Chicamocha Park is about a 45 minute ride from Bucaramanga. The parks attractions are a 30 minute cable car (Air Tramway) ride through the Chicamocha Canyon. The Tramway is one of the longest of it’s type in the world. All four sides of the car are plexiglass giving 360 degree views of the surrounding terrain.
If you are into extreme sports, Chicomocha Park offers rafting, kayaking, spelunking, and paragliding. If those are a bit too extreme for your taste, you can still get a rush on their zip-line, or their mountain swing. If your stomach churns just thinking about doing any of the aforementioned, not to worry the park has something for everyone. Take the kids to the ostrich park, the water park, go ice skating, ride go karts, and watch people fall over trying virtual reality. I could have watched people freak out all day. Check out a few freak outs here.
One of my favorite things about traveling around Colombia has been how much everyone embraces their culture and history. Chicamocha park was no different. Make sure you tour through the Museo Guane. The museum highlights the customs, and culture of the Guane natives who used to inhabit the land. The monument to the Santanderean culture is a beautiful work of art that highlights an ugly piece of history. We were lucky enough to have a knowledgeable guide tell us what inspired the art.
The history as told by our tour guide is as follows. The townspeople were planning a revolt against the local communist faction but a spy was within their ranks. When the spy reported back to the bad priest, he told him of the talks of revolution. The bad priest then called upon the good priest to set a meeting. The meeting was a trap, and the communist faction attacked the good priest and the townspeople when they arrived. They tried to fight back with whatever they had on hand but in the end they were slaughtered. The man cowering behind the bad priest represents the cowardice of treason, and the death that followed him. “Behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”-The Bible or Johnny Ringo in Tombstone.
Chicamocha park is huge, and you need to set aside at least one day for your visit. For us, one day wasn’t enough. We will be coming back one day, if only to float in the clouds with the birds.