Los Caballos
San AgustÃn is a pretty forgettable town, but the surrounding countryside is amazing. Waterfalls shoot out from the quebradas and the mountain sides are littered with 2000 year old stone carvings.
We met Pacho on the finca where we were camping and he had some horses. Of course, we wanted to go for a ride. For a mere $15 per horse, he brought them to the bus and we even had him as a guide for the day.
Bode and Angela rode Mancha and my mighty steed was Princessa.
It wasn’t long into our ride that we all discovered that Bode is allergic to horses. Oops. Always prepared, Angela dosed out the allergy meds right away. It was a good thing – the kid never wanted to get off the horse the entire day. Nothing makes us happier than seeing him happy – and this was the ticket.
There is a nearby park (which we skipped) where various artifacts have been collected and assembled. Instead, we headed out to where everything is still right where it was discovered. Riding horses out to see the work where it was intended is a stellar way to spend the day. Absolutely recommended. Five stars.
Have we mentioned that we really like Colombia?
nice views, I bet you had a great day. Thanks for sharing.
Hey folks… I’ve just noticed that you have a solar panel on your van!!!
So how does it work?!?
Does it worth to be installed?
Love your stories and your ride…
good luck Well family
Matheus,
They posted a while back about the solar panel:
https://bodeswell.com/2010/03/22/finally-off/
https://bodeswell.com/2010/03/23/sayulita-part-dos/
I’m not sure if they posted about which model it is. I’d actually be interested in which one since my old bus is 6v and would like to install a 12v accessory battery. It would be nice to have it charging off of solar rather than some kooky alternator setup.
-E
I am a fellow Alamedan (are you still considered an Alamedan now??) and have been following your blog for a while.
I visited Colombia 20 years ago (friends in Bogota) and we took a trip to San Agustin – including the horseback ride to see the sites.
Great memories of a beautiful country with great people.
thanks
FYI – It’s a 50W panel that outputs ~19V (for charging a 12V battery). We have a second deep-cycle marine battery that is connected to both the panel (directly) and to the alternator (through a dual-diode isolator). The battery charges off the alternator when we are driving and off the panel when we are parked. No switches to worry about. The only thing i would do differently is beef up the panel – maybe to 100W. We run our Engel fridge continuously and sometimes we run out of juice if we are parked too long. Not much direct sunlight + high temps = quickly drained battery = stinky fridge.
Annie – funny, when we are asked where we are from we do have to pause and think about the answer. Usually, just “Estados Unidos” is sufficient. But, I think we can claim Alameda as long as we like. Here, it means “grove”, so being from Alameda just makes us “from the grove.” I kinda like that answer.
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