Santa Fe de Antioquia

Santa Fe de Antioquia was the original capital of the province of Antioquia, before Medellin became the capital in 1826. Santa Fe is located in the Cauca valley between the western cordillera and the central cordillera. It is a beautiful little colonial town of whitewashed buildings.

One of the streets leading to the main square in Santa Fe

 

We traveled to this area with Maria and her graduate student Andrea. We stayed in Sucre, a smaller town across the river from Santa Fe, in the country house of one of Maria's uncles. To reach Sucre you must go over a suspension bridge, built in 1895, which is only able to support cars and mototaxis. The surface of the bridge is planks held down with strapping, so it is a bit freaky to drive across. There used to be pedestrian walkways on either side of the single driving lane, however so many of the boards have rotted or been dislodged that no one can walk over the bridge on the pedestrian paths. Instead they walk on the narrow driving surface which is maintained to have all its planks.

Maria driving over the bridge

 

The casa we stayed in was about 100 years old. Maria's uncle renovated the property and added a swimming pool and beautiful gardens. We really appreciated the swimming pool as the temperature was in the high 30s for the three days we were there.

The pool and he back of the house which has a dining area under the roof overlloking the pool

 

On our first day there we accompanied Maria, Andrea and their field assistant to the area they are studying. It was a scorching hot day, 38 C in the shade where we were and even hotter, 45 C, in Santa Fe. We were pretty wilted by the time we returned to the casa, and Maria and Andrea decided to start at day-break the next day and work until 11 am to avoid the heat of early afternoon.

Looking toward the river from the field area

 

Taking samples from the cliff - Juan, Maria and Andrea

 

Looking toward the western cordillera

 

The exhausted geologists after a day in the field

 

We planned to go sightseeing in Santa Fe on the second day, so after breakfast we took a mototaxi over the suspension bridge and into the center of Santa Fe. We did the "tourist route" around the town, seeing churches - none of them were open, the tourist market in the main square, a few jewelry shops that specialize in silver and gold filigree, a museum and ending at a restaurant for lunch.

Our mototaxi

 

The suspension bridge

 

The bridge is 291 metres long and was built in 1895, one of the first suspension bridges in the Americas

 

In the Plaza Mayor in Santa Fe

 

Delivering milk. This breed of cattle is raised in the valley because they able to withstand the high temperatures that are common here.

 

This museum, in a colonial mansion, is dedicated to the history of the area. It also has a small gallery that was showing some lovely watercolor paintings of landslides.

 

The following day we did a hike from Sucre up to a lovely waterfall. We saw some interesting birds on the hike, including a hummingbird having a bath in the stream. It continued to be extremely hot so we spent the afternoons by the swimming pool in the shade.

The air was cooler near the waterfall, and the shade was helpful too.

 

The church in Sucre

 

Sucre Plaza Mayor

 

On our way back to Medellin we saw many fruit stands on the side of the road and stopped at one to get some bananas. Between Santa Fe and Medellin there is a 2.8 mile tunnel through the mountain that has cut about half an hour off of the trip.

Maria and Andrea buying fruit