Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [215]
Bars are clustered in town near the police station. Also worth a look are El Faro ( 320 247 2051, 311 424 7711; Carrera 13 No 6-50; 4pm-late Wed-Mon), a groovy small bar four blocks up the hill from the plaza that sometimes hosts live music, and Territorio Libre ( 314 324 1853; Calle 5 No 14-27 8pm-2:30am Fri & Sat), a rocking disco opposite El Fogón – in the chilly wee hours it lights a small bonfire out back.
The small cultural center Fundación Kafka ( 837 3925, 320 330 8923; glenamasabel@yahoo.es; Calle 3 No 12-22; 9am-10pm) is dedicated to all things San Agustín, and on weekends often hosts live music or shows classic cinema. Sells coffee, beer and books about the region’s history.
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Getting There & Away
Bus offices are on the corner of Calle 3 and Carrera 11 (known as Cuatro Vientos). There are regular minibuses to Neiva (COP$20,000, four hours) and several buses day and night to Bogotá (COP$45,000, 12 hours). Not all Pitalito–Popayán buses (COP$20,000, five hours) stop in San Agustín. If you’re in a hurry or want to save a few pesos, take a shared taxi 5km to the crossroads, or cruce in Spanish (COP$2000, 10 minutes). Arriving from Popayán, buses with few passengers will drop you here and pay your taxi fare to San Agustín. Be aware that some hotel owners may bribe taxi drivers to bring you directly to their hotel.
For Tierradentro, go to Pitalito (COP$5000, 45 minutes) and change for La Plata (COP$20,000, 2½ hours), where you can get a bus to San Andrés (COP$15,000, 2½ hours). Alternately, from Pitalito take any Neiva-bound bus to Garzón (COP$10,000, one hour) and take any of the more frequent shared taxis to La Plata (COP$10,000, 1½ hours). From La Plata there are services several times a day to Tierradentro (COP$10,000, 2½ hours). Some buses may drop you at the crossroads. From here it’s a 20-minute walk uphill to the Tierradentro museums and hotels.
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Getting Around
Half a dozen new taxis now service San Agustín. They can take you around town and, more importantly, to your lodging outside of town. The fixed rates are posted inside the cab, but after dark the cabbies have been known to try to overcharge foreigners.
A bus runs the 2km to the park every 15 minutes (COP$800) from the corner of Calle 5 and Carrera 14. Chivas and vans ply the nearby country roads, especially from Saturday to Monday. They can take you to and from your hotel for around COP$1000.
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TIERRADENTRO
2 / elev 1750m
Tierradentro is the second most important archaeological site in Colombia. Like San Agustín, the real attraction here is the astonishing beauty of the surrounding hills. Where San Agustín is noted for its statuary, Tierradentro is remarkable for its elaborate underground tombs. So far, archeologists have discovered about 100 of these unusual funeral temples, the only examples of their kind in the Americas. There is a fabulous half-day walk you can do that takes in all the major tomb sites amid gorgeous mountain scenery.
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Orientation & Information
Scattered across the hills around the town of San Andrés de Pisimbalá, Tierradentro consists of five separate sites, four with tombs and one with above-ground statuary, plus two adjacent museums. The hotels are adjacent to the museums, a 25-minute walk from San Andrés. Some of the tombs have electric lighting, but it isn’t always functioning; bring a flashlight (torch).
There is no tourist office, bank or internet service near Tierradentro. Several of the hotels offer Comcel cell-phone minutes.
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Sights
Measuring 2m to 7m in diameter, the tombs are scooped out of the soft volcanic rock that forms the region’s undulating hillsides. They vary widely in depth; some are just below ground level, while others are as deep as 9m. The domed ceilings of the largest tombs are supported by massive pillars. Many are painted with red and black geometric motifs on white backgrounds. In addition, figures are carved into the columns and walls