
Excursion: Tierradentro
Tierradentro, so called by the Spaniards as it was the land inside, has lots of underground tombs by the same culture as in San Agustín, or at least there are a lots of similarities.
The Páez, so called by the Spaniards, as they misinterpreted the call (according to an indigenous they where calling: “the Páez are coming, the Páez are coming.” When the Spaniards where arriving. Which simply means: The pest is coming, the pest is coming.), are still living in this region and are the descendants of those people, even though the lonely planet tells something else (like so often this book tells the untruth). They built these tombs in form of villages and there are a lot more not yet discovered. The stone figures represent the person who died, as they believed that stone is the only eternal material and were aiming to become like this eternal after their death, when their spirit went over into the stone figure. Unlike the museum tells you, they did not visit the tombs often and only the main shaman was allowed to do so, but did it in very few occasions. Also only the shaman was allowed to hike to the lagoon in the mountains, where he found a lot of healing herbs. The living in fact were living in other, lower parts of the region, where they cultivated plants, held some animals and were fishing. San Andrés de Pisimbalá at that time had a different name than the one given by the Catholic Spaniards. Translated it means the place of fertility of fish, as there were lots of fish in the river. This information is freely out of my memory and has its source in the knowlegde of a young enthusiastic Indigenous, who is working at the park of Tierradentro and with whom I was talking for almost more than two hours.
The Park
To see all the sights discovered by the archeologists you need two full days. But you can also do it in one day, as there is a lot of repetition (do you really need to see all of them?)
At the entrance there are two small museums, that have some objects to look at. The archeological museum is only one room and shows some potery, statues and sketches of the tombs. The ethnographical museum shows some daily objects of the Paez and tries to explain their daily life since the Conquista.
The most significant sight is Alto de Segovia, which is also the closest to the museums and can be reached within 20mins. El Duende (another 20mins) shows tombs as well whereas El Tablon shows statues. Alto de Aguacate and Alto de San Andrés have some more tombs and the hike has some great views, but takes longer and is best done on a separate day. The Entrance fee for the park is like in San Agustin as well 25’000 Col$ (8.25 Us$) and the ticket is valid for two consecutive days.
Accomodation
There are not many options of accommodation in Tierradentro, but the Hospedaje Tierradentro is the best of the few. It also has fresh fruit juices. The only restaurant is in the Hospedaje Pisimbalá. They have a daily menu at 7pm, which they can make vegetarian, which means without meat. But the so called salad nevertheless included sausages and was everything else than vegan. The rice was made with butter, so the only thing left on the plate was the spaghettis and the fries, which might have had eggs, or where fried in lard, who knows… Or to say it in a short way, bring enough food with you.
Back to Popayán
There are buses at 8am, 1pm and 4pm. The ride takes approximately 4 to 5 hours and costs 20’000 Col$ (6.60 Us$). You need to walk to the crossing which is at 2kms distance from Tierradentro (20min walk).
