Visit of San Agustin Archeological park

Visit of San Agustin Archeological park

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Tomb entrance

Tomb entrance

Activity: Parque Arqueológico San agustin

Night: Hostal Musica y Arte

Day 129

We realize this morning that our room is on top of a huge chicken coop. And we woke up too early by the roosters singing. Whoever said that they sing at the break of dawn is wrong, they start when it’s still night. We didn’t sleep so well.

Alexis gets up earlier than me and go out to find breakfast and withdraw some cash at the ATM. When he is back and we get our coffee ready, the hostess just arrived and started to prepare breakfast. We didn’t know it was actually included in the room. It meant, a very nice and big breakfast for the morning. 

There is a cute ginger cat that begs for food the entire time. We have to watch for our plate. 

We also meet two fellow travelers, one of them is Kim a young Peruvian lady. We end up having the same program for the day: the visit of the main archeological park of San Agustin.
We share the taxi and we also got a guide in the site. It’s a huge complex, it took us 4h to walk it all. Very little is known about the civilization that built these giant monolithic statues in the middle of the mountains. What we see are mostly tombs and funerary temples, that is all what is left. This culture had no written language and all that is known is oral traditions from the local indigenous people. 

San Agustin Statue

 

San Agustin Statue

Many of the representations and symbols are common to other Andes cultures, perhaps more about animals and sun/moon duality. There weren’t as much relationship with stars and constellations. There were estimated to live about 2000 years BC. 

San Agustin Statue

 

Tomb entrance
Tomb entrance

There are English and Spanish explanations all along the trails but they are really basic – we got a lot more from our guide. It was a worthwhile investment. This park is quite a expensive entrance ticket, but it’s only there that you can learn about this old culture.

After a super late lunch in town, we take a nap. The rooftop of the hostel has a hammock, that I enjoyed a lot. 

So far in Colombia, we have found affordable family restaurants who serve a simple plate of the day for the equivalent of 3 euro. It’s delicious and often comes with a fresh fruit juice and a soup too. 

San Agustin towncenter
Main church in town
City center
The houses all mostly white with these green and yellow colors. It's cute.
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