An Adventure in La Macarena

If you are looking for an adventure, but you're not quite up to climbing to the top of Mount Everest, allow me to recommend Cano Cristales in La Macarena, Colombia.

I never do this.  But, I recently visited Cano Cristales in La Macarena, and it was such a fantastic place and such a wonderful visit that I am doing what I've never done before:  I'm suggesting a place for your vacation.  And no one is paying me a dime for this recommedation.

My fiance is from Colombia, and she took me to visit her country of origen.  We stayed in Bogota, which is, in it's own right, an amazing city worth visiting.  But, for three days and two nights, we visited La Macarena and toured the national park there.

We arrived by plane from Bogata, about an hour flight.  When we got out of the plane, the first thing we saw was a big, twin-engined cargo plane sitting on the grass next to the runway, with a zorra parked under the wing in the shade.  A zorra is a horse-drawn cart - and this one was complete with horse.  It wasn't there for tourist effect, it was there because it was actually used to carry the cargo to and from the plane.

The airport terminal was open-air - a building with a corrugated tin roof and almost no walls.  On the street outside, we met our guide, a professional young man named William.  William walked us down the main street of La Macarena for about two blocks, then turned a corner and another block later we were at our hotel.  There are fourteen hotels in La Macarena, but William assured us this hotel was the best.

In this area, the streets of La Macarena were wide and paved.  In fact, they were boulevards, with grassy medians and tall trees down the middle.  However, it didn't seem to matter which side of the median you drove on.  People just seemed to select whichever side suited them best at the moment.  But, that wasn't a big problem, because in three days in La Macarena, I saw two, maybe three, cars.  Lots of motorcycles.  Not a few riders on horseback.  Lots of pedestrians.  Some commercial trucks delivering to the various stores, but almost no cars.

And, the stores do not seem to have doors.  Each of them was open-fronted, with a garage door that they could pull down to close the store in the evening.  People and goods of all kinds spilled out of the stores onto the sidewalks everywhere, so that most people just walked in the streets.

Our hotel was beautiful and charming - sparkling white tile floors, pristine white walls, lots of dark wood trim everywhere.  Our room was small, but clean and just as charming, with the additional touch of a window unit air conditioner and a cable television.

As soon as we had a chance to change, our guide met us in the street and we headed off for Cano Cristales.  He led us down the street, across the town square - a grassy square bordered and criss-crossed by sidewalks complete with horses freely ranging around, mowing the grass the way that horses mow grass.  Then we reached a gravel street on the far side of the square, which lead quickly down to the wide, muddy river, past the local gymnasium, equipped with every sort of work-out machines you can imagine.  You can join the gym in La Macarena!

At the river, we donned life jackets and boarded a somewhat unsteady canoe carved from a single, hollowed out log.  When we were all settled, the canoe driver started the motor boat engine and we headed up-river.  Along the banks of the river as we sped by was jungle.  Real, honest-to-goodness, like-you-see-in-the-movies jungle.  We passed turkeys roosting in the trees, and two different types of monkees scampering about in the branches, some holding their tiny babies as they lept from branch to branch.  On the trip we saw other birds, a ring-tailed lemur, iguanas, lizards, and an indescribable variety of plants and flowers.

About twenty minutes up the river, the canoe pulled up to the bank and we got off.  A short climb up the bank led us to a waiting pick-up truck and driver.  We all piled in and set off across the plains (Los Llanos) for another twenty minutes or so.  We traveled on a road in name only.  In some places it was a road only in the sense that it was connected to other areas without vegetation.  But, the views were majestic.  Los Llanos are on the eastern side of the Andes, so they form part of the plain that ultimately leads to the Amazon.  Much of it has been cleared for cattle over time, but a lot of it is still jungle.  The view of the low rolling hills, with the jungle in strips and patches, was magnificent.

We reached a tin-roofed shed and dismounted.  From here we would go on foot.  A walk down the hill brought us to the most beautiful stream I can imagine.  Crystal-clear water flowing over flat rocks, and growing in patches from the rocks - vividly colored algae.  Reds and greens and yellows, from which the cano - a creek or a stream - derives it's nickname - the River of Five Colors.  I thought, "This is magnificent.  Well worth the trip."  It turns out it was only the beginning.

Three days of trekking across the plains and through the jungle (we returned to our hotel and a fabulous dinner each night), criss-crossing the canos back and forth and following narrow trails through the jungle and a over steep, volcanic rock escarpments, viewing some of the most incredible scenery imaginable.  It turns out that first little stream we crossed, which I thought was so amazingly beautiful, was small compared to the rest of what we saw.  Beautiful waterfalls, fantastic colors, deep swimming holes - in which we swam, by the way, but no sunscreen!  They are very ecologically sensitive and no perfume, deodorant, or sunscreen is permitted if you swim in the waters of Cano Cristales.  This trip is definitely eco-tourism.

And, the second night, the village of La Macarena held a party for all the tourists.  After showering and changing at our hotel after a day of hiking, William led us to an outdoor stage, complete with band, and a wonderful dinner prepared and served by the people of the the town.  During the middle of the party, it started raining, so everyone, the band included, just moved under a nearby roof and continued.  There was wonderful music, and lots of dancing.  I danced the "joropo!"  (Forgive my spelling if I got that wrong.)  I am probably one of the few Americans who has danced the traditional dance of Los Llaneros, in Los Llanos.

When we were about to leave, the owner of the hotel asked me to tell everyone in America that it was safe to come to La Macarena, Colombia.  They are very afraid that foreigners will not feel safe visiting in that part of Colombia and they are working very hard to change that perception.

I will tell you, not only did I feel perfectly safe every moment of the trip, I had a great time.  And, more than once, I thought, "This is not Disneyworld.  This is a real adventure."  Okay, it isn't climbing Mount Everest.  We had a seven-year-old in our group and I saw an old man with a cane sitting next to one of the canos.  But, it is real, it is beautiful, and it is worth every penny and every moment it takes to get there.