dare2go

Colombia: The Llanos


Row of shops in Puerto Lopez

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There were a number of reasons for choosing to visit the plains - it is close to Bogotá and we had to keep this trip under 1000km; it is completely different scenery than we have seen so far, since it is mostly just flat, and we have driven mostly through mountains; but most of all it is close to sea level and, after being more than 2 months in chilly Bogotá at 2600m, it is warm. And we are revelling in it. We stopped for the night at a hotel recommended to us, which has a camping area. It was relatively quiet and had a swimming pool which we made use of, but we can't recommend it because it was one of the rare occasions in this country that we were subject to what we like to call 'gringo tax'. It was outrageously expensive, but it was 4:30 and we had travelled enough for one day - we decided though that we wouldn't be staying more than one night.
The next morning we stopped briefly at the monument marking the centre of the country and then drove back to Puerto López. (It is possible to drive on much further along this road into the Llanos and on into Venezuela, but we had to keep our kilometres down and we had heard that the road is partly unsealed. With rain threatening we didn't find this an attractive prospect.) On the way we stopped at the River Metica to watch some cowboys at work and also to photograph the barges used for transporting cattle on the river. The rivers here are, without exception, huge. Not surprising as they run into the Amazon! Although Puerto López is not a particularly attractive small town, it is sometimes interesting to walk around places like it to get a feel for how the people live in them. We bought nothing more than a bag of water and then continued on, back to Villavicencio. (Purified drinking water is sold in Colombia in plastic bags of various sizes and so we pick up a 5 litre bag every couple of days and pour it into our plastic jerry can to use for coffee and other drinks.)
Villavicencio is a bustling little city with far too many motorbikes for Juergen's liking. Motorbike riders in this country must be the most egocentric people we have come across (although mention should be made in this category of many bus and taxi drivers in Bogotá!). They have little to no interest in the needs of anyone else on the road. If we followed the rule advertised at home - "look left, look right, look bike" - we would spend the majority of our time in places like Villavicencio and Santa Marta standing still! (Juergen read recently that over 180 motorbike riders died on the roads in Bogotá last year, and in Bogotá we don't find them as bad as elsewhere in the country.) We found a supermarket and bought a few supplies and then got out of the place as quickly as possible. If it had any sights of interest we didn't see them.
We drove a few kilometres back along the road to Puerto López to a Balneario we had spotted on the way into town. It was owned and operated by some very friendly people who were more than happy to have us stay. We spent a couple of pleasant hours sitting with them, under shelter during a heavy rain shower, talking about our trip and our respective countries and the cultural differences. The women were particularly pleased to hear that Juergen took part in all household activities like cooking and cleaning. They told us that in Colombia the women take care of the house, the cooking and the children, as well as going to work. When asked what the men do, they answered "go to work and drink beer" - sounds like the classic 'ocker' archetype! We liked the place and the people so much that we stayed 2 nights spending our time doing nothing much at all. Juergen ventured into the water which was fresh from a flowing river, and a little chilly, but I had a bit of a stomach upset so didn't feel up to it. It was so nice to be in the countryside instead of a city, to breathe clean air and most of all to be warm.
When we left the Balneario on Wednesday, we skirted the centre of Villavicencio to get onto the road toward Villanueva. Our plan was to drive a loop back to Bogotá along the edge of the plains and then west into the mountains to the main highway north of Bogotá. This should take us a few days - the remainder of our short journey - and then back to Bogotá to the workshop. Our first stop was just outside Villavicencio to visit Bioparque Los Ocarros - the local zoo. It had been recommended by our mechanic as a good place to see animals indigenous to Colombia and he was right. Neither of us is particularly fond of the idea of a zoo but this one was quite well set up, the enclosures were, for the most part, of a reasonable size and the animals appeared to be healthy and well cared for. It gave us the opportunity to see animals that we would either probably not see in the wild or wouldn't really want to - the huge Anaconda is certainly a case in point! It took us about 1½ hours to walk around and I think it was worth the time spent.
Restrepo is a very pleasant little village about 30km from Villavicencio. We were looking for an internet place and, to prove that Murphy doesn't always win, we pulled up right in front of one, when our aim had been to park and walk! Once again we were overwhelmed by the friendliness of the locals - we conducted a few 'show and tells' in our camper, mostly for the kids, but some adults always overcome their sense of politeness to poke their noses in the door if they are invited to. From there we drove on looking for somewhere to stop for the night and, after driving up to the next toll booth, turning around before paying, and then backtracking, we ended up in a small campground right on the road just before Cumaral. The owner was very friendly and helpful. It turned out not to be as noisy as we had feared.
Thursday found us heading north on a road that ran along the edge of the plains at the foot of the mountains. We found it very beautiful and, at the same time, very familiar. The landscape reminded both of us very much of the landscape around Northern NSW where we live - the hills looked similar as did much of the vegetation. And the climate also had a familiar feel to it. The road surface was quite good until after Villanueva and the turn off to Yopal. This town is also much further out into the Llanos than we wanted to drive with the distance restraints we were under.
Somewhere near Aguaclara we were stopped at a military post. They asked for our papers, as usual, but this time took them to make a note of our identities. Then they asked us if this was our first time on this road and when we answered in the affirmative, they proceeded to tell us that it is quite secure and safe to drive, except that we should not take the right hand road on a particular fork we would come to. We asked them about somewhere secure to sleep and they suggested Santa Maria. I wanted to know how many kilometres it was and the officer shook his head and then told me it would take 2½ hours. They then sent us on our way with a friendly farewell. This whole conversation only started to make sense to us when not more than a kilometre along the road the nice surface turned to mostly stones, dirt and large potholes! (We also found some people back in Bogotá who were a little shocked that we had taken that route because it was "not safe" - although our friend Alvaro had recommended it so we felt quite confident.)
It couldn't have been much more than 20 or maybe 30 km to Santa Maria, but it took us almost exactly the amount of time the military had suggested. The road was a real bone-shaker, but the scenery was spectacular! True to their word we found a Balneario in the town and the owner was very pleased to have us there. Santa Maria is built on the side of a mountain so the parking place was not particularly level, but we found a spot and blocked up the back a bit. Just as we set up the rain came down and put an end to the pleasant conversation I was having with a young girl who was standing at the door of the camper. Unfortunately it wasn't quite as 'tranquilo' as the owner had suggested, mostly because he had the television on very loud until after midnight and there were some very noisy roosters and turkeys around early in the morning. We drove into Santa Maria in the morning to use the internet and found it a quite attractive little town that appeared to be almost sleepy.
We had heard that the road would be better from Santa Maria on, but the reality was that it was not really better, just different. There were more potholes but now interspersed with tarred sections. Very soon we reached a series of tunnels which went on for quite some time - they were mostly just carved out of the rocks of the mountains with no inner lining and sometimes lights that didn't work. For the most part they were very damp, with showers of water coming through in places, but the road inside them was very smooth, and this was an extremely welcome break from the very bad road between them. In the midst of them we came to a military checkpoint right on the wall of a huge dam (Embalse de Chivor) - from then on we could see the dam from different perspectives numerous times when we left a tunnel. We began to look for somewhere to stop because we didn't want to get back to Bogotá, since it was only Friday and we had just learned that it would be a holiday on Monday. We knew that there were some thermal baths on this road and thought they might be a good bet for an overnight place. Unfortunately, the only one that looked like a possibility had its car park totally full with large buses. In the area of Guateque/Macheta the road suddenly improved and, before we knew it, we had reached the main highway to Bogotá.
We then decided to try to find a dam (Embalse del Neusa) mentioned to us months ago at the tourist info in Bogotá. To reach it we would have to get across to Zipaquirá and then travel north again for a bit. It proved to be much easier and closer than I had imagined and, although it was 14 km of not very good road, we found it and drove into camp by 5.00 in the afternoon. This dam is at 3000m and the air is very fresh and clean, but it was certainly not as warm as we had been experiencing for the past few days. It was so quiet and peaceful there that we decided to stay two nights and return to Bogotá on Sunday. It rained on and off all day Saturday, so we spent it in the camper, reading and resting. We felt an earth tremor early in the afternoon, but not strong really - I was reading on the bed and Juergen was doing the dishes. I asked him why he was moving so much and shaking the camper - he was standing still. As the day progressed, more people arrived and set up camp, but they caused us no problem because as evening approached the rain got heavier and they couldn't stay outside their tents to play loud music and party as most large groups like to when they go camping out in nature.
On Sunday we returned to Bogotá after a week out of the smog, traffic and general city confusion. We had slept well most nights and felt somewhat refreshed. Alvaro called us when we were just driving into the north of the city. He wanted to make sure that we weren't hurt in the earthquake that had been centred in the Llanos on Saturday, since he didn't know which part of it we were in. Some people had been hurt and several lost their lives, but we were no where near it. As we drove through Bogotá on our way to what had been our 'home' for more than 2 months, we were silently hoping it would be for only a few days more - but we were not holding our breath. Apart from a few minor hiccups, things mostly went well and we were really back on the road by Thursday.

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