At the beginning of my recent visit to Junin, a small town located at 105 kilometers from Bogotá, I didn’t know what a wonderful unexplored landscape I was going to discover. The first thing that you feel once you get there, is the petrifying cold temperature sensation (close to 5 Celsius degrees in the early morning) that will freeze your bones, but don’t worry, it won’t last for so long because in any of the cafeterias around the main square of the town you can have a delicious cup of coffee and taste an “Arepa de Maíz Pelao” a typical baked food from the region made of corn and fresh cheese, that will help you feel warmer for sure. There is only one road of access (that goes around the mountain up and down several times, so it is not recommended for easy-dizzy ones) and you can arrive either by car or by public buses that come from Bogota every two hours.
As Junin is a small town surrounded by mountains full of tundra ecosystem, known as “Páramos” by the locals, it is a perfect place for you in case you really like nature and hiking, but be sure of wearing rubber boots and sweat pants before starting your expedition, because the humid soil is the general characteristic there. The páramos are full of autochthonous flora such as tall old ferns and majestic gray “sietecueros” trees (a regional species) that give you the impression of being in the middle of a fantasy winter forest. If you go there in the early morning you can also see many species of beautiful birds, and if you are lucky, a spectacled bear may appear as well coming from the fog.
Your trip on the mountains can take from two hours to three days depending on the destination you choose, but no matter what way you take, you are going to find a lot of incredible lagoons surrounded by tall trees and several bushes. If you don’t feel like walking, it is also possible to have a horse-riding experience in the Páramo thanks to an entrepreneur local couple who transformed their farm into a tourist shelter and who also provide touristic services (such as camping, expeditions and birdwatching) around the region.
I will definitely come back to Junin to continue exploring those beautiful mountains full of nature that let you disconnect from the city chaos for a while and rediscover yourself in the calm atmosphere that you breathe every single minute.