Living the Sachamama slow life, Salento, Columbia

Wow what a blissful life. Set high in the Columbian hills lies Sachamama nature reserve. A place where 'tranquilo' is the everyday philosophy and where many hours of the day are spent reading and watching the myriad of birds flying though the valley. The reserve and coffee farm is owned by Pedro, or 'Pedrito' as his wife Mar affectionately calls him. They built Sachamama 6 years ago and live there with their beautiful children Nita and Sarita and cute dog, Simba.

Sachamama comes from the Quechuan word meaning Mother Jungle

We met Pedro, a wonderfully inspiring, generous and passionate Columbian man while doing his coffee tour a month prior and arranged to spend 10 days with him and his family to get a taste of the simple life and practice our Spanish.


We filled our Sachamama days assisting Pedro with his reforestation projects; planting trees, drinking coffee, cutting grass with machetes, drinking more coffee, reading, helping Pedro with coffee tours, Spanish-English classes with Pedro's daughters and drinking even more coffee.



We slept in tents inside the house, had only cold showers, (when the water was running) played games and ate by candle light in the evening. There was no electricity so bedtime was at 8pm, there was no alcohol, and most of the food was made from scratch. Yogurt was made from the local farmers milk, arepas (maize flat bread) were made by grinding boiled corn and forming the patties in the morning for breakfast. And of course, the coffee was brewed from the beans growing in the forest - you could really taste the difference - even after drinking 10 cups of coffee a day, there were no adverse side-effects from the caffeine. Nothing like having a fresh cup of brewed organic coffee at the source!

The stunning Columbian countryside, once riddled with Paramilitaries and Guerillas but now a tranquil peaceful place



The Sachamama fashion, wellies! Essential footwear especially with the constant downpours every afternoon

The beautiful familia


The local transport called a 'Willi' - it took an hour to get to the closest town on very rough dirt roads!



Carpenteros - woodpeckers frequented the Sachamama garden

Green toucan!

A bombing & a sick Tom in Popayan, Columbia

After our adventures into the less travelled rural areas we found ourselves back in Popayan. This time though there was a big black tarp over the roof of the bank just across from where we were staying, upon enquiring we found out that there was a bomb blast a few days before our arrival. Always re-assuring. Allegedly it had something to do with FARC, and the murder of their leader by the military a few weeks before.


The bombed building and Tom enjoying the evening in the plaza pre-sickness!

We mainly recovered in Popayan, however poor Tom became very sick after spending a few hours in the plaza with Paul one evening. I have my suspicions that someone flicked powder at them - a well known tourist trick in Columbia which is usually used to knock the person out in order to steal from them but can also make people quite ill. Paul also had swollen eyes and a mysterious rash on his arm.


Cooking up a storm after a few weeks of very average food

Dreaming of Xmas and being back in London with the fam next year

Scrumptious and very fattening potato enchiladas, Columbian style


With a bomb blast and Tom feeling under the weather it was time to leave Popayan and also (unfortunately) bid buen viaje to our awesome pals Clairey Alta and Pablo after a month travelling together. Had the best time guys - see you in London town in 2012/3 hopefully!

The land underground - Tierradentro, Columbia

Half the fun is getting there! To get to Tierradentro, we had one hell of a journey, which involved 3 different vans/camionettas, aching legs from being crushed (one of the times in my life when I am thankful for being pequeno!). An overnight stay at a dodgy town, chicken feet soup at Mr Pollos, and more than a dozen times thinking (once again) 'this is the end' as our driver overtakes a truck around a blind corner at speed and laughs when I scream and cover my eyes.




The best or worst?! ride was the last which involved sitting crunched up in a four wheel drive (complete with nuns) for a few hours on the bumpiest roads. Fortunately we managed to catch my bag just in time before it fell off the roof into an enormous puddle - the reaction from the driver was a huff and puff as if it was such an inconvenience to re-tie the bag. I think that if we had not been watching the bags he would have quite happily kept on going leaving my bag behind to float in mud squelch.




When we finally arrived in the Tierradentro area, we were relieved to say the least. The pain on the boys faces said it all! The main town, San Andres de Pisimbala has a population of a few hundred people, 2 restaurants, a handful of shops and lots of horses! It was like going back in time - coffee beans left out to dry in the streets and horses being used for daily work and roaming freely throughout the village. Surrounding this sleepy town are 100's kms of incredibly bumpy dirt roads - as such we saw only 2 other tourists during the 3 day stay.




Situated on stunning hilltops are 40 or so excavated burial tombs dating from AD 500-900- a bit of a trek but well worth it for the views! Entered via spiral staircases, some of the burial chambers are 8 metres underground and painted/decorated in geometric designs in red, black and white. Interestingly little is known about the tombs and the indigenous groups that inhabited the area, as they simply disappeared many years before the Spanish arrived. It is believed though that there was a 2-stage burial process - the first involved burying the body in a simple grave, followed by cremation and burial in a decorated underground tomb. However, the reasons for this method of burial are largely unknown, other than these people believed strongly in the after-life.










The burial chambers were fascinating and beautiful, however a little creepy and steep to get down to. At one point I freaked out thinking that we might all be locked in the chamber - hummm was this the real reason why we didn't see any other tourists while we were there?!




We stayed in one of the only guest houses in town, and luckily the wife of the owner was the best cook - however we still ate the usual rice, beans and (if you can call it) steak. The soup was the definitely the winner. After dinner, the town was silent, rather unusual for a Columbian town as there is normally someone blasting salsa beats from their home. After a full day of walking we finished the day off with Coca wine - which had a striking resemblance to sherry and freaked out as a massive flying bug with a long neck ?!? burst into our room just before lights out. ek

A bit of culture - Pre-Columbian statues in San Agustin

After a day's travel we wearily arrived in San Agustin, a beautiful little town perched high in the Southern Columbian countryside and home to one of the most important archaeological sights in the continent.





The main draw-card for visiting San Agustin is to see the Pre-Columbian statues and tombs dating between the 6th and 14th centuries AD. The pre-Incan civilisation that once lived here is shrouded in mystery and disappeared long before the Spanish arrived. They buried their dead and honoured them with magnificently carved statues made from volcanic rock. So far 513 statues have been found, however it is believed that huge mayan-like pyramids may also be buried underground. These statues were discovered in the middle of the 18th Century and only recently have tourists been coming to this area since the guerilla warfare ended.









On our second day after checking out some more tombs, we luckily stumbled upon a big cowboy festival in a small town that we were passing through. In the centre of the fiesta was a rather rickety old rodeo stadium. We paid our 50 cents to get in and found the place to be packed wall to wall with drunk Columbian cowboys watching a popular horse galloping competition.