San Agustin - Colombia

The other favourite place for a bit of ancient artefact action is San Agustin. If you want somewhere that has a bit more going on than Tierradentro, then this is the place. Its still a small town but, bizarrely it has two large public swimming pools and there is a good choice of restaurants and places to stay. Plus if you fancy staying on a ‘Finca’ (farm) then there are a lot of choices. – the one we chose being Finca El Maco which is up a very steep hill. The steep hill is worth it though, especially if you get to sleep in a place that looks like a gingerbread house!

San Agustin has plenty of choice all round. It has various stone statues and tombs scattered on the outskirts of town and you have a choice of how to see them. We chose to spice it up a little and hire horses.

I’ve never really liked horses. A bit like monkeys, I’ve always felt ill at ease in their presence. They can behave in such a skittish manner and I’ve never been keen on anything with such large teeth. Still, while on our travels I’ve seen plenty of people on horses with guides and the guide walks the horse while you sit on top. Better than walking all day, we decided to do it.

However, this was not like the other guided tours we’d seen before. On this one the guide has a horse and you have a horse. No one walks. My horse was white, wasn’t keen on stopping and always wanted to be in front. But. surprisingly I felt very comfortable and the horse was very easy to control. Steering and braking all done with the reins, I wondered why I hadn’t tried this before. And to speed up a couple of clicks with your tongue or a tap with your heels did the trick. I also threw in a “woah, woah” for good measure!

After we had negotiated the steep hill down from the finca, we made our way through town and into the countryside. Occasionally we broke into a trot, which was pretty uncomfortable. Then we did what I never thought I’d do on my first ride. We galloped! What an amazing experience. It was much more comfortable than trotting and rushing through the countryside was exhilarating. My little white horse really liked to go fast! It was time for  a “yee-hah” or two!

Our guide was friendly and knowledgeable (we’ll gloss over the part where he offered us cocaine, gold and ceramic artefacts) and the horses were so good, no instruction was needed. I enjoyed seeing the stone statues, but what made it brilliant was our mode of transport. Within four hours I’d changed my view on horses.