So when you sit down in an open terrace low key restaurant to have their typical and local "gallina creola", all you can stare at are the cars driving along the national roads that cross hear: the one goigm from north to southm the other from east to west. Breathing in the fumes also didn't dfeal very healthy.

Weather here is much better than waht its like in Bogota. To start with, here, you actually sweat! You can tell you're getting closer to the carrebean coast even though you're still up high in the andes. Its even a bit sticky, a biot like what it was like durint the summer in tuscany. It was really nice just 30 mins ago when I was sitting on the central plazza with a fresh bear. Unlike what it's like in Bogota, people don't just walk up to you for aq chat, I guess people from the capital really are that special.

So, travellers stop here with one idea in mind, since San Gil is sittuated on a fast water river, people stay to do all sorts of extreme sports. I wanted to go bungee jumping till I saw that you in fact jump off an articially built metallic tower. I was hoping to jump off a bridge or something, So Instead, I'll just go for a 2 hour raft tomorrow: 25000COP. In the morningm I hope to get up early enough to have this walk between these two colonial villages up in the hills. Will send pictures once I'm back

This place seems bigger than Villa de Leyve, but people are dressed very occidentally, No ponchoes, leather boots or staw hats like in other country places i've seen so far. PErhaps I'll see some of those in the villages i'm goignt o see tomoprrow: Guane and Barichare