We want to check out some of the sites but we are also looking for a little exercise so we hop on a local shuttle bus to Guane, a small town about an hour and a half away connected by old trails to the small Spanish colonial town of Barichara which we heard was just amazing. We are dropped off at the town square. Guane is a quaint little town with very few tourists.
After strolling down the dirt and cobblestone roads in this small town and admiring the old stone church we decide to get a quick bite to eat in a local restaurant. Cabrito (goat) is the specialty here, but we are not feeling that adventurous and ask if they have any sopa. She is perplexed by our request for a small meal of just soup but quickly returned with huge portions of some sort of chicken soup - or was it? Before we leave we ask for directions to the trail head. As we head up the road we question how wise this was to start the hike from the normal end point. We met someone yesterday who had done the hike and said it was all downhill and suggested we try it backwards from Guane if we wanted more exercise. Gluttons for punishment - here we are but the trail may be harder to locate from this end.
Eventually, after asking a few more locals, and getting the nod from this local goat - we found the old Spanish trail that connects the two towns.
It is essentially an old rocky road originally constructed in 1864. I am always perplexed by these uneven, boulder based roads - what type of car were they really made for?
What car can survive driving this type of terrain on a regular basis? Maybe that is why it is now referred to as the camino de piedra por caminar or stone road for walking.
After a couple of hours, and a bit of second guessing as to whether we are lost (the trail however was very obvious) we round a bend and boom - we are on a fairly new looking road on the outskirts of Barichara. As we head into the town the Lonely Planet guidebook describes as - a town that Hollywood filmmakers dream about - we are in awe. Every single building is picture perfect. Whitewashed as if a new coat was applied yesterday. Colorful trim and rusty red roofs compliment the stone paved roads. Even the cars look manicured.
John can't get over it - how is this possible? Who pays for this? Is it a cult? The town was renovated over 25 years ago but appears to have been done last year. I hope our house which we renovated a mere 13 years ago can hold up the same.
Barichara has a few hostals and in retrospect I wish we had chosen to stay over night in this ideal town.
But after watching the sun set from a park bench in the Central Parque and taking in the beauty of the Cathedral illuminated with green lights and what little reflection of the sun that remains, we pile into the last shuttle bus back to San Gil along with all the locals.
Luckily we bought a ticket an hcur or so earlier as the bus was standing room only and the road was a curvy mountain road. John practically had some women and children sitting in his lap - they certainly know how to FILL a bus around here. It seems there is no such thing as a full bus - as there is always room for one more, or two, with or without chickens, bags or boxes.
