Erin & Regan's South American Adventure

Hola,

South of Popayan is a small place called San Andres de Pisimbala though most tourists just call it Tierradentro because it is the location of burial tombs by that name.

To get there we took a bus from Popayan that leaves every morning at 10:15am (the guide book said 5am and someone at the bus station said 6am but they were both lying). The road was a windy dirt/gravel road through the mountains with a steep drop off to the side.

On the bus we met an american called Ian who planned to visit the same things as we did and so we ended up travelling with him.

The village of San Andres de Pisimbala has a lower and upper section. We decided to stay in the lower section because that was where the museums and trail heads are located. We stayed in a hostal called "Hostal Lucerna" run by a lovely old couple and their friendly dog called "Condor".

By the time we were all set up in the hostal it was 3pm. As the museums close each day at 4pm and the trail we wanted to walk takes a full day we decided to see the first museum then call it a night.

The museum contains a number of artifacts from the burial tombs, including burial urns like this one:

There was a lot of additional information about the tombs and the various cultures that inhabitied the area over time. The oldest tombs are from 2000 BC (at least) and are a simple vertical shaft to a small cave-like area. The newer tombs have complex spiral stairways to larger chambers containing pillars and sometimes painted walls and ceilings.

The next morning we started on our walk to visit the 5 sites in the area. At all of the sites except El Aguacate the tombs have been developed for tourism with a protective building over them, concrete covered stairways and a locked gate over the entrance.

The trail starts behind the museum, crosses a river:

and heads up the hill to a site called "Segovia". These are the most impressive tombs, with the most complex stairways and painted walls:

Note the concrete coated stairway:

The tombs are lit and flash photography is forbidden (to protect the painted walls) so many of our photos are quite dark:

Some tombs still contained the burial urns and other pottery:

Another impressive stairwell:

In addition to being painted some of the walls are carved:

Me, backlit by the tomb. Note the fence, this is as far into the tomb as we are allowed:

At the first site we met a tour operator from San Agustin (our next destination) taking a group on a tour of some of the same sites as we were visiting. We got to talking and found out he was heading home the next day which was perfect for our schedule and so we organised a ride with him for about the same cost as the bus, what luck!

From the first site it was a short hike (further up the hill) to the 2nd site "El Duende" where they have more burial tombs. On the way we saw a local pig. The poles tied to it�s neck are to prevent it going through the fence.

The tombs in the 2nd site were less impressive, but still worth a visit.

At each site was a caretaker who would unlock each tomb for us to visit. This one was also kind enough to pose for a photo.

From the 2nd site it was another short hike, this time downhill along a dirt/gravel road, to the 3rd site "El Tabl�n". Along the way we saw a lot of bamboo.

"El Tabl�n" contains stone sculptures, they are not as old as the tombs and come from a different culture that inhabited the same area at a later stage.

From the 3rd site it is a short hike to the upper part of the village of San Andres de Pisimbala where they have a nice white church:

We sat in a local restraunt and had lunch, while we ate we saw a local "Chiva" (normally for passengers) being used to cart wood:

Then it was off to the 4th site "El Alto San Andr�s". To get here we walked down into a valley, across a river

then back up the other side of the valley to the site itself, along the way we saw a colourful tree.

At the site itself we saw an unexpected visitor, this guy was at least 20cm long.

From the 4th site it was a much longer hike around a ridge, through a valley then up to the top of the higher ridge and along that to the 5th site "El Aguacate" (which means "The Avocado").

Along the way some local children offered us some "mandarinas", they looked great so we agreed. Sadly they were the sourest I have ever tasted, in fact I think I have had lemons which were less sour. After choking part of one down we thanked them, it was then they told us we had to pay for them, we gave back the ones we hadn�t eaten and paid them a small amount.