My Equator Adventure: Santa Fe de Antioquia, and one really old bridge

January 23, 2016

So the little town of Santa Fe de Antioquia is officially the cutest little whitewashed colonial town. At least its historic center, which still looks like its in the 1800s.

Its 2 hours outside Medellin, and despite sleeping through my alarm I managed to get there before 11.

I jumped ship from the collectivo bus at the Plaza Mayor. It set the tone for the town with its fountain and Catedral Basílica de la Inmaculada Concepción de Santa Fe de Antioquia. Since it's the main big church, I guess it can have a long name.

Side gardens, which I thought were lovely

Next up was the Museo Juan de Corral, which got way more stars than the Medellín museum did.

It went through the history of Santa Fe from pre-Colombian times through its colonization and founding.

Lots of religious artifacts too

Nicely carved, and old, Corinthian column

I thought the carving on this cross was nice too

And the communion (?) bowl

Beautiful woodwork on lots of things.

The story behind these was that in 1960, one of the guys in the church proclaimed that in heaven and hell, everyone is the same. So he destroyed most of the gravestones and memorials in the cemetery, much to the consternation of the town.

These are the remaining pieces

And beautifully carved, may I add.

Signed proclamation of independence for Santa Fe

And the table where the signing took place, 11 August 1813

Traveling exhibit there, all done in paper, which I thought was really cool.

They had a key in a door with a Space Needle keyring!

The area in the middle of the building was really pretty

I of course went past the other churches in town.

Iglesia de Jesus Nazareno

My favorite was Iglesia Santa Barbara, which had an awesome cross in the park across from it.

Walking around, there was some lovely architecture.

I loved the woodwork on the windows

Colorful houses

After a bit of lunch, I headed off towards the Puente de Occidente, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the world.

When I stopped to double check which street to head out on, the guy was incredulous that I intended to walk, rather than hire a mototaxi like everyone else. I however, was fully prepared to walk the 5k to the bridge, and arrived expecting a hot hike. I did end up paying my new friend Miller 1500 pesos (about 50 cents) to take me on his motorcycle through the small part of town to where it was just a straight shot on the road.

Not too bad for a selfie when the sun glare made it so I couldn't really see anything.

Then I set off, all downhill.

The countryside was pretty, if a bit brown an dry.

An hour later, I was happy to see this sight.

I tried to take panoramas. I obviously failed at both, but you can put them together with your imagination.

The bridge was pretty great. Guidebooks mentioned people falling through and dying in the river, but all the boards seemed very solid to me. I think its been restored a little since its construction in 1887.

Getting artsy through the window of the little building at the end of the bridge.

I found a little tunnel where all the cables from the bridge were attached, I thought it was kinda cool.

I had ice cream on the other side, then I hitched a mototaxi back with another group.

This Jeep was sitting in the parking lot. Its got a majestic jaguar for a hood ornament.

One last church and one more ice cream, and I was headed home.

Iglesia Nuestra Senora de Chiquinquirá

A very successful day, and it continued on to dinner when I went to a live tango show in Medellin.

I had some rather good steak, and a real beer for the first time in months. The potato with a herbed white sauce of some sort was delicious, and I wanted another.