Colombia has two southern land borders with Ecuador. Mark, Maya, and I drove to the western one via a detour called El Trampolin de La Muerte (Trampoline of Death road). Why? Mainly because we really wanted to visit Santuario de Las Lajas near the other border in Southwest Colombia. We’d seen photos of this impressive church straddling a deep ravine; an image straight out of a fairytale.
Mark, Liesbet, and Maya in front of Santuario de Las Lajas
After passing through the Mocoa road block, we could have easily continued to the eastern border and leave the country. We briefly considered it, when being stuck at a landslide before even entering the Trampoline. But that one cleared up in “no time,” so we could stick to our initial plan.
El Puerto
On the other side of the Trampoline of Death, we decided to stop for two nights in El Puerto. Also called “Little Switzerland” or “The Venice of Colombia,” it is the lakeside neighborhood of the town El Encano. A blog about this destination on our friends Susan and John’s site Latitude Adjustment encouraged me to add it to our itinerary.
(As always, click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)
Because of all the rain, however, the canals were a deep brown, and because of it being a long weekend, the hamlet was incredibly busy. While located at Laguna de La Cocha, good public lake access or views were missing in El Puerto. We enjoyed our strolls with Maya, the colors and cuteness of the buildings, and the setting, but it felt weird to be in a place solely geared towards tourism. Where were the panaderias (bakeries)? Or the produce stalls? Or the friendly locals living in typical Colombian pueblos?
