My Own Mansion in the Hills…This is Colombia!

 

 

I awoke this morning to this view. This was the entrance to my house!

I awoke this morning with a stunning view of the mountains, but because I was escorted late last night I was still unsure of where exactly I was.  I soon realized I had a 6-bedroom, 3 bathroom house all to myself, with a pool, a basketball court, and my own chef.  Nestled above the mountain town of San Gil, the adventure capital of Colombia, this house would serve as an acceptable base camp for the next several days, or maybe longer.  My invitation here is indefinite.  Anyone want to visit?

A bit much...

How did I go from sharing smelly hostel dorm rooms to this dreamlike mountain home?  It is quite a simple story.  Just thirty hours before my arrival here, the mother of my couch surfing friend in Bucaramanga took me to a local bilingual school so that I could drop off my resume.  She knew the main office secretary, and knowing that I would be going to San Gil the next day, she asked her if she had family that I could stay with there. 

Next to the house, there is a waterfall and a discoteque inside a cave

A woman standing in an adjacent line, a stranger to all three of us, interjected,  “If you need a place to stay my family owns a cabin on a finca (developed farm) in San Gil.”  She called her mother, set up a meeting time, and within minutes, I had an invitation to a vacation home of a grandmother of an acquaintance of a friend of a mother of a friend. 

Completely floored by her generosity, I was almost speechless.  “Ahhh…thank you so so much.  This is so generous…this is…this is…incredible!”

She smiled and replied “My dear this is normal…this is Colombia!”

A stroll through the nearby colonial town of Barichara