In San Gil and Barichara

San Gil is a small village generally famous for 2 things: People like extreme sports and eat ants (horniga culona = big ass ant).
We decided to stick to the first and left the poor ants alone.
As I don't like too much flying (paragliding) and since Elena does not like dark places (caving) we opted for rafting.
It was absolutely brilliant. For 10 pounds we spent the whole morning coming down a class 3 river (Rio Fuente)

You can tell immidiately from the picture that Elena enjoyed herself very much.
From my part the thing I liked the most was actually the nature surrounding us.
The river cuts accross beautiful natural forests.
It is amazing the number of butterflies you can spot. There are flocks of
them in all colors (white, yellow, orange, blu).
It  is since the end of the seventies that I don't remember seeing so many butterflies in one place....I guess this is the price of using pesticides....
Talking of the seventies my father would be pleased to see that the good old Renault 12 (our old car back then) is still very much popular over here 40 years later.
Daddy, if you fancy buying a new one, you know where to go now!

Another big attraction in the area is the parque gallineral.
If you are a fan of the "Lord of the rings" you can find hereTreebeard and all the other Ents....

20 km from San Gil there is a small village called Barichara.
What can I say about Barichara? Well, If San Gil is still stuck in the seventies, Barichara has never moved on since 1800.
We were pretty much the only humans walking in town when we went.
Apparently shops open only on Thursday and Friday from 4pm to 6 pm.
Unfortunately we went on Tuesday lunch time and by 2pm the tour was definetly over.

The main square

Traffic jam at rush hour in Barichara

Jokes apart we really enjoyed our 5 days in the Santander region.
People are ALL really friendly and helpful. They address you with expressions such as "si senor" "con mucho gusto" and "al su servicio" even if you are simply asking some information in the street.
The area is naturally beautiful and the cost of living is sooo cheap.
We had breakfast for 2 at the local panaderia for £2 (and I am talking about coffee, eggs, cake, pastries all freshly baked) and dinner for 2 in the main restaurant (Santa Culona = holy big ass) for £10

Finally we would like to mention our host "signora Esperanza" at the "posada Familiar" in carrera 10.
She was to say the least esquisite, always looking after us and going the extra mile to help, washing our clothes, suggesting places to see and organising activities.
No need to mention that the room was always immaculate!