Having visited most of the places mentioned in the article in 1975 as I traveled by bus through South America for five months, the article brought back lots of memories, including one of my most lasting ones. As I sat waiting in a park for the bus to Tierradentro making a sliced tomato sandwich, a farmer approached me and admired my knife. He told me he would like to visit the United States some day because such a rich and powerful country must have the best quality machetes. When I told him they were not common in the U.S., a look of shock came over his face. He asked me how people could work without a machete. It was a great cultural lesson for me about the vast variety of world views.
I was sad that the article didn't mention and the author apparently missed Tierradentro National Archeological Park, which is perhaps 75km east of Silvia and Popayan. Its underground painted tombs and above-ground statuary are now a UNESCO World Heritage site. On the way there, we had to traverse a rock slide that had taken out half the mountain road, and when we got there, heavy rains had taken out the hydroelectric generator, so we had to walk the kilometer or so from our lodge into town for dinner and back in pitch darkness. It was all part of a truly impressive trip that affected the course of my life.
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My compliments on the absolutely gorgeous photos. But why no pictures of the San Agustin ruins, which were supposedly the point of the article? I had to Google to bring up photos, which are indeed impressive.
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The war may be over, but $450 per day in South America sounds like robbery to me.
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Undoubtedly the Casey foundation paid it, no questions asked.
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Why no photos of the archaeological treasures that this article claims to be about?
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