Colombia: Barichara

We leave Santa Marta with all its dust and dirt, its noisy and uncomfortable streets behind us and board the bus to San Gil. But our actual destination is not the popular outdoor activity city, but a small mountain village above San Gil: Barichara.

The bus route takes us over steep cliffs and narrow roads, but the view is simply fantastic. After a long journey, we finally reach San Gil and take a minibus to Barichara. Here we meet Franzi again, whom we met in Cartagena. Barichara captivates us from the very first second. A small village surrounded by green mountains, with narrow alleys and beautiful restaurants and cafés. But it gets even better: our Tinto Hostel, a great tip from Laura, is absolutely amazing. Here we find a green garden with fruit trees, a swimming pool, and a terrace with a breathtaking view over the rooftops.

After a little nap, we explore the old streets and stroll to the main square with the small church. The atmosphere here is wonderfully relaxed and we feel like we are on vacation. There are many fruit and vegetable stores where we can buy fresh goodies, which we immediately stock up on because our super hostel also has a perfectly equipped outdoor kitchen. But first we have lunch at Shanti. Here we are cooked spicy Oriental pasta and savory burritos and served very nicely by the owner of the restaurant.

On the first evening, we immediately extend our stay for another night, we would have loved to extend it for another week, but our flight to Lima is approaching. The next day we also enjoy the wonderful tranquility, the view from the terrace, and the refreshing pool. The climate here is perfect - sunny but not too hot and above all not as humid as in the tropics. Sebastian is particularly happy about that. Today we meet Magda, a lively Polish woman who lives in Australia and shares the room with us. Aurelie from Marseille also immediately sympathizes with us - Lisa first goes shoe shopping with her. The next morning we all meet, also with Franzi, for the hiking trail to Guane, a small village near Barichara.

After a sunny terrace breakfast, we set off on the Camino. The landscape is already an absolute dream from up here, and that won't change on the way to Guane. On the way down to the valley, we also perform a little dance for Aurelie's travel film. Once we arrive in Guane, we have a fresh juice before we go in search of the homemade goat cheese that can supposedly be bought here. But when we ask around, we quickly find out that we have to buy it in Barichara.

So we hop on the bus and head back up to Barichara. Here we not only stock up on goat cheese, but also on all kinds of goodies that we will later prepare in our outdoor kitchen. So we sit on the terrace, enjoy our dinner, and don't actually want to leave yet. But tomorrow morning, Bogota is on the agenda, because we are continuing to Peru from here.

In Bogota, we meet Jasmin and her boyfriend Luis again and say goodbye to Colombia. It was beautiful! We will definitely come back.

Now it's off to the Incas!