Guasca, Colombia and its beautiful church

The Colombian town of Guasca is a hidden gem. It's situated a little higher than the towns that surround it on the northern outskirts of Bogotá. It's not on the main road and you have to drive out of the way to get there, fortunately only about 2 kilometers. If you leave Bogotá by the mountain road that goes toward La Calera and continue on as if you were going to Guatavita, you can turn off where the sign indicates Guasca. When we went, we didn't stay long, just enough to take in the pretty views that were the result of this city being on a small hill above the others. Also noteworthy was the church that occupied a prominent place in the plaza, especially as the whole plaza was sloped uphill and the church sat at the top. I just loved the interior of this church, which looked very well maintained.

The View from the "Piedra Capira" in Colombia (2009)

Two weeks ago I took a trip to the town of Guaduas, about a 3-hour drive from Bogotá (4 hours on the slow-moving buses). One of the highlights of the region is the point called the Piedra Capira, which is a rock with a cross perched on it, that hangs over the edge of the hill, showing the full view of the Magdalena River. (The Magdalena is the Colombian equivalent of the Mississippi and runs nearly the full length of the country, flowing northward before it empties out into the Caribbean Sea.) To get to the Piedra Capira, one leaves Guaduas on the route toward the town of Honda, drives for about 15 minutes, and makes a left at the sign. The rest of the way is through a narrow gravel and dirt road, and at some point the car has to be parked and one has to go on foot until reaching the rock. I was especially surprised that this attraction did not appear in any guidebook, just in a pamphlet issued in the town of Guaduas.

On a clear morning the volcanoes Nevado del Tolima (left) and the Nevado del Ruiz (far right) are visible. There are two smaller peaks, barely visible in between these, called the Nevado del Quindío and the Nevado de Santa Isabel. I added new photos from this last trip to Colombia at the webpage for Cundinamarca, the name of the province that surrounds Bogotá.