El Cocuy National Park

by Catha

 

It felt great knowing that somewhere up there in the mountains there would be a place where Alex and Toni would wait for us, a place that was peaceful and quiet, rewarding us for the long, challenging bus ride we had taken upon ourselves.

 

 

 

After a day of relaxing and acclimatizing to the altitude, we started off with a long, difficult hike through a beautiful valley of Frailejones up to the snowcovered glaciers. Since we had little experience hiking in high altitude, every step forward took a lot longer than it usually would, causing a strong tiredness that we really felt when we reached the top.

The view was beautiful and overwhelming. It felt like one of these places that one would not experience very often in life, making it a very special and almost spiritual moment. Not long after we started hiking back, Toni's prediction came true and it started hailing and raining heavily. We got to a point where we kept running down without breaks to find ourselves totally exhausted and with bad headaches when we reached the cabana.

 

 

 

The hacienda la Esperanza is a multiple generation managed farm that existed long before tourists touched the national park's ground. While the farming is done by a local family which leases parts of the house and surrounding land, toruism is run by a very nice and welcoming guy called Guillermo. He loves to spoil his guests with the most delicious food and is always up for a conversation at the fire where people could warm up after returning from a long hike.

 

The next day all of us where very greatful about the decision of just finding a nice spot for the day where we could hang out, relax, get lost in small things, observe the clouds doing strange formations in the sky and watch triple rainbows while being protected by a huge mountain dragon.

 

 

Our last full day began with a rich breakfast and a little bit of observing the group of about 6 men which had prepared to climb up the peak of the glacier. They seemed very optimistic to make it up and down within one day although some of them didn't really look it!

As we left, we were to count 5 people and one dog named Oso, including a guy called Marcus who had joined us on our hike up to the Laguna Grande the first day. It took us a little less time to get to the other lake. The way there was even more beautiful, following a sparkling stream until we reached our goal, a turquois Laguna with noone there except for us. We took a dip in the ice-cold water and rested for another hour, enjoying the silence. On the way back it stayed beautifully and sunny, something kept reminding me of the song "Wir sind die fünf Freunde... und Timmy der Hund..." while thinking this must have been how they felt while experiencing their adventures!

 

When we got back to the finca we were confronted with bad news: There had been an ongoing fight between local farmers, the indeginous people of the area and all the other people who benefited from the tourists. *

Guillermo seemed very depressed and sad as he told us it would be better if we left the park soon since farmers had already blocked the roads with rocks and vehicles. He told us that he feared the park was going to be closed for the public soon. It was a disturbing night with long discussions, countless assumptions what would happen and a rather pessimistic feeling of a happy outcome. Especially Guillermo seemed very thoughtful and got very quiet when he was asked what would happen to him and his family if the government gave in to the pressure of the farmers. The look on his face made every explanation unnecessary. Later that evening as I couldn't sleep, I sat with Guillermo for a while, talking. There was something in his eyes that told me he wasn't going to give up, something that let him hope, the way "La Esperanza" had always been. We left early in the morning, encountered a roadblock but soon afterwards got to the town of El Cocuy where nothing seemed to have beclouded the lazy sunday mood with all the people being dressed for church.

 

 

 

* What we heard is that local farmers made tourists responsible for all negative developments in nature (eg the melting of the glacier) and thus wanted to ban them from the national park. What we guessed was that the farmers didn't feel they were profiting enough financially and also were put under pressure by the 'guerilla', so they can farm some substances not to be seen by foreigners.