Getting our Indiana Jones on in San Augustin

After crossing over the border into Colombia we got the bus to a city called Pasto, where we stayed one night before making a mission across a pretty dodgy road (it felt similar to the Death Road in Bolivia at times) to a little town called Mocoa and then further north to San Augustín.  We chose this route because it made more sense than going north and then having to backtrack, but because it's a dirt/gravel road it took about 9 hours.  But never fear, we're not precious travellers and we can handle a bit of roughness.  Couldn't say the same for a poor woman behind us though who was a bit spewy.

When we finally arrived in San Augustín it was getting dark and chose that moment to start pissing down.  So after getting ripped off for dinner we flagged down a taxi to take us to a hostel that had been recommended online. La Casa de Francois is a farm on a hill with beautiful gardens and plantations, where the French owner has built the dorms and rooms out of bamboo and mud with glass bottles in the walls.  It's such a stunning and tranquil location that we felt right at home.  You can't beat relaxing in a hammock watching the sunset over the hills.  

Our dorm on top, kitchen underneath.

San Augustín is a small town famous for its pre-Colombian archaeological sites, and it was definitely well worth the ride out there.  And how's this for an impressive fact (according to UNESCO no less) - it's the largest group of religious monuments and megalithic sculptures in South America.  So this tiny little town can justifiably give the middle finger to all other similar sites, wherever they may be.  

There are a few different sites in the town, but we decided to visit the San Augustín Archaeological Park first.  We met a hippy backpacking Irishman who was staying in the same dorm as us, so we decided to explore together.  We had a quick look at the small museum then wandered into the Bosque de las Estatuas (Forest of Statues), where 39 of the best statues stand in the open air amid lush forest.  The statues, in varying states of preservation, are carved out of volcanic rock in different styles and sizes, depicting gods, warriors and an assortment of both real and mythical creatures.  Not much is known about the ancient civilisation who created them, but it's thought that most of the statues were markers of ceremonial and burial sites, and were related to the spiritual power of the dead and the supernatural world.  It was a beautiful setting and it totally blew our minds knowing that what we were seeing was almost 2000 years old.  

There were a few other sites to see in the Archaeological Park, such as four mesitas (small man-made hills) which contained artificial mounds, terraces, funerary structures and more stone statues; La Fuente de Lavapatas, which is a complex religious monument carved in the stone bed of a stream; and Alto de Lavapatas, which is the oldest archaeological site on top of a hill with an amazing view of the surrounding hills and valleys.  We spent a good 3 hours walking around the Park and loved every minute of it as it was unlike anything we've ever seen.  See kids, history can be cool.

La Fuente de Lavapatas

The next day we went on a jeep tour of some other sites that were further out of town.  We visited a site with several underground burial tombs that we could actually climb huge steps down into, and a couple more places (Alto de los Idolos and Alto de las Piedras) with larger stone statues, the largest being 7m high and weighing several tonnes.  However, after a few hours of driving and walking around sites, we were pretty much statued and tombed out.  Although, an exciting (and unexpected) viewing was when were at one of the burial sites and I spotted something down in a tomb.  On closer inspection it turned out to be a huge black tarantula attacking and devouring a frog.  Stupid frog should've realised that jumping into a deep, dark tomb wasn't the genius idea he thought it was.  Made for some good, albeit creepy photos though.  Then on the way back to town, just to mix it up a bit, we visited someone's property where there was a massively deep valley and a waterfall cascading down to the stream below.  All in all it was another good day.

San Augustin turned out to be a great place to spend a few days checking out ancient archaeological sites, and enjoying the tranquility of one of the best hostels we've stayed at.  Sometimes it really does pay off when you make the effort to get off the beaten track a bit.