A Night in Hacienda La Esperanza

Day 60 (August 27, 2018) – El Cocuy National Park, Colombia

We had an early morning start, eating a breakfast of fruit, eggs, bread, cheese, and coffee at our hotel before leaving at 6 AM for the town square. One of the cheaper ways to get up to the cabañas at the start of the trail heads is to ride on one of the local lecheros, or milk trucks. As we waited in the square, there were at least a half dozen milk trucks that drove through the town. Some stopped and others just drove straight through. Travis was vigilant in asking each one that passed if they were going to Esperanza. With some help from the other lechero drivers, we finally found ours, which would take us up to the start of the trail head and to our accommodation for the night.

Travis in front of the lechero that we rode up into the mountains.

The lecheros are actual working milk trucks. They’re not really intended for transporting people. But along with a few locals, we climbed into the back of the truck, held on, bundled up, and tried to stay out of the way of the people who were actually working. The milk truck drove up the mountains, stopped at all the farms, and collected milk that the farmers have left along the street in tin and plastic pails. They poured the milk into a giant vat in the center of the truck. We suspected that they were going to turn this into the local cheese that is found all throughout El Cocuy, but we didn’t know for sure.

On the lechero, collecting milk from the farms.

Hanging on for the lechero ride.

The ride may have been cold and a bit tiring after standing on your feet for an hour, but the views were amazing. This was our first real look at the mountain range that makes up the national park. Most of what we drove through was mountainous farmlands. It’s hard to believe that people live way up there, but everywhere you look are pastures with cows, horses, chicken, and sheep, and an occasional house that sits atop a hill with a million dollar view of the surrounding valleys and mountains. 

The view looking out the front of the lechero. The ride was a bit bumpy and a bit cold but you can't beat the view. 

We eventually arrived at this picture-perfect house, Hacienda La Esperanza, that sat in a green valley with towering snow-capped mountains in the distance. The cabaña sits at 3,600 meters (11,800 feet), so we planned on arriving the day before our hike to help acclimatize to the thin air. We checked in just fine, but they told us that they didn’t have any food for dinner. We brought plenty of food, but it was intended for lunch on the hikes, and not exactly enough for a dinner. However, they told us that we could ask their neighbor if they could cook us dinner, so we walked down the street and found the neighbor. They seemed happy to do so and we ended up with a dinner reservation for 7 PM. Not what we expected, but things seemed to be working out.

Hacienda La Esperanza.

Everywhere you look there are horses, cows, and sheep.

We took the day to relax, drank plenty of water, and went on a short hike up to a waterfall. We hiked passed farms and many cows. The weather was beautiful with lots of sun and a few scattered clouds. As soon as the sun started going down it began to get really cold. We had picked up hats and gloves from El Cocuy and I’m glad we had them with us. We met a couple people, also staying at the cabaña, who had just gotten back from their hike and we chatted with them for a while and sipped aguapanela, a hot, sugary drink that does wonders for keeping you warm.

On one of our walks, trying to make our lungs happy with the thin air.

Acclimatizing for the day in the courtyard of Hacienda La Esperanza.

At around 6:30 PM, the neighbor called over to the hacienda to tell us that dinner was ready. We walked over in the dark to her house, bundled up in all our clothes, and sat at a table that she had set up just outside, behind the kitchen. I don’t know if it was the food or the cold or what, but the meal was absolutely amazing. A giant bowl of creamy soup and a plate full of chicken, rice, beans, french fries, and salad. It was a little strange to be sitting in her back yard, especially when we could barely hold a conversation in Spanish, but it was an experience.

From our dinner at the neighbor's house.

At night it became downright frigid. There is no heat. Fortunately, there was one working hot water shower head, but we had taken showers in the late afternoon before it got too cold. The tap water that we were using to get ready for bed was just shy of freezing. We then jumped into the refrigerated beds with all our clothes on. I was wearing two pairs of socks, all the shirts I brought with me, my hat, gloves, and the winter jacket we had bought back in Bogota. I even pulled my hood up over my head for good measure. For all the effort, I can say that I was warm in the night, but the dozen or so blankets on the bed made it hard to move much, if at all. We were getting up early the next day for our first hike in El Cocuy National Park.

Wearing all my cloths, gloves, and hat to bed to stay warm.