EL COCUY

The Sierra Nevadas of El Cocuy National Park from Laguna Grande de la Sierra

From Villa de Leyva we planned a night trip to the small town of El Cocuy. The first part was a small bus ride to Tunja, the capital of Boyaca province. Once there we found that our planned Libertadores bus was delayed and would not leave until 11:30 pm. We booked the second rate Gacel bus at 9:30 pm. With time to kill we walked up, steeply up, to the main plaza of Tunja. People were busily shopping and eating all around the plaza. We walked on a pedestrianized street past a shop offering pork. As a display there was half of a hollowed out pig absolutely stuffed with cooked shredded pork. We had samples which were not bad. A heaping bowl was 4000 pesos (2 bucks). We passed on this and instead went to Trigo bakery and had delicious lattes and chocolate cake. Back at the station we boarded our worn bus and headed into the darkness. The music was blasting and we were alternately in the dark or the bus was fully illuminated. The driver and bus boy were just having a great time joking and playing around; screaming out the door and blasting the horn as they ripped through little villages. We talked to another passenger, a female college student, who was going to El Cocuy. She is going on a student exchange to Germany for six months. Boy what a culture shock she’s in for. Eight and a half hours later at 4:30 am after the swerve-y-ist ride ever we were dropped in the chill air at a shop in El Cocuy. The driver was wrestling with the guy behind the counter and cracking jokes. He bought us coffee and was on his way. We trudged to a hotel, La Posada del Molino, which is a two hundred year old house were one of the town founders lived. We pushed open the ancient heavy wooden front door and the place was completely unattended. We walked around and Sheri pushed open a door to a room. It had a bed where we collapsed and slept for four hours. 

Men on the street in El Cocuy

Street in El Cocuy

Square next to our hotel. In the evening a man was teaching his chickens to fight.

Local bus at the plaza in El Cocuy

Garden at La Pasada del Molino during the evening.

The upstairs part or our two level room.

Next day the friendly manager, Juan, showed up and lined us out for trekking in the mountains of El Cocuy National Park. We walked around the town. All the buildings uniformly are whitewashed white and have light green wainscot and trim. The men all wear a panama, pork pie, or cowboy hat and a heavy wool poncho called a ruana.

Putting our order in for dinner. Chicken, rice, potato, plantain and salad.

Graveyard at El Cocuy

We started our trip to the mountains at 6:00 am in the town square where we caught the lechero (milkman’s) truck. It’s a small cattle truck with a couple of barrels tied on inside. There were some sacks of feed and fertilizer and a few Colombians in the back. We hopped on and the truck started grinding up the foot hills to the mountains. At points on the road the truck stopped and picked up cans and jugs of fresh milk from the morning milking. Handsome men in their ruanas and women wearing baseball hats and rubber boots met the truck, sometimes on horseback, and it was quite a social scene.  After an hour and a half we were dropped off at a curve in the road. There was a Germany fellow on the truck and he was excited at the prospect of drinking raw milk and filled a bottle and somehow Curtis got swept up with this idea and drank about a pint of milk which he paid for dearly later.

Lechero (milkman) starting at 6:00 am at the main plaza.

Some of our fellow passengers on the milk truck

Pouring milk into a barrel.

Farmers bringing milk to the lechero.

Bringing milk to the road on a beautiful white horse.

We walked about two hours into the national park and stayed at Sisuma Cabana which is a masonry lodge located at about 3950 meters (13,000 feet) altitude. The friendly guide and cabana caretaker, Juan, met us and put some lunch together for us. We trudged up to a pass (Cusiri) at about 4410 meters (14,500 feet) and returned in hail and drizzle. The milk in Curtis’s stomach kicked in and he had to lie down all the next day.

Sisums Cabana at 3950 meters (13,000 feet).

Guard Station at El Cocuy National Park. They gave us some fresh cooked arepas.

Walking into Sisuma Cabana.

Juan and Sheri at Sisuma Cabana

An incredible calico clad Russian woman who was camping in the rain.

After that we spent a day hiking to the snow line on a mountain called Pan de Azucar (Sugarloaf). Starting by climbing a terminal moraine then a second and third to a point above tree line, then through a steep boulder field to a sloped granite shoulder that had been ground smooth by glaciers. Walking up this slope the air was thin and some people were on their last legs while others trotted along blabbing on their cell phone. We arrived at snow line at about 4850 meters (16,000 feet) in good order. Returning we walked about halfway back and diverted to a chain of three glacial lakes (Lagunillas del Campanillas). The middle one was pure azul and had white granite sand beaches. Sheri opted for a swim in the frigid water. As we approached Sisuma Cabana Sheri realized her jacket had fallen off her day pack. With tired legs, after walking at altitude all day, we turned around and climbed back up a moraine. Fortunately we only had to backtrack a half hour or so and found her coat.

Colombian hikers wiped out by the elevation and exertion.

Approach to Pan de Azucar. The flat topped rock is called Pulpito del Diablo (Devil's Pulpit).

Pan de Azucar at 5250 meters (17,200 feet). Tropical glaciers are receding at a rapid pace. This will be gone in a few decades

Sheri taking a break.

A group of strong and happy Colombian trekkers.

We made it! Snowfield at 6 degrees north latitude.

Trekkers enjoying the mountains.

Looking down the solid granite slope below snowline.

Rock art in the Mountains

Hearty plants on the beach of the lake - Lagunillas del Campanillas .

Sheri at Lagunillas del Campanillas

Lagunillas del Campanillas

Lagunillas del Campanillas

Next day we struck out in the dark at 5:30 am for a two hour walk to the road and another lechero truck. The sky was clear and the sparkly frost reflected in our headlamps. The truck took about an hour and we arrived at Hacienda La Esperanza in another section of El Cocuy National Park. The Hacienda is a hundred year old house which, depending on point of view, is either full of character or falling apart. There are all types of antiques hanging around, along with sacks of wool and potatoes. Anything modern, like a propane tank, was warped in burlap as camouflage. A young man, Sebastian, greeted us and made eggs for us and we were introduced to the owner, Marco, who knew three English words; “Oh My God”; which he would blurt out at the appropriate moment. He is running about 90 Romney sheep, which Curtis knew the breed was from New Zealand which gave him some agro cred. There was another couple there; Jared from Boston who was speaking good Spanish and his friend, Andrea, who is a Colombian ex-pat living in Dallas who was returning to visit. We spent the afternoon and evening with them and they are good folks. In the evening Sebastian served a group meal in an indoor/outdoor dining area and started a fire in the fireplace which was welcome in the evening chill.

Hacienda La Esperanza

Hacienda La Esperanza

View out the front door of the Hacienda.

Momma cat and her kittens in an armoire.

Taking a break on the porch of Hacienda La Esperanza.

Andrea, Jared, and their new friend.

Hacienda La Esperanza is more than meets the eye. It’s a farm at the end of a road at 13,000 feet that provides access to El Cocuy National Park. Marco’s grandfather built the place and for ten years in the 80’s the area was controlled by ELN gorillas and no one came but Marco stayed on and ran the farm. The green pastures are well watered from glacier fed rivers. The farm is a gathering place for local cowboys to sit on the steps of the porch and drink beer on a Sunday afternoon. People from all over the world come and stay here, including the US ambassador to Colombia. A van arrived out front which had a crew from the BBC who were making a two year documentary about Condors. And of course every day at 8:00 AM the lechero arrives to pick up fresh milk.

Curtis and Marco

Locals having a chat at a store near the Hacienda.

Little girl was riding her bike on the only flat spot around next to the church

From the Hacienda we trudged up a steep hill to Laguna Grande de la Sierra at about 15,000 feet. The series of lakes is set in a cirque with ground granite ledges and surrounded by snowcapped peaks.

Frailejon plant in the wet Paramo environment

Sheri grinding it out.

Sheri at Laguna Grande de la Sierra.

El Concavo at 5200 meters (17,000 feet).

Sheri at Laguna Grande, with Pan de Azucar.

Photos from 1938 show the glaciers coming down to the lake and the lake full of ice bergs.

Moving on from the Hacienda we rode with another lechero for about 3 hours down to Guican, a village at the foot of the Sierra. We killed time and caught a bus to El Cocuy where we were to catch a bus at 10:00 PM but it was booked so we spent one more night in El Cocuy at Casa Vieja which was a bit of a dump but cheap, 10,000 pesos per person ($5.00).

City Hall in Guican

Sheri and Curtis in Parque Nacional El Cocuy