In the morning, once I awoke, I helped Devi by walking with her and taking her bag into town where she would be meeting Jason and heading off towards Ecuador. It was fairly early in the morning but I had been, more and more, getting accustomed to waking up early.
Once Devi was on her way I headed back to the hostel to have some breakfast and meet up with Daryn so we could try and figure out what we were going to do today. There was actually quite a bit to do in the surrounding area so we eventually decided to that we would head out to this spot called La Chaquira. It was drizzling/raining a bit so before heading out to La Chaquira, we decided to check out the market in town.
In turns out that Monday is market day in San Agustin and traders/sellers of all goods come from surrounding pueblos to peddle their wares.
After cruising around the market for a bit and waiting for the rain to let up we made our way back to the hostel to gather our things and get ready to head out to La Chaquira. Before we got to the hostel though we had one stop to make. I had noticed the previous day that there was a circus tent in town and I wanted to do some investigating. After tracking down the tent we learned that there indeed was a circus in town and that there would be two shows that evening. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty excited about going to the circus. You’ll have to wait to hear about that though.
So, we eventually made it back to the hostel and we were ready to head off to La Chaquira. La Chaquira wasn’t too far from our hostel but it would be a bit of a hike, especially since Daryn and I really had no idea where we were going. We also had no real expectations for what we’d see once we go to wherever it was we were going. An incredibly arrogant French guy at our hostel had said it was amazing though and seeing as we wanted something to do it seemed like a good match.
The walk to La Chaquira was somewhat long and we only managed to get stuck once. And by stuck I mean we couldn’t tell which way the sign was telling us to go. We had passed some old farmers on the trail so we waited for them to catch up with us and asked for directions. Eventually it was pretty clear we were getting nearer, based on the signs and the little spot where you could buy water and other junk trinkets.
Eventually we landed ourselves on a pretty worn path and when we looked left were gifted with an amazing view. Then we turned our heads to the right and were gifted with an even more astonishing view. The further down the path we went the more amazing the scenery got. We were basically standing on top of a canyon while the Magdalena River ran through below. There were waterfalls all over the place and the sides of the canyon were terraced for farming and were a luscious green. Of course I took some pictures and video but I know they really do the spot justice. It’s really no wonder that Colombia’s largest superstar (Shakira) would be named after such a place. Ok, there’s no truth behind that statement, I have no idea whether or not she was named after La Chaquira or vice versa.
We hiked down the cliff a bit, which was very dodgy, sat down and relaxed for an hour or so and just took in the view. It wasn’t raining and the weather was cool so I was very comfortable and really could have stayed there all day. Alas, that wasn’t really an option so after awhile Daryn and I started to make or way back to San Agustin.
We started following this other couple thinking that they knew where they were going when leaving La Chaquira but when they turned around and walked back by us I got a little concerned that we had walked quite a ways for nothing. Luckily we kept going in the same direction and eventually found a road that would lead us back.
We made it back to the hostel with time to spare before the circus so I took the opportunity to rest for a bit and try and read. Reading on this trip did not come easy for me mostly because I was so stimulated by everything around me. Everytime I tried to pick up a book I ended up putting it down five minutes later being unable to concentrate. Anyways, as you can imagine, with the circus on my mind I didn’t get much reading done.
Eventually it was time to head back into town and head to the circus. I’ll cut right to the chase, the circus was awful and we ended up leaving half way through. The fact that we were both having a hard time understanding what was going on had nothing to do with our boredom, it really had to do with the fact that the entire time we were there we saw no performances, all it was was talking. Ok, there may have been a few acrobats but it was sooo dull. Oh, and I forgot to mention that it kind of had this strip show type feeling to it. There were a couple of female dancers and the way they were moving, well, let’s just say I didn’t think it was appropriate for the children that were there. There was actually a point where Daryn was considering jumping from the top of the bleachers down so he could escape from the torture we were enduring.
After the circus disaster we headed back to the hostel to get some sleep. Daryn would be getting up early to head off to wherever he was headed and I would be getting up early to meet Elena once she got off her bus from Bogota in San Agustin. It had been a long day but a fun one. Tomorrow would be another travel day, luckily Elena would be there with me and as it turns out it was actually one of my favorite days of the entire trip. More on that… in due time.
