Güicán Travel Guide

The Monumento a la Dignidad for me was the most interesting thing about Güicán. We saw it on the bus into town as it sits likes a sentinel at its entrance from the main road. While D was taking a nap, I marched out to grab a few photos of it after reading of it storied history. The local U'wa were being forced to convert to Christianity and their chief, Güicány, led them in mass suicide by jumping off a surrounding cliff. The rather large and impressive sculpture is quite moving and makes the story of the Virgen Morenita more interesting as well.

Fondest memory: Once back at our place, we readied our packs for the following morning and gave the owner our extra bag, re-confirming that El Lechero left from the town square literally right out front and that we would be leaving the hotel well before dawn. With that, he locked us in behind a big metal door and we suddenly questioned our sanity in staying there just to save a few bucks. He had explained how to get out of the building but it was tricky and with little time the next morning, we fumbled a bit in getting out. Even with the metal door factor, we were still out there well before El Lechero was to make its rounds according to our host. We waited....and waited....and waited. I saw a pair of headlights heading towards us but it was not the milk truck but a small four-wheel drive. He asked us if we needed a ride into the mountains and we said we were waiting for El Lechero. He made is way around to our hotel which was now open so we went over as well to find out from the owner what had happened with the milk truck. He said we were waiting in the wrong spot, that El Lechero left from the road just outside of town. We told him that was not what he had told us and he sheepishly and not very convincingly said he had not. Conveniently, his friend was here to give us a ride into the mountains. The only catch was that it was about eight times the price. (concluded below in Fondest Memory)

Fondest memory: Logistically, it made most sense to do begin the trek from the nearby town of Güicán. It was reported to lack much of the charm of its competing neighbor, El Cocuy and to be a cold, gray city on top of that. Getting back there after the short trek by El Lechero or the milk truck would be easier and we figured why not check out another town. El Cocuy, for all its charms, was growing a bit boring after so many days there. It was a short inexpensive bus ride there and the town turned out to be a very colorful affair, helped surely by the sunny blue skies that seemed to be following us everywhere in Colomiba. We check out the more upscale place in town and though very nice, it was pricey so we decided to save our money for dinner and get a room in the local cheapie. It was going to be a short night anyway since we would be catching El Lechero at some ungodly early hour.

Hotel El Frailejon was a typical South American budget hotel and maybe a few steps down from that but the owner seemed nice if a bit odd. It was quite cheap and we ate lunch there. It was made us appreciate the food back in El Cocuy which in itself was no culinary tour de force. The room was tiny but again we would not be spending too much time in it and the owner had agreed to keep our bags until we returned from the three-day trek. Doreen was exhausted and took advantage of a very sunny warm room to take a nap and I explored the surprisingly cute little town. We later went for dinner at the more expensive Hotel Brisas del Nevado and had a great meal of trucha (trout) and potatoes. It was not cheap but was of very good quality and considering the remote location I guess not all that expensive. It was a much nicer place than ours and we kind of wished we had spent the extra money to stay there. The owner was a very classy older woman and it would have been nice to leave our extra gear with her with not a care in the world about it. (continued below in Fondest Memory)

Favorite thing: Though many venture to Güicán to see its "famous" dark-skinned Madonna, the real reason to come to this small and mostly uninteresting town is to visit nearby El Cocuy National Park. That said, is a colorful little place to stroll around for an hour if you are in the region for an extended period.

Fondest memory: Güicán didn't sound like the nicest or most friendly town and truthfully it would have been easy to leave El Cocuy very satisfied after completing our week-long trek in the nearby National Park. But after a few days rest and much deliberation on my part, I managed to talk my amazingly understanding wife into doing another trek in the park. This was after unwittingly starting our first and very arduous trek around the El Cocuy massif on our fifth wedding anniversary. It had been a very difficult trek entirely over 4000m with many passes. We did have incredible weather but six days without a shower followed by an icy one is not something many women look forward to. I'll admit it's not my favorite park of backpacking either. The problem was that while at Cabanas Kanwara, we saw El Pulpito or Devil's Pulpit and it was stunning. We check out a map and spoke with National Park rangers back in town to find out it was only about a five hour trek back into the park's interior. It would be a lot less strenuous and easier to navigate. In fact, it was a straight forward in-and-out hike. We would set up camp by Laguna de la Nevada and do a couple day hikes in the mountains creating a cirque, marching back out two days later before the lack of running water became apparent. It sounded too good to pass up and my wife, who was not relishing strapping on a full pack so quickly, sweetly conceded to my desires. She knew after all that coming back to Colombia again would not likely happen and that I am one to always look back on things I missed. (continued below in Fondest Memory)