Sierra Nevada del Cocuy - Colombia

Paula Suárez
Dec 31, 2016
3 min read

Sierra Nevada del Cocuy is a national park between Boyaca and Arauca departamentos with In a length of 306,000 to 3,060 km²: located 9 hours from Bogota, Colombia. This place is important in Colombia because it faces extinction, for that if you want to go there you need have a certified guide or a local person ''Lugareño'' with information about the routes, the camping zones, and the rules for walking in this place. It's better if you go with a team, because this park is so big, and you can get lost easily. But you can go alone and walk the most important routes, but don't go up to the tops.

The town Cocuy has little stores, some hostels and a church with ''Plaza Principal'' in front of it, here you can check the big map about the park with the mountains and it's heights. When you arrive you need to go to two different places, the first is the national parks office, in this place you need to say how long you are going to stay in the mountain and your guide is. In the second office you will receive information about the actual weather, the rules of the park, the emergency numbers, the possible routes and the bracelet with your personal information, for example your name, your emergency number and if you go with a company or alone. This bracelet is for emergencies.

The best idea when you arrive is to sleep, have a good meal and take a good shower, because you need to get used to the climate. For that you can spend the first night in a refugio, this is the most common in the mountain with a lot of friendly people. The next day you can start your route, on the way you can find camping zones with bathrooms and showers in the first stop, but when you're going up, you go to see nature and perfects views. If you want to think about something, make an important decision, write something or only take a breath, that is the perfect moment with yourself.

After your trip into the mountains, I recommend going to the hot springs in Güicán de la Sierra, in this place you can relax your body, and finally take a shower with hot water.

Sierra nevada del cocuy, they are beautiful snow capped mountains. The summit I climbed was the pan de azucar with 5.120m height, although I would like to say that I did, the truth is, I could not, my body said no more. Sometimes the mind needs to listen to your body and stop, my limit was the pulpito del diablo with 4.950m height. This trip was really difficult for my mind and my heart, because my body stayed fine, but my mind just told me ''you failed.'' When I came back to my house, for one week I could only do one thing in this journey, in one night when I walked to my house, I finally understood everything about it, this is only the beginning because I can do everything. If I really want I can try again, one time, two times, three times, as many times as necessary. So the most important point is not to get to the top, it's true, all stories are right, the most important part is the road, the people you meet, the food you eat, the sky you see, the laughter when you enjoy the moment and walk in the same time.

Transport:

If you want go there, you have three differents options:

1. Take your car and drive for 9 hours. There are two routes, the first Bogotá - Tunja - Duitama - Soatá - Capitanejo - El Cocuy/Güicán, and the second route Bogotá - Tunja - Duitama - Boavita - La UvitaPanqueba - El Cocuy/Güicán. On both roads you can meet different towns and eat really good food if you want to stop on the road. On these roads in average you pay 3 tolls there and 3 when you come back.

2. Take a ''flota'' or ''intermunicipal''. This is a long trip, for that it's really important to travel with good company. When you buy your chair my advice is to buy from the middle to the front, because the big groups, and the little children, always choose the last chair. Buy some food and travel at night.

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3. Take your motorcycle and drive for 7-8 hours. If you love driving your motorcycle, it's a really nice trip for you, because it's really long, the roads are in good condition, you can stop, and can skip the traffic.

Note. If you go for a long time, maybe more than 3 days, it's better if you travel in ''Flota'' because you don't have to worry about where to park your car.