On the night of June 18, 2016, I came to the bus terminal in Bogota (Salitre) and was happy to buy a ticket for 40,000 COP to destination El Cocuy, a close entry point to the National Park El Cocuy. I checked the park´s website few weeks prior to planning my trip and the website indicated that the park was open. Howerver, after traveling ten hours on curvey and bumpy unpaved roads, I found out that the park is closed. Well, "the park is open, but the access is blocked", the park ranger clarified. He explained that the local farmers have been blocking all three entrances to the park since february - as a result of few youngsters from Bogota who played soccer on one of the glaciers and even posted a video about it. The local people found it disrespectful as the glacier is used as a source of drinking water and plus, they consider the mountains to be a special place that deserves lots of respect and highest level of protection.
But this fact is still not enough to change the status of the park on the national park´s website, unfortunately. So if you plan to visit El Cocuy - I recommend to contact one of the local business or the best - one of the lodges in the park - to find out an up-dated status. The ranger in the village El Cocuy recommended to make a local hike with a view of the park, but I was not interested and left the village the same day.
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AuthorI like to travel by bus and would like to share my experience from airport transfers to long distance bus travels as well as practical information from inspiring destinations. If you would like to support this page, you can do so through paypal. Thank you. Archives
June 2017
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