Suesca Biking Adventures: Our Day Trips Through the Colombian Countryside

While staying in Suesca, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to volunteer in a beautiful bed and breakfast called Casa Andina. In exchange for a few hours of work each day (sweeping and mopping the floor, preparing rooms for guests, answering the phone), we were given a comfortable bed, use of the kitchen, and discounted bike rental. Unfortunately, I was sick for the first few days of our stay, so when I was feeling better, it was a wonderful feeling to hop on a bike and feel the wind blowing against my face as we pedaled through the beautiful Colombian countryside. To finish out our last 3 days in Suesca with a bang, we decided to devote them to biking to small attractions around the pueblo. Here's how it went.

Lake Guatavita

Starting Place: Casa Andina

Ending Place: National Park of Lake Guatavita

Roundtrip Length of Trip: 42 km

Route:

We found this place pretty much by accident. The original idea was to head about 21 km south to Guatavita and see what kind of water sports we could do in the Embalse Tomine, a huge body of freshwater right next to the town. On the way, we saw some signs for "Lake Guatativa, the sacred lake," and were intrigued; we decided to change our route. The first 13 km were smooth sailing, but the last 8 km were STRAIGHT uphill. Needless to say, we took the liberty of walking our bikes quite a bit. This turned out to be a great idea, because we met several friendly farm animals along the way including Copito the lamb, a trio of curious horses, and a sweet cow calf that tried to nurse from my hand.

It turns out that Lake Guatavita is at the center of a legend we learned about at the Museo de Oro (Gold Museum) in Bogota. As the story goes, the Muisca people held their chief induction ceremonies at the center of the lake. During the ceremony, the newly appointed leader would cover himself in gold dust and jump into the lake. Precious gold treasures were then thrown in after him, as gifts to the gods. When the Spanish arrived in Colombia and heard about this legend of "El Dorado," they attempted to drain the la

ke to find the gold. Nothing was ever found. Today, visitors can only see the lake by entering the Natural Park of Lake Guatavita (17.000 COP, about $6 US) and taking a short 1 km uphill hike to see it from above. It is not permitted to swim or enter the lake by any means.

The view on the opposite side of the lake is as beautiful as the lake itself.

Minas de Sal de Nemocón

Starting Place: Casa Andina

Ending Place: Nemocon Salt Mine

Roundtrip Length of Trip: 30 km

Route: We took the blue route to get there, and the gray one to get back

During our trip to Lake Guatavita we saw signs for the "Nemocon Salt Mine" and decided to return to check it out. Like the trip to the lake, the first 10 km were easy, but the last 5 were STEEP. We left relatively late in the day, so no stopping to play with farm animals on this trip.

We arrived at the mine around 3:30pm, with just enough time to catch the last tour at 4.

Salt crystals grew on the walls of the cave in impressive quantities. We learned that the movie "The 33," about a group of Chilean miners who were trapped inside a collapsed mine for 69 days, was filmed here. We toured the set and saw the props they used as well as biographies of the actual men who survived the disaster. The most incredible part of the tour was at the end, when we came to the natural mirrors. The pools and light are arranged in such a way that the ceiling is perfectly reflected upon the surface of the water. It is an impressive optical illusion; unless the water is the disturbed, it looks like you could literally walk around and explore the walls reflected back to you. I put my hand in the water a few times to remind myself that the illusion wasn't real.

We left right after the tour, at 5pm, anxious to get back before dark, as neither of us had brought our headlamps. I stopped for one last picture at the top of the hill and then we raced down in record time, sure we would beat the sun home.

It wasn't even a good picture!

As we passed a group of grazing cows it dawned on me: I had taken off my fanny pack for the picture, and it wasn't on me. "Tomek, tell me you have my fanny pack!" I pleaded. "I don't," he replied, and we screeched to a halt. The pack had my wallet and passport. And we had just descended 5 km down some of the steepest hills I had ever seen. No way we were riding back up, at least not before the sun went down. Our first idea was to hitchhike. Only motorcycles with 2 or 3 people passed. Finally, after about 10 minutes, the local bus appeared, and we flagged him down. Tomasz convinced the driver to allow him to take his bike onboard, so he could stop at the spot, grab the pack, and race back down the hill. There was only room for once bike, so I was to wait by the side of the road. Filled with anxiety (if someone found the pack before Tomasz, I was totally screwed) and with the chill and darkness of a Suesca night approaching, I sat facing the cows and waited.

Someone once told me the grass is much greener... on the other side.

Just 15 minutes later, Tomasz appeared in the last few moments of daylight with my pack in hand. My hero!

Crisis averted, we now faced the challenge of riding bikes on a gravel road filled with potholes, at night, with no light source. It wasn't easy, and our butts were quite sore afterwards, but we finally made our way safely back to Suesca. We celebrated with beer, potato empanadas, fresh bread and ice cream. We ended the night by watching "The 33," which actually turned out to be pretty good.

Embalse del Sisga

Starting Place: Casa Andina

Ending Place: Restaurante Sisga

Roundtrip Length of Trip: 34 km

Route:

With this trip, we were again chasing our desire to do some water sports. We saw on the map that this reservoir was close, looked up some pictures of the place, saw people kayaking and swimming, and were convinced. We set out on the route, which followed a highway, in hopes that the wide shoulder would keep us safe from the semis racing past us.

About a third of the way there, I was ready to give up. We were breathing noxious fumes from the motorcycles and trucks constantly whizzing past us, the road was hillier than I thought a highway was allowed to be, and even when the road appeared to be going downhill, we were somehow still cycling uphill. We decided we would try to catch a bus to get there instead. After 10 buses passed by us without a second thought, we realized they didn't want to deal with our bikes. Thus, our first Colombian hitching adventure came about.

It was easy enough. There were tons of large empty trucks for transporting animals going by, and there was a gas station right behind the bus stop. Tomasz only had to ask 2 people to secure us a ride. Jorge, our gracious driver, helped us tie our bikes to the back of the truck, and we were on our way. He told us about how he had been transporting bulls in his truck for the past 10 years, and asked us about our home countries and travel plans.

Jorge took us all the way to the embalse in about 15 minutes; it would have easily taken us an hour on the bikes. We hopped out of the truck, triumphant at our success in getting to where we wanted to go (by any means necessary!). Little did we know, we were in for another disappointment. We walked into the restaurant seated at the foot of the reservoir for information, only to find out that about a year ago, kayaking, swimming, and water sports of any kind were prohibited. The only thing we were allowed to do was sit in front of the water.

It was kind of pretty... I guess. We sunbathed for awhile, and then Tomasz, always the adventurous one, found a dry concrete artificial river bed behind the lake that we could ride on with the bikes. And of course, play with yoga poses.

We popped wheelies and pedaled around for awhile, happy to have the "road" to ourselves. We followed it along, right down to a steep hill until we came to a screeching halt... right in front of a deep pool full of putrid water. We had two choices: ascend the hill and go back the way we came, or scale the side wall and enter the cow farm to our right. After a quick consult on google maps, Tomasz discovered that if we cut across the farm, that there was a small access road on the other side that would lead us back to Suesca.

Two electric fences and some startled cow stares later, we came out on a small road that offered us some of the most beautiful views of the Colombian country side yet.

And the best part? It was basically a downhill ride all the way back to our hostel. We made it back in plenty of time to meet up with our Suesca friends to celebrate our final night in the small mountain town.

Next stop? Varsana Eco Yoga Farm!