POZO AZUL
It is a public natural pool formed in cuchite, 2 km from Sangil. It is one of the most known tourist sites of this town which is characterized for being surrounded by nature. Besides, the typical pot ride which is very common among Colombian people can be enjoyed there. Pozo Azul is one of the emblems of our city tour.
It attracts more and more tourists every year because while swimming in the water, you can see the majesty of nature, the trees, the birds, and breathe fresh air which will let you and your heart live to enjoy this adventure in San Gil.
It offers free admission all day, rental services of bars, music at all times, and a BBQ area.
JUAN CURI WATERFALLS
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It is located twenty kilometers from San Gil on the road to Charalá. Use either public transport (30 mins) or mountain bike (1.5 -2 hrs) to reach the start of the 20-minute trail that takes you on an enjoyable jungle path to the foot of Juan Curi. At the base of the waterfalls, there is a natural pool. So you can relax on the rocks admiring the beautiful scenery before hiking back out and returning to San Gil.
It’s also possible to practice Abseiling/Rappelling/Schnappling down a 60m section of the waterfall.
GALLINERAL PARK
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| Picture taken by Juan Jose Moreno Sinuco |
Gallineral Park is a natural reserve located in the delta formed by Curití gorge when leading its water to Fonce River, which is one of the ensigns of San Gil. Being there means feeling the stateliness of nature; it means not wanting to leave this dream in order to spend the whole day admiring the beauty and variety of plants that the park offers.
This wonderful place was opened on December 13, 1985. There is a variety of flora, its roads are made of stone, it is over the Fonce river, it also has a pool. When we entered the park, you can feel relaxed by hearing the songs of the birds.
To enter this park, there is a bridge over the gorge of Curiti. The bridge is decorated. You keep walking and come to a point where there are three ways. You can also find a large tree with some birds, and a book opened to be signed by visitors. There is also the instrument Monroy brothers and another monument, the three paths lead to the Fonce River. There is a stone in it which is called the stone of the duck; this is a typical tale from here. This park has some bridges to which people call the bridge of love; there is also a cake that if you stand in the center, you will hear an echo along this park.
PARQUE LA LIBERTAD
The main park of San Gil is called "Parque de la Libertad" with a green area, a fountain, a monument which represent guanes Indians who inhabit the park, and several pigeons in it. We can find different people selling mangos, corn on the cob, among other things.
EL SANTUARIO DE NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LA SALUD
The story is about a girl who was washing her clothes in the creek nearest to the Páramo. Then, the Virgin appeared and said: "I am the Virgin of Health and I want to have a temple up here”. This place is visited by hundreds of parishioners, there is a tradition of taking the holy water and pray asking for health.
The story is about a girl who was washing her clothes in the creek nearest to the Páramo. Then, the Virgin appeared and said: "I am the Virgin of Health and I want to have a temple up here”. This place is visited by hundreds of parishioners, there is a tradition of taking the holy water and pray asking for health.
MUNICIPALITIES
San Gil is strategically located to access any municipality like Socorro, Guane, Barichara, Pinchote, Mogotes, Charala, Curiti, el Paramo, el Valle de San Jose among others, in which you can find important touristic, sporting, and recreational places.
SOCORRO
It is a town in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia. It was founded in
1681 by José de Archila and José Díaz Sarmiento.
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| Taken from http://www.santanderencanta.com/ |
In addition to sport, three elements could describe what Socorro offers in terms of current tourism: culture and religious architecture, climate and landscape, and adventure.
As for religious tourism, Socorro has the monumental Cathedral of Nuestra Señora del Socorro, the biggest stone-carved Cathedral in Colombia and one of the largest in South America. The most interesting facts are the legends that say that under the construction passes an "arm of the sea". Additionally, there is the Convent of the Capuchinos, the first convent in Latin America. It is full of extraordinary beauty.
In terms of climate and landscape, these are two incredible and very desirable attributes. The climate is in the range of 23 ° to 26 ° which is perhaps the best in the country. It feels hot and rarely cold. Thanks to this condition, people can take walks in the morning or afternoon. Also, cool nights make people stay in streets late and have a night life, quiet, but alive.
Finally, adventure also has its place. Although San Gil takes a much higher percentage of tourists who seek extreme tourism, Socorro has been building a portfolio with 56 points of interest and within these are the Suarez river which is suitable for rafting (Canoeing), it has a higher degree of difficulty compared to the Fonce river and therefore, it is more attractive to professionals. Other plans include trekking, paragliding and caving.
How to get there:
The easiest way to reach Socorro is through the road from Bogota which has an estimated time between 5 and 6 hours, while from Bucaramanga, it takes between 2 and 3 hours. One of the strategic advantages is that from Socorro you can access within 15 minutes to San Gil, the 'ecoadventure national capital'.
Where to stay:
There are 10 hotels for all budgets that host tourists with good service. The best known is the Tamacara, but more recent constructions like Manuela Beltran and San Luis Hostal get the attention of international tourists.
Do not miss the Royal Street, the House of Culture, the Cathedral, the Convent of the Capuchinos, the Park of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá, the Capitol, and the river Suarez.
PINCHOTE
It was founded in April of 1782 by don Antonio Josa Villamil, under the name of San Antonio de Padua de Pinchote. Pinchote was created in honor of Antonio Santos Plata who participated in the comuneros revolution. Pinchote is located in Guanetá province in Colombia.
It was founded in April of 1782 by don Antonio Josa Villamil, under the name of San Antonio de Padua de Pinchote. Pinchote was created in honor of Antonio Santos Plata who participated in the comuneros revolution. Pinchote is located in Guanetá province in Colombia.
VILLANUEVA
It is a Colombian town located on the eastern mountain range in the province of Santander Department, just 30 minutes from San Gil. The journey from Bucaramanga is enchanted by the beauty of the landscape and the multiple places and tourist stops. To move to the town just take the road that leads to San Gil-Barichara and divert in a place known as El Choro.
Despite his youth, Villanueva is a thriving town with a good commercial level, industrial, agricultural and mining.
BARICHARA
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It is a municipality in Santander (Colombia), located in the province in the southern part Guanentina - East of the department of Santander, on a sloping plateau on the right bank of the river basin Sogamoso. This town was founded in 1742 by Father Joseph Martin Pradilla and Ayerbe, the first pastor, with the people he had.
Barichara is 21 miles from San Gil, 9 kilometers of Guane Bucaramanga and 118 kilometers and 445 kilometers from Bogota. In May 1965, it was named the most beautiful village in Colombia. Its people is known for their kindness, generosity, and charisma.
Barichara is 21 miles from San Gil, 9 kilometers of Guane Bucaramanga and 118 kilometers and 445 kilometers from Bogota. In May 1965, it was named the most beautiful village in Colombia. Its people is known for their kindness, generosity, and charisma.
The town is renowned for its stone buildings, it has 8,000 inhabitants, and its temperature on average is 21 degrees Celsius. It is also affectionately known as the land of the Flintstones patiamarrillos or invites the world travelers to walk its streets, enjoy its warm weather, and fall in love by the light of lanterns.
Products like chicha, millet Corojo and referenced an important part of culinary heritage. Besides corn arepas "pelao", the juice and stew typical.
CURITI
Curiti is a town in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia. One of its main attractions is the Balneario Pescaderito, which is located between the towns El Carmen and El Común. It let you enjoy family plans –paseo de ollas- that are traditional among Colombian people. Similarly, there is the Cueva del Yeso, which is located between the villages of Quebrada Seca and El Placer. This cave is ranked as the most beautiful cave of Santander, has majestic formations and galleries that captivate visitors with its beauty. It’s a completely dried cave where the visitors can observe galleries and huge towering limestone formations that create a different world underground.
Another attraction is La casa del Conde de Cuchicute that is located in the village of the same name. La Cueva de la Vaca, which is located in the direction of the village El Palmar, 5 minutes from the town, offers a great opportunity for caving in an initial vertical descent of 4 meters you can start a voyage with lots of attractions where visitors will crawl, swim and dive to enjoy one extreme adventure. La Cueva de la Vaca is ranked as the most extreme cave in Santander since because it has the best scenarios. The Indigenous Cemetery located between the villages Canaveral and el Uvo allows you to learn about the missing Guanes indigenous culture.
Curiti offers spectacular nature trails for tourists to enjoy ecotourism walks with a variety of flora and fauna and excellent climate. The Natural Park El Santuario is located in the village La Cantera, right behind the school. It was declared a Natural Park by the Resolution 012 of November 24, 1994 by the Honorable City Council which stated that cutting down trees is prohibited, the preservation of flora, fauna and other natural resources is mandatory. The park is divided into three zones separated by circular plazas without vegetation also known by the name of Parches which are inexplicably natural; also the stone mazes are admirable. El Santuario has exotic vegetation typical of the jungle, some representative animals such as picures, faras, tinajos, armadillos, iguanas, reptiles including a large variety of snakes. There are other tourist scenarios which should be included in the tourist platform such as: El Morro del Indio in Irapire, El Hoyo Frío in El Rodeo, La Piedra Gorda and La Cueva del Sapo in Macanillo, among others.
The geographical position of Curití with respect to the road that leads to Bucaramanga and Bogota, together with the offer of tourism, has made of Curití a major attraction in Santander. The village of the "MIST AND BEAUTIFUL SUNSETS" as it’s known, Curití has a large hotel infrastructure and camping areas that give excellent care and service to its customers.
Taken from vivatravelguides.com and Wikipedia
GUANE
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| Taken from: http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/651281.jpg |
CHARALA
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| Taken from: https://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/14388195.jpg |
Charalá has several attractions: Virolín Natural Park, La Cueva del Tigre, the Chalice-shaped waterfall in Tinagá Quebrada, the church of Nuestra Señora de Monguí, the House of Culture and the Archaeological Museum. The main park where there are the monuments of Jose Antonio Galan and the great Arabian Saman. A tree planted to commemorate the centenary of the Independence of Colombia, in July 20, 1910.
The Congress of the Republic of Colombia declared the municipality of Charalá as a "Historical and cultural heritage of the nation, highlighting their contribution to the liberator of Colombia" in July 12, 2013, through the Law 1644 of 2013.
EL PARAMO
The Páramo is a municipality located 16 miles from San Gil. Its main attractions are the Juan Curi Waterfalls, the Indian Cave and The Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Salud.
Its Fairs and Festivals are performed during November. It includes cultural shows, rides, gastronomic shows, contests and many more activities. The Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Salud is also a religious town visited by many parishioners.
EXTREME SPORTING PLACES
LA CUEVA DE LA ANTIGUA
This has been one of the most symbolic cave for tradition, since in the old times it was a Guanes’ native Indian cemetery. It has a wide entrance, with capability even for cars and it leads to different places that connect to other caves and from different towns like” la caverna del yeso” in Aratoca town, “ la caverna Macaregua” in Barichara town, and “ el socavon del nitro” in Zapatoca Town. This antique cave keeps itself many secrets, stories and old dwellers events; so this must be therefore one of the favorite places to be visited for settlers and tourists.
LA CAVERNA DEL ALUMBRE
Located to two kilometers from San Gil, it is situated under the Curiti Brook, and although it is small, it’s very exotic, since it’s covered by an impressive granite slab. Long time ago people used to extract alum, and today there are still signs of that extraction , but the best is that this cave forms a bridge under the water that really worths to get to know.
EL SOCAVON DEL NITRO
It is located about to 12 kilometers from San Gil in the Victor Rueda’s Farm, in the Macaregua sidewalk. It is undoubtedly another wonderful place to walk about and to know around the Santander surroundings. It has two ways that lead toward different places; one toward a rill and the other toward a wider and drier but darker place. Whatever your decision is, it will be a nice sensation during your route. However, if you decide the wet side, then you will find a great variety of nature elements such as red and soft soils, amphibian presence and Nitro, like the cave name. This is then a new adventure to live so we can tell people about.
LA CUEVA DEL INDIO
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| Taken from: http://viajandoando84.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/empezando-por-san-gil/ |
It is one of the main tourist sites of the Páramo. It has an area of approximately 890 meters below the rocks and takes 2 hours to cross it. In the cave you can enjoy activities such as dragging, lounges, passing through tunnels and ends in a jump located on the back of this beautiful place.
Taken from TuSanGil.co
LA CUEVA DE LA VACA
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| Taken from: http://jackandjilltravel.com/cueva-de-la-vaca/#.UnjorXBLPW4 |
This is considered the most extreme cave in Santander region, since it owns the best sceneries open to captivate to its visitors with its incomparable beauty.
This is a cave where the adventure lovers will be in contact with the water constantly, enjoying from the different pulls, mud slide, calcareous molding and the bio-diversity this tunnels offer; taking the visitors to experiment unforgettable moments, in 2, 4 and 10 hours routes.PARAGLIDING
Santander is a privileged land where people can practice extreme sports. Its topography, weather and landscapes are perfect for this type of activities .
For example, Curiti town is one of the best places to practice paragliding. The only thing you need is to go there to watch those perfect hills where you can be closer to the blue sky. Another wonderful place is called La Mesa Ruitoque located to 20 minutes from Bucaramanga, this is the second national place for the practice of this high flight sport.
There is not age limit for the ones who want to feel the adrenaline, since we have the most expert and certified pilots who guarantee total security to the customers. it could even be for people from six years old ahead.
RAFTING
It is the recreational outdoor activity, in which you can use an inflatable raft to navigate through the river. This activity has become popular since the middlo of the 70s. It is considered an extreme sport, however it can be dangerous. There 3 types of this sport:
- Rafting for beginners: It is performed on the Fonce river in San Gil. This river is 11 kilometers long. It lasts about two hours and it is for people beyond 5 years, but they need an authorization of an audult.
- Expert Rafting: It is practiced through Suarez River, with two high difficult levvels called Class IV and Class V. It is perfect for peopple who are looking for adventure and adrenaline. It starts from the Simacota to Suarez and Fonce rivers that tour lasts 20 kilometers and 5 hours total.
- Chicamocha river rafting (Two days and one night): It begins in the Chicamocha bridge. It takes 5 hours in class IV and V rapids. People rest the night in a village and continue next day, finishing on Suarez and Chicamocha rivers. It is for people who is beyond 15 years.
RAPPEL
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| Taken from: http://www.sipasasporsangil.com/barichara.php |
It is officially constituted as an extreme sport. It was used by many indigenous to descend cliffs, gorges and chasms, with the intent to catch up or initiate ceremonies.
After many technological advances, the Rappel is included today in the higher extreme sports lines. Besides, with the implementation of new equipment, Rappel enables better descent and a more pleasant adventure.
For the practice of this sport you need to use, a harness or English saddle, an eight or descended, a carabineer, a pair of gloves and a dynamic or static rope.
Using the right equipment and using the wealth of our mother nature, we can meet often with impressive chasms or magical waterfalls, mixing perfectly, our dreams of vertigo with absolutely unimaginable beauty.
The Rappel has two types of descent, on rock and vacuum. On rock, the adventure becomes a little more demanding, body position and angle of the slope. Vacuum as in Macadamia (although the vertigo and adrenaline accelerate) the desire to fly and venture, allows the practitioner to develop a larger number of stunts, such as the inverted, the intruder, the flip - flap, the spider and many more.
This plan takes about 2 hours and it can be done at any time in the morning or afternoon to enjoy the climate in Santander. The full itinerary includes 7 short activities to enjoy: hiking, rock climbing ( one of the best plans in Colombia), jump off the rocks into the water, abseling, rappelling, walking on a rope on pararell strings holding your balance, and crossing a Tibetan bridge.
BUNGEE JUMPING
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| Taken from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J6jm7cRVw4 |
It is an activity that involves jumping from a high structure while connected to a large elastic cord. The high structure is usually an affixed object, such as a building, a bridge or a crane; but it is also possible to jump from a movable object, such as a hot-air-balloon or helicopter or anything that has the ability to hover above the ground.
History : Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungee_jumping
The word "bungee" originates from West Country dialect of English language, meaning "Anything thick and squat", as defined by James Jennings in his book "Observations of Some of the Dialects in The West of England" published in 1825. Around 1930, the name became used for a rubber eraser. The word bungee, as used by A J Hackett, is "Kiwi slang for an Elastic Strap". Cloth-covered rubber cords with hooks on the ends have been available for decades under the generic name bungee cords.
In April 1960 BBC Television broadcast a documentary film "The Land Divers of Pentecost", made by David Attenborough, which featured the "land divers" (Sa: Naghol) of Pentecost Island in Vanuatu, young men who jumped from high wooden platforms with vines tied to their ankles as a test of their courage and passage into manhood. A similar practice, only with a much slower pace for falling, has been practiced as the Danza de los Voladores de Papantla or the 'Papantla flyers' of central Mexico, a tradition dating back to the days of the Aztecs.
Equipment: Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungee_jumping
The elastic rope first used in bungee jumping, and still used by many commercial operators, is factory-produced braided shock cord. This consists of many latex strands enclosed in a tough outer cover. The outer cover may be applied when the latex is pre-stressed, so that the cord's resistance to extension is already significant at the cord's natural length. This gives a harder, sharper bounce. The braided cover also provides significant durability benefits. Other operators, including A. J. Hackett and most southern-hemisphere operators, use unbraided cords with exposed latex strands. These give a softer, longer bounce and can be home-produced.
There may be a certain elegance in using only a simple ankle attachment, but accidents where participants became detached led many commercial operators to use a body harness, if only as a backup for an ankle attachment. Body harnesses generally derive from climbing equipment rather than parachute equipment.
SKYDRIVING
It is the technique of launching humans or objects from a height using a parachute to cushion the impact, this can be done from any aircraft like plane, helicopter or hot air balloon, or fixed objects like mountains, buildings, bridges and antennas.
All these pictures look amazing. I would love to visit these places for myself. There are a lot of great adventures in the area that I am near. I have been looking into another adventure for myself soon. I hope that I will be able to find something soon. http://www.whiterocksportsphysio.ca/en/physiotherapy.html
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