The Pillars of The Beach

 A fun fact to begin the post. 

Though La Playa is considered a town with colonial architecture, it was founded after Colombia’s independence.

I woke up excited in the morning for a full day of exploration in La Playa. The place where I stayed was a farm. I spent some time in the morning exploring the farm. They had flowers, fruits such as orange, granadilla and also corn. I noticed that from the farm, the church was visible in the distance. I thought it was going to be too far, but no. It was not as far as I thought. 

The hotel also had viewpoints over the Estoraques, which is a sight to behold in the morning sun.

Breakfast

This post is going to be a continuation of the previous one - The small beach of the mighty Andes. If you have not read it, I recommend that you read it before proceeding to this one.

The ladies in the hotel offered a delicious Arepa Ocañera for breakfast with some coffee. I was told that there was a viewpoint on a little hill near the center which also housed the city’s cemetery. I was eager to also visit Los Estoraques, though I was not sure if I could manage the hike in the sun. It can get really sunny in this part of Colombia during the day. 

The first mirador

First was the hike to the cemetery for the mirador. I looked for directions, however it was not hard to locate. There was a neatly laid path uphill and in about 15 minutes I was on the top. Well, though I keep thinking that I am not in the best of shape, it is quite possible that I am almost. From the top, the geological formations unique to this region, Los Estoraques, were visible. It was uniquely beautiful and these rock formations are natural. The town appeared as if it was caught in a time wrap. 

In front of me lay one of the smallest heritage towns of Colombia, 3 main streets, red tiled houses, in a sea of white washed walls, golden domes of the church. This has to be one of the mesmerizing sights ever.

I was glad I could make it this far. I stayed on top of the hill for sometime and then went down thinking of the next plan. I walked around the town a bit and I saw the Información Turística office was open. I enquired about the Estoraques park and it was not far or hard after all.

I want to make a special mention about Paseo De Las Colonias street, which according to me has to be one of the, if not the most beautiful street in Colombia.

Los Estoraques

It was about 5 minutes away from the center driving and the park was open for the day. I was also offered a guided tour there however, I felt that asking for a guided tour just for me may not be fair and I really wanted to explore the place on my own.

Officially this park is called “Area Natural Unica” or ANU due to its unique geological formation and history.

Following the markers I climbed higher and higher in the hot sun. There were not a lot of people in the climb. I met a family of 4 on the way but that was it. About an hour later, I was at the highest point in the hike. This place looked surreal. The estoraques looked like ruined temples on one side, pillars to the sky on the other side, poles that have stood forever from another side.

These ecological structures of brownstone have stood for thousands and years and have been formed over years of gradual erosion. While it was sunny, thankfully there was also a good amount of wind which made the day bearable at this time. My suggestion would be to use a good amount of sunscreen, ofcourse carry a lot of water, use coolers and hats.

I also met with a group of kids from UIS (Universidad Industrial de Santander) and they were impressed to meet someone from India at this remote place in Colombia. Fans, everywhere should I say?

Pine forest

After spending over 2 hours in this park, I wanted to visit the pine forest nearby. This place also offered an excellent mirador or viewpoint of the town. Unlike the Estoraques park, the pine forest was crowded and people had gathered in groups for lunch, photos, and sightseeing. 

This place was shady and cool compared to the estoraques. I was here for about half an hour admiring the beauty of the town and the estoraques from far. Then it was time for lunch. Like I mentioned in my previous post, this town does not have a lot of restaurants and thus the food options were limited.

Lunch and rest of the day

I came back to the center and found one restaurant and had a decent lunch. I stayed in the center in the cool shades of the principal park a bit, watching the day go by and trying to capture video footage as much as I could.

Then once again I walked around the town capturing as many pictures as I could. In the evening, I went back to the hotel for some time to rest after a long day, planning to return to the town for dinner and some more walks. I wanted to make the most of my stay here as the next day, I had to continue the journey to another place.

I thought that the night visit would be uneventful, which turned out not to be. An interesting encounter with the police, Venezuelan cars and motor bikes in La Playa?