I replied back basically saying that there is no such place as “Tierra Caliente” , is just that due to Colombia’s position within the Equator and in the Andes every town or city below 1000 meters a.s.l is warm(ish) and therefore called “Tierra Caliente” by all of us living above that altitude.
Bogota is at 2600 m.a.s.l so we have a colder average than many regions in the country, which means that , as an example, we don’t have outdoor swimming pools , so on weekends is usual for us Bogotans to head of the city in search of “ Tierra Caliente”
which can easily be found at only a driving hour away from Bogota .
This entire introduction is to put give some context of a day trip we did out of Bogota last weekend to Tierra Caliente, and more specifically to the legendary Tequendama Falls, a 515-feet high waterfall on the Bogotá River, located about 18 miles southwest of Bogotá in the municipality of San Antonio del Tequendama. My fiancé, who’s not from around here, had read about el Salto del Tequendama when he was a little kid in a comic book called “ Joyas de la Mitologia” and he didn’t even remember that the story was set in Colombia, but had always remembered the legend of Tequendama, which involves the pre-Columbian Muiscas and a white bearded deity (Bochica) who created the Fall with his golden scepter. So when I told him that el Salto del Tequendama was less than hour away from Bogota, he jumped in the car and we headed in search of his childhood memories….. the trip was a mixture of awe due to the outstanding scenery and a mixture of sorrow and disappointment due to the horrible pollution of the Bogota River ….. More about that in my next Colombia Travel blog entry.
Abrazos,
Marcela
