Cañon de Cristal

One day my friend Sune calls me up, all excited, telling me he has finally a trip to Sierra de la Macarena line up.  He asks me if I want to go.   I definitely wanted to get out of the big city for a couple of days so I said “yes.”

I didn’t know anything a the Sierra de la Macarena or the cristal canons.  But I was about to find out about this exotic and rarely visited location.

So, Sune and I hire a car to take us to Viavicencio, the entrance to los llanos (the plains) the last real city for thousands of kilometers leading to the amazon.

In Viavicencio, we met up with our friend Joe who has made the rest of the travel arrangements.

the three of us about to board the plane to the macarena

We take this tiny plane, a first for me.  We then flew about an hour and a half over the jungle until with reached this wierd little mountain range popping up out of the jungle plains. the Serranía de la Macarena

When we arrived at the town La Macarena, I luggage was promptly taken to our hotel by donkey pulled cart.

The next morning, we awoke just before the crack of dawn to meet our local guide.  We walked down to the river and got aboard a long skinny boat.  We traveled for about a half up the river, checking  out the flora and fauna which included crocodiles hanging out along the river bank.

My friend Joe and I early morning on the boat. photo courtesy of Sune Lolk

We were met by an old Land Cruiser that took us on an hour ride across some rough terrain until we finally reach the Canyon.  And that were the adventure really began.

It’s hard to put into words.  It was days of hiking through this canyon with crystal clear water.  I guess hence the name, Cañon de Cristal.  Much of water had this magenta colored algae, which was one many things that gave the place this other worldly feel.

red algae of the Cañon

more to come.

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