A Day Trip to Parque Natural Chicaque

-
Mid-semester, my friends and colleagues, Ben and Doug, decided we needed a break from the city. Ben did a little research and found a day trip to Parque Natural Chicaque, a cloud forest 30 minutes to the southwest of Bogota. Of course, it took us almost an hour to get to the outskirts of our sprawling city, but who's counting?

We made it to the park around 1:30pm and stopped for lunch at a nice restaurant just inside the park entrance. The log cabin-like structure fit Ben just perfectly! Once we were rejuvenated, we wandered inside the park. Our jaws immediately dropped. None of had any idea of what to expect and needless to say, our expectations were blown out of the water. In fact, we looked at each other and wondered why we didn't leave much earlier in the day to take advantage of the park!?

The entrance to the park starts with a lookout point and a trail that descends down the mountain into the park where more trails intersect, camping spots are located, and opportunities exist for horseback riding, zip-lining, birdwatching, and more. As none of us had mentally prepared for a long hike, we were content to mosey down the path a ways and simply enjoy the views. Interestingly, there was a group of students from Los Andes on a weekend geocache/adventure race weekend, and Ben spotted one of his former students. Small world :)

Here are few photos of the park. We hope to return soon, and I'm sure you can understand why.

Gorgeous views. 


Doug, me, and Ben.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Afternoon in La Calera

-
Image
One weekend, my friend Corrie asked if I wanted to wander outside of Bogotá for an afternoon. The answer was a resounding YES and we found a bus headed to La Calera for about $1.50. It only took 45 minutes and the drive took us up and above Bogotá, so we had some really picturesque views. The fun, winding roads reminded me of moped-ing in Bali...guess I need a moped now :) Once we arrived in La Calera, a very small town, we wandered through the streets to the main plaza. Since it was a lazy Sunday, there were also many lazy locals taking advantage of the calm. We all lounged in park benches in the plaza and watched the kids play with a ball in the middle. It fairly oozed small town vibe. Corrie, smart gal that she is, picked La Calera for one main reason: the food. We found our way to some food stalls and ordered some picada (I wrote about this dish before from Montserrate ). Even though the idea was the same, it was a slightly different variety. For example, less intestines and m...
Read more

A New Life in Bogota

-
Image
Here we are: my first week in Bogota! It all began with the flight, an easy, 5-hour direct flight from Atlanta. I even had a special guest to keep me company, a bobble head Rosie the Riveter! It was a going-away gift from my friend Sara, who told me it will remind me that YES, I can do it! I love it! I wonder where we will go together.... Now this is where it gets (more) interesting: At Georgia Tech, I had a student from Bogota (Natalia) who initially wanted me to stay with her family when I arrived. I thought that would be a bit much, so I turned it down. However, I did accept a ride from the airport because the plane would be arriving at 10:30pm. It was pretty funny to have Natalia’s mother, father, and older brother waiting for me with a sign that said “Kathleen!” I immediately realized how kind and generous they were, so I was not actually surprised when they just took me home with them. They were pretty much like “No, we’re your family now so you’re staying wi...
Read more

Museums of Shanghai

-
Image
I needed out at some of the museums of Shanghai, so let me give you a little taste of what I learned! The Shanghai Museum was my first stop, and it was phenomenal. First, it was free! Good job, China! Second, it had artifacts from thousands of years of Chinese history. As an American, that's hard to fathom. Imagine walking through galleries full of bronze, sculpture, ancient coins, and calligraphy scrolls. Some of my favorite things included traditional Chinese paintings, which were often scenic views of famous places in China, exquisite jade molded in shapes that ranged from name prints to elaborate dragons, and the ceramics, which included beautiful vases and tea and China sets (go figure). Another cool room was filled with ethnic minority costumes from the past. I thought it was really great that China chose to honor all of the minority groups in this way, especially since China is not well known for treating them equally (ahem, Tibet). I spent about 2 hours here, and I could ...
Read more