San Gil is known as the adventure capital of Colombia, because here you can go paragliding, mountain biking, etc. It is located in the state of Santander, near Venezuela.

Attacked by bed bugs

I spent my first night in the Bacaregua Hostel. I was just planning my next day, when once again the insects attacked me. Bedbugs! And a lot of them! They had made themselves comfortable in the wooden bed and were now hungry: for me! I was the only one in the 6-bed room. The reception was already closed and the responsible persons at home. I spent the night in the inner courtyard in the hammock and the next morning I complained and got my money back.

I moved to the next hostel - luckily without bed bugs. Again I was the only one in the room. In the time before Christmas not many tourists are travelling in Colombia.

A charming colonial village and a colossal canyon

From San Gil I went for a day trip by bus to Barrichara, a small and charming colonial village. There a panoramic hike leads to another small village called Guane. You walk a 9km long path on cobblestones, which was restored by a German in the 19th century.

The next day I made an excursion to Chicamocha Canyon, which has a maximum depth of 2000 meters and is over 200 kilometers long. The bus driver drove there so fast and went through every sharp turn of the pass roads so fast that a boy in front of me threw up.

With one of the longest cable cars I went directly over the canyon, where I met a amazing family from Bucaramanga, who invited me at the top for 2 beers! Super nice! The son was a doctor of astrophysics and knew even more metal bands from Germany than I did. Unbelievable!

My last day in San Gil I spent in natural pools, which were too cold for me to take a bath in.

One day before Christmas I took the bus to Villa de Leyva, which is located a bit north of Bogotá and that's where I was spending Christmas.