Jardin - By Maria

We stayed in Jardin for two and a half weeks. We mostly did school there, but on the weekends we would do some other fun activities and explore the town more.

Jardin means garden and there were a lot of flowers there. It is a nice little town with colorful, pretty buildings. Jardin is a very clean town surrounded by mountains. 

This is the church in the main square of Jardin. 

Inside of the church. 

Main church during the day. 

Colorful buildings

Our first weekend here we climbed to the mirador, which means viewpoint. We hiked up to the lookout spot on the mountain. It was slippery on the way up, so we found a different route for the way down, and we were surprised to find a farm. We walked through it and saw that they made and sold panela. It was really interesting to see how they made the panela and all the different steps, and we bought some that was like a candy that dissolves in your mouth. It was way too sweet for me. At the same place, they also raised trout so there were a bunch of troughs full of fish.

On top of the Mirador

Trout Farm 

Hydropowered mill for making panela from sugar cane.

Panela Making

The next day, we walked up a road for a while and then we stopped at a little restaurant, got some juices and then we took a cable car back to town. This cable car crosses the river from way up high.

 

The cable car

My family in the cable car

The following week we did school and the next weekend, my brothers and dad participated in a chess tournament. It lasted around four hours. It was kind of fun to watch, but it was also kind of boring. There was an uneven amount of people, so a girl taught me how to play while she was not playing. The people there were really good at playing chess, and there was even a Colombian national champion for her category.

My dad playing a national champion. He lost. 

 

Many mornings we would walk to this place at the edge of town that sold empanadas and other good street food, and it tasted great. A small meat and potato empanada cost about thirty cents.

 

Our favorite place to get empanadas. We went here for breakfast a lot. 

One night we went to a café for an English social hour where people who were learning English and wanted to practice would come. It was fun to help them learn English. Later, we kept running into people from the group throughout town.

If you just walked up the road a few minutes from the house we stayed in, you would come to two waterfalls that were tourist attractions.

On the last night of staying in Jardin we played Tejo, which is the national sport of Colombia. Tejo is a game where you throw metal pucks at a target that is in clay. There are little papers filled with gunpowder laying on top of the target. When you hit the paper with the puck, it explodes and makes a very loud sound. It's scary and exciting. 

Tejo Court

Jardin was a very cute welcoming town.