Colombia - The Rough Guide to South America on a Budget - page 554

5

the Parque Arqueológico Tierradentro
(daily 8am-4pm; COP$10,000), which
comprises the five burial sites. The trail
begins behind the Museo Etnográfico
(daily 8am-4pm), where you pay the
park entry fee and receive a wristband,
valid for two days. The well-presented
displays in the museum focus on the
history and customs of the indigenous
Paez, while the Museo Arqueológico
across the road has an archeological
display including funerial urns, some
statuary and information about the
park's tombs; both are worth visiting
before you visit the sites.
It's possible to visit all five sites, spread
out over a sublime landscape, on a
full-day, 14km walk that runs in a loop
from the Museo Etnográfico and the
Museo Arqueológico, with San Andrés
making a convenient lunch stop. Be sure
to bring your own torch to explore the
tombs, as some are unlit, as well as plenty
of water, and wear sturdy footwear. The
guards at each site who open the tombs
for you can answer most questions
(in Spanish). It's best to do the loop
anticlockwise, since a clockwise route
would mean tackling a long, tough uphill
climb first thing.
Start with Segovia (20min walk uphill),
the most important of the tomb sights.
There are 29 of them; you descend into

the trapdoors and down large, steep stone
steps to peer into the gloom; note the
black, red and white patterns that have
survived the centuries. From here, it's
fifteen minutes up to El Duende , a smaller
site with four tombs and very little colour
on the walls of the tombs. It's then a
25-minute walk to El Tablón - where
you'll fine nine weather-worn stone
statues which look similar to the ones
found in San Agustín (see p.554). To get
here, go up to the main road and head
left; El Tablón will be well signposted on
your left. From here you can either take
the main road into the village or else
descend down the muddy trail that joins
the other road that runs up into San
Andrés from the two museums.
The best place for lunch is La Portada
(see opposite), after which you can pick
up the trail again along the side of the
restaurant. A ten-minute walk gets you
to Alto de San Andrés , its six tombs
boasting well-preserved wall paintings.
From here, it's a good hour and a
half to the last and most remote site,
El Aguacate , with spectacular views of
the valley and a style of tomb painting
not found in the others. Allow plenty of
daylight time for the hour-and-a-half
walk down to the museums as in the past
there have been several robberies along
this isolated trail.

CROSSING INTO ECUADOR: PASTO
Pasto is the commercial hub of southern Colombia - a bustling town devoid of major sights
and likely to be visited only in passing on the way to Ecuador, 88km further south along the
Panamerican Highway, unless you happen to be travelling through during the Carnaval de
Blancos y Negros (see p.495).
The Colombian town of Ipiales , a 2hr bus ride from Pasto, is 2km from the Rumichaca
Bridge , which has Colombian and Ecuadorian border control o ces on either side. Border
formalities heading into Ecuador take far longer than the other way round, so you may be here
for several hours. You will need to cross into Ecuador on foot and take a new colectivo from
there; the town of Tulcán is 2km from the bridge (see box, p.587), and from there you can
connect to Quito, Otavalo and elsewhere. Check the safety situation on the Ecuadorian side
before travelling. There are moneychangers on both sides of the border on and close to the
bridge. From Ipiales, you can catch a minibus (which leaves when full from half a block north
of the marker on C 14) or a colectivo (COP$1500; departs from the bus terminal near the corner
or C 14 and Cra 10) to the border, which is open 5am to 10pm.

backpackers' hostel two block s from the ma in square
is a convenie nt spot. Dorms COP$15,000 , doubles
COP$30,000

ACCOMMODATION IN PASTO
Koala Inn C 18 No. 22-37 T 2 722 1101. If you have
to stay overnight in Pasto, this long-established