San Agustín, a Pre-Columbian Wonder

We've arrived at the San Agustín archaeological site… How are we going to tour it?

Since I haven't found much information online about what is considered the largest pre-Columbian archaeological site in South America, I'm going to do my part.

San Agustin itself isn't anything to write home about—so much so that even the tourist office doesn't have a single map of the town… Even so, there are some rather interesting spots, like the church and a peculiar—statue?—at its entrance.

If you're lucky enough to be there on market day (Monday), you'll be able to enjoy some very picturesque scenes

The market is great and has everything. They have a curious business practice: if a neighbor buys fruit, they weigh it and charge them accordingly; but if I buy the fruit… oh man, then it’s sold by the piece and, of course, much more expensive… I guess that’s what they call “fair trade” 😝

HOW CAN YOU VISIT THE SAN AGUSTIN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE? ON A GUIDED TOUR OR ON YOUR OWN?

When visiting the San Agustín archaeological site, you can explore on your own or take a guided tour. Both options have their pros and cons.

The advantages of guided tours are that you have a guide who explains things to you and it's more comfortable (you travel by jeep or on horseback); the disadvantages are that they feel too short (they usually return earlier than promised) and you go through everything a little too quickly. It's up to each person to choose what they want.

1-. Tours

Long Tour Tour largo

It includes the most remote spots in San Agustín, and you'll travel by jeep. It costs 40,000 COP and runs from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. You'll visit the places highlighted in yellow.

1.b) Short Tour

It includes a visit to the Archaeological Park and the sites marked in the circle; I think it might also go as far as the Strait, but I'm not sure. You'll be riding a horse; it costs another 40,000 COP$ and usually runs from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

On your own

To visit many of the places listed above, all you need are two strong legs and plenty of water.

My itinerary: El Tablón + La Chaquira + La Pelota and El Purutal, then back to San Agustín from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., although some locals gave me a ride in their van for the last stretch 😊

El Tablón has practically nothing to offer except for a small museum of traditional artifacts, which the owner explains very well. La Chaquira is very close to El Tablón, and in addition to the statue featured in the brochures…

…has a breathtaking viewpoint

The next two places (La Pelota and El Purutal) are quite a distance from the previous one, along a somewhat grueling and lonely path… and this is where the magic of the journey begins

As I walk up and down the mountain toward La Pelota, the locals stare at me in amazement, and the kids on their motorcycles laugh and zoom past me, covering me in dust… I must be the only loser walking around these parts.

I reached the top of yet another hill after walking about 3–4 km (the map said 1.5 😡) and came across a giant gate guarding… nothing? Luckily, a guard came out eating a sandwich and confirmed that I had arrived 😅

Well, we're finally at La Pelota, and now the fun begins… after all that walking… what exactly did we come here to see?

This archaeological site, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, is home to hundreds of monolithic statues and megalithic tombs that belonged to a mysterious pre-Hispanic culture. Its significance lies in the fact that it is the most important testament to a “people of sculptors” who disappeared centuries before the arrival of the Spanish

These two figures—the one on top and the one below—were shamans from the civilization that inhabited this area. In both cases, you can see that they’re holding a child in their hands. It seems they performed a sort of “quality control” on newborns, and any child that was even slightly imperfect… well, you can see the knife that one of them is holding in his hand….

Looking at the map from here, it seems that the Strait (the narrowest point of the Magdalena River) is right nearby, so I decide to make the effort to get there.

The magic of the road pulls me in again, and I enter a sort of loop or time tunnel. I walk and ask the locals, I walk and ask… and I don’t get anywhere… According to the locals, everything is “really close,” “five minutes away,” “just around the corner,” and after two hours of walking, nothing… As I said, some locals gave me a ride back to San Agustín. From there, you can take a motorcycle to the aforementioned Estrecho (about 10 km away), and for 14,000 COP$ round trip, you can enjoy the river.

THE SAN AGUSTIN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE ITSELF: THE TOUR

And this is the one attraction you simply can't miss here. Located 3 km from town (2,000 COP$ by motorcycle and 1,000 COP$ by bus), this park is filled with pre-Columbian statues.

The truth is that the statues are really intriguing; they’re supposed to be mythical creatures that guard the entrance to the tombs where the natives buried their nobles—a sort of silent guardians of the grave goods with which the deceased were buried, in the hope that they would enjoy them in the afterlife.

Admission costs 20,000 COP$, and the tour lasts about 3 hours. Almost all of the sites are burial mounds and a stone waterfall “carved” by the indigenous people with fantastical motifs and animals—though you have to look closely to see them… Still, it’s very impressive.

I managed to convince one of the guides to “take me in” with his tour group 😎, and he explained that the waterfall had deteriorated because the locals used to wash their clothes there and use it as a bathroom 😰

I'm not going to bore you with any more explanations about the San Agustín archaeological site: you just have to come and see it for yourself!

If you really want to learn more, the Colombian Institute of Anthropology will provide you with more technical information than I can: https://www.icanh.gov.co/?idcategoria=6222

If you found this post useful (or think it's useless), let me know in the comments!

And if you want to know more about Colombia: https://999millas.net/category/paises/colombia/

Texto y fotos : Mike !