truck camper travel – Roaming About

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Finishing Our Six-month Colombian Adventure in El Puerto, Pasto & Spectacular Santuario de Las Lajas

Colombia has two southern land borders with Ecuador. Mark, Maya, and I drove to the western one via a detour called El Trampolin de La Muerte (Trampoline of Death road). Why? Mainly because we really wanted to visit Santuario de Las Lajas near the other border in Southwest Colombia. We’d seen photos of this impressive church straddling a deep ravine; an image straight out of a fairytale.

Mark, Liesbet, and Maya in front of Santuario de Las Lajas

After passing through the Mocoa road block, we could have easily continued to the eastern border and leave the country. We briefly considered it, when being stuck at a landslide before even entering the Trampoline. But that one cleared up in “no time,” so we could stick to our initial plan.

Trampoline of Death road

Location El Puerto, Pasto, Las Lajas

El Puerto

On the other side of the Trampoline of Death, we decided to stop for two nights in El Puerto. Also called “Little Switzerland” or “The Venice of Colombia,” it is the lakeside neighborhood of the town El Encano. A blog about this destination on our friends Susan and John’s site Latitude Adjustment encouraged me to add it to our itinerary.

(As always, click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)

Dirty car after the wet gravel road that is the Trampoline of Death

Bouncing on this dirt road messed up the contents of our cabinets.

We have learned to be careful when opening cabinets after a rough trip.

Lot of rain made for a wet and muddy environment

Waking up to our camper being “circled” by a meeting of boat drivers

Road along which we were parked

Because of all the rain, however, the canals were a deep brown, and because of it being a long weekend, the hamlet was incredibly busy. While located at Laguna de La Cocha, good public lake access or views were missing in El Puerto. We enjoyed our strolls with Maya, the colors and cuteness of the buildings, and the setting, but it felt weird to be in a place solely geared towards tourism. Where were the panaderias (bakeries)? Or the produce stalls? Or the friendly locals living in typical Colombian pueblos?

Brown canals

Tourist spot

The cow décor was popular in Colombia – for vendors in cars as well as stores

It’s easy to see why this town is called “Little Switzerland.”

The only view we found of the lagoon in town

The road out of town was flooded on the day we left.

Another Off-road Adventure in the Mountains of Colombia — The Waterfalls & Cave of Elusive Florián

April 22, 2023 / Liesbet / 27 Comments

After enjoying Villa de Leyva, the end of January, the plan was to embark on another off-the-beaten-track adventure. But, as we wrapped up an extended stay in our favorite Colombian pueblo patrimonio, we faced two possible issues: the weather forecast predicted rain which could make the dirt roads impassable and we were on a deadline, because we wanted to visit our friends Susan and John in El Retiro for a handful of days, before they’d leave on a trip in the middle of February and would have other guests prior to that. Plus, we were in the midst of dealing with a vehicle extension and didn’t know if this would require a last-minute stop in Medellin.

Tiered waterfalls in Florián

Could we fit in a multiple-day side trip to Florián without encountering muddy roads, would the challenging detour be worthwhile, and would we have enough time left to make the two-day drive and visit Rio Claro on the way to El Retiro?

Map Colombia

Florián in Santander, Colombia

Few Colombians have heard of Florián, located in the middle of the mountains of the Santander department. Wikipedia in English doesn’t have much info but the Spanish page has a bit more data. The town is known for its multi-tiered waterfall, which tumbles out of a cave. It sounded cool but would take us a full day to reach; the last four hours over bouncy, slow, dirt roads.

(As always, hover over or click on photos in galleries to read their captions.)

Mountain road

Pretty views along the drive into the mountains

Rocky road surfaces

A busy stretch – if that car can drive here, we can!

Narrow, one-lane roads to reach our destination

Leaving Florián the same way we came

Mark stumbled across this destination a few months ago, probably seeing photos by a fellow overlander on Facebook. He pinned it in Google maps, which is how we now compile lists of worthwhile destinations. And, by reading in our fat South America Lonely Planet.

When we arrived, exhausted and shaken, we parked along the main square for the night. We walked around town and to a viewpoint of the valley, wondering where the waterfall was located. We surely thought we’d have seen – if not heard – it by now. That’s when we discovered there was nothing but a trickle, none of it visible from a distance. To say we were disappointment is an understatement!

Finishing the Year 2022 in Colombian Small Towns and Nature – Off the Beaten Track in the Department of Santander

March 14, 2023 / Liesbet / 33 Comments

After our experience in Gramalote over Christmas, Mark, Maya, and I left the department of Norte de Santander and found more touristy areas in Santander; popular destinations for Colombians. We hadn’t seen and still didn’t see gringos for weeks. This made it special for us to meet curious locals and to practice our limited Spanish. Few Colombians speak English.

We split ways with our friends Sheri and Jeff for a few days, as we looked forward to reaching a couple off-the-beaten track places. The less busy, the less fireworks! Our first objective was Chicamocha Canyon and its town along the river, Cepitá. The more you descend in the mountains, the hotter it gets, so we decided to stop for the night at an area near the top of the ravine.

(As always, hover over or click on photos in galleries to read their captions.)

You know you are in a cooler region when the locals wear wool ponchos

And you know you’re in the mountains when the GPS route looks like this

Narrow road down Chicamocha Canyon

A bit more on edge since the incident in Gramalote Viejo, we both needed to feel comfortable boondocking (wild camping). Being right off the road meant we were visible for passersby, so we decided to only camp here for one night. The view over the canyon was spectacular and we were visited by goats.