Day 8: San Gil

From Bucaramanga bus station early this morning I continued straight on by minibus to San Gil, a small town specialising in backpacker adventures such as rafting, rappelling, and eating ants.


This area, heartland Colombia, is full of huge mountains and plunging gorges. The bus to San Gil was a thrilling sequence of bendy climbs and bendy descents with vast views (pic). Everyone else on the bus was a local. I could tell, because they ignored the scenery and did things on their smartphones instead.


I checked into a delightful hostel on the easy-going main square and strolled round the town and its botanical gardens. And, oh yes, those edible insects. Here they are in the dish, a selection of hormigas culonas: the local speciality, fat-bottomed ants, fried or toasted. They're crunchy and salty, rather like micro-pork scratchings, and taste curiously of Bovril. I offered the dish to my fellow hostellers (pic), but they politely declined. I expect they were too engrossed in the card game.