Day 9. Saturday, 7th September. From San Vicente de Chucuri to Barichara.

San Vicente de Chucuri to Zapatoca 38kms

It did rain a little early on in the night, but we slept well and, more importantly, the tent was dry inside. Up at about 07.00, I enjoyed my porridge sitting on a bench with a view over the valley and surrounding mountains.

We set off at 10.00, stopping to ask how long the journey to Barichara would take us. Three separate answers. It’s a family business, the campsite and a few cabins. The mother said 3 hours. The daughter 6 and the son, who was really in charge of the campsite, said 7 hours. This is for a distance of 114kms. 

In view of these predictions, we anticipated the worst in terms of road conditions. It was 38kms to the next township, Zapatoca. Looking at the route on the iOverlander App, it was obviously going to be torturous. It was.  A very rough, narrow track, sometimes full of puddles and mud. Up and down around several mountains. It took us over 2 hours. 

The views were spectacular. There were flowering trees. Some bright orange, others pink and flowers everywhere.

The flora is really rich. It is apparently a high quality cacao growing area and we passed trees covered in pods. There were also some smaller areas of coffee growing. There are citrus fruits, some type of orange or mandarin growing wild. Also limes and bananas.

A cuppa in Fuente

We continued to the next township of Fuente, about 60kms into our journey. By now it was 13.30 so we stopped in the village square, under some shady trees, for a cuppa. If this had been Africa, we would have been surrounded by the inhabitants asking for money. Here no one took a blind bit of notice.

I was sipping my tea in the back of Poki, while Dennis was in the front trying to post his blog. The WiFi last night and early this morning had been lousy. When I looked up, what should I see coming towards me across the square, at quite a rate of knots, but a tortoise. One has to get used to the unexpected.

He’s just like Poki, carrying his house..:)

Interestingly, the road displayed on our Reise Know-How map between San Vicente de Chucuri and Zapoteca is shown as a white “C” road. Beyond this it is shown as just a track. However, the first part was by far the worst. Some of the latter part was tarmac for a short distance, some had also been graded. It is difficult to predict what conditions you’re going to face.

Barichara

We arrived in Barichara at around 16.30, so around 6 hours driving, as we had stopped for half an hour for a tea break. Driving into the town, we looked for a supermarket, as food supplies were dwindling. The selection on offer was dismal. I bought a few things, then went in search of another shop. Slightly more successfully this time.

The campsite is highly recommended by Overlanders. Its owned by a Dutch couple Joep and Julie who have lived here for 15 years. There are several other vehicles here. French, German and Colombian couples and also another Brit on a 125cc motorcycle. It is certainly the most organised and well equipped place we have come across.

The camp is a few kilometres outside of the town. There is a path over the mountain into town, we will walk it tomorrow and go and explore Barichara. It is meant to be one of the prettiest towns in Colombia

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