The Magic of La Mojarra

Words cannot describe where we are right now. We drove by ¨Mesa de Los Santos¨ on our drive from Bogota to Bucaramanga and the energy was crazy. I woke up on the bus as the sun was rising to see these rolling hills and clouds clinging to the mountainside. t was so beautiful, we had to come. We arrived to the Mesa with our packs ready and met a rugged crew of local climbing bums at the entrance to¨La Mojarra¨. There is an amazing (mostly overhung) sandstone cliffband around the top of La Mojarra with over 120 sport climbing routes. This is part of the Chicamocho Canyon, but La Mojarra in particular is spiritual land of the Guane Indians.

The climbers took us in right away and invited us to see the magic of the valley. It is a crazy steep pre-hispanic path made of stones placed by the Guane. After climbing this path, you are pretty much the definition of sweaty. This is where we met Edgar; a third generation, fairly eccentric, Guane Indian who lives almost completely off the land. He invited us to use his home as our own and cooked us the most amazing meal! We were pretty much hooked at that point. Edgar built his house himself and everything is eco friendly. The house has dirt floors with ladders and totems all over the place made with hand-carved wood. Edgar is very spiritual and his house is decorated with Native art focusing on air, earth, fire and water.

We wake up every morning to the sounds of the birds in the valley, then Edgar brings us agua de panela, hot chocolate, or colombian coffee to start our day with good energy. The valley is incredibly green with fruits, tobacco and marijuana plants growing abundantly. The shower is outside and you can see the mesa and the mountains all around you as you bathe. It is seriously unreal. As you stand on the cliffs, the breeze smells like watermelon and tropical flowers! We lounge in hammocks, watch the butterflies, play with the animals, and go hiking or climbing all day. We have learned so much from Edgar, he is also a healer in his community and focuses on therapeutic massage.
We were supposed to leave today but there has been flooding all over Colombia and I believe the roads are still closed on both sides of the Mesa. We don´t want to leave! We decided to spend Christmas here with Edgar,
and as he calls us, ¨his family of vagabonds¨. There are a few other climbers that came and never left, we are all going to celebrate the holidays together! Edgar, Mimi, Chavi, Amelia, Cesar, Iliana and the pup Simon. We will stay a few more days...