SAN AUGUSTIN

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San Agustin For tour info contact: Luis Alfredo Salazar Cel:3125680365 Email: luis_poliglot_tours@ hotmail.com or Guiatur guiatur.64@yahoo.es Viajes Ivan Hoyos Tel. 8363303 Transporte Turistico Cel. 311 8596586Recommendations: -Restaurante Brahama- Great menu (incl. vegetarian) Calle 5 No. 15-11 Cel.3114836966 -Hotel Menexu- Friendly and inexpensive Carrera 15 No. 4-74 Tel.8373693 People and Places Ayahuasca ritual Jardin Botanico Shuar Luis Polyglot San Agustin

10 hours south of Bogota, Colombia lies the world heritage site ofSan Agustin, a small town of 18,000 people with breathtaking scenery,great music and home to a key archeological area in South America.  Plagued by guerilla warfare in the past, the people of San Agustin want everyone to know that they are back and ready for business, and that the area is far more secure and safe to travel than it was a few years ago. There are also new roads and faster routes to this prime destination,including a 10 hour direct bus (with Taxi-verde) from Bogota, and if youare travelling north from the border of Ecuador, you can catch a specta-cular 6 hour bus ride from Pasto to the Amazonian town of Mocoa (a greatplace to hang out for a few days) and then a quick 2.5 hour bus fromMocoa to Pitalito, followed by a short 40 minute taxi or "collectivo" to SanAgustin.         The pre-Incan civilization that lived here is shrouded in mystery, even their actual name is still unknown. Archeologists have uncovered a mere 10 percent of the statues and ruins, and it is theorized that huge mayan-like pyramids and other structures remain buried throughout the area. Other than the amazing statues, you can see burial chambers and ritual edifices in the Parque Arqueologico and huge petroglyphs spreadthroughout the valley.         There have been comparisons made with the Mayans of centralamerica, and if you follow the Rio Magdalena north from San Agustin youwill see that it begins on the atlantic coast of Colombia very near theequally famous ruins of the "Ciudad Perdida," a likely landing point if theMayans took a boat ride from the Yucatan Peninsula or crossed theDarien Gap into Colombia from Panama. It should be noted that carbon dating between San Agustin and Ciudad Perdida matches the samegeneral time period of 555 BC to 1630 AD (from "San Agustin" by ReichelDolmatoff, 1972).         As far as culture and society, archeologists have determined a fewthings: The San Agustin people treated women as equals and superiors(they did have female leaders), they had a grasp of advanced mathe-matics, they attemped complex surgeries and they were obsessed with the idea of life after death. People were ritualistically sacrificed, burned alive and sometimes buried alive under the influence of hallucinogens.         If you are planning to travel to Colombia you will want to make San Agustin a prime destination for a trip you will not soon forget. Please Note- All videos are streaming media player WMV format. Mac users can watch the videos with a free player you can download here. 1.The Statues of San Agustin     Watch Video Dvd Catalogue