This most recent puente, I went with two friends, Mark from Wisconsin and Jose, who is Colombian, to San Gil for a night, in order to go rafting on Saturday, and then we moved on to Barichara for two nights, just to hang out. These towns are in the department of Santander, where the weather is in the mid 70’s to mid 80’s–quite a change from Bogota. First, San Gil and the rafting:
San Gil is about a 7 hour bus ride from Bogota, so we left at 4:00 right after work.? It’s really not so far, maybe 225 miles or so, but like anywhere you travel to from Bogota, the windy mountain roads make travel really slow. We had gone to the bus terminal a few days earlier to get the tickets, and paid the equivalent of about $20US one way.
So, this was my first long bus ride in Colombia, and it wasn’t bad at all. The seats were comfortable, they showed two movies, and had a half hour stop for dinner. The view, while it lasted, was good? (it gets dark around 6:00PM year round).
In San Gil we stayed at a hotel just off the town square, and the town was okay, but nothing special.? The square was pleasant, but not really spectacular in any way. We arrived late, so just headed to bed, to be wakened at 8:00AM by a percussion band leading a parade under our window into the town square, I presume in celebration of whatever this puente is all about. But no problem, we wanted to get started on our day anyway.
We called AventuraTotal (Total Adventure), a company that organizes all sorts of outdoor expeditioins around San Gil, and arranged to be picked up at noon for a two hour rafting adventure. They dropped us about 11kilometers up the river, gave us about a half hour of instruction, and then divided us up into groups of four to six, each with a guide, and we hit the river (The Rio Fonce).
Our guide was Nelson, and he was super, nothing less.? Mark and I were in the front, since we were the biggest, but we were also the only two gringos.? We just needed to know a few commands:? adelante (forward), atras (back), and also (high, or hold your oar up).? Sometimes it would be adelante fuerza (hard forward) or suave (soft). Basic, easy.?? But, we still had to hesitate a second after each command to translate in our heads.
This section of the river is rated 1 to 3, meaning beginning to sort-of intermediate. Ratings go up to 5+, and the 3 means just small waterfalls among the rapids. We had been trained in what to do if we fell in, and in how to help someone who did fall in back into the raft. Nobody ever fell in, but there was just jumping in occasionally in the calm spots.
Overall, a great two hours. Beautiful scenery, a few good rapids, and Nelson was an expert quide.? All the guides we saw that day seemed to truly be experts on the river. Since San Gil is basically pretty warm, getting soaked wasn’t a problem at all, and in the lazy, calm patches we passed through in between the rapids, we could just lay back and take in the sun and the scenery.
We’d only planned one day in San Gil, and there’s an option for an 8-hour rafting trip (with rapids rated 4), but no time for that. The area (and the company we used) also offer paragliding, rapelling, spelunking, hiking, and who knows what all else.
Ah, the best part–for this trip, we each paid 25,000 Colombian pesos, which translates into about $11. Check these guys out for sure!
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