How to Spend the Perfect Weekend in Jardin, Colombia, Jardin, Colombia

Just five minutes into our first beer in a corner bar on Jardin’s colourful plaza, the sound of impatient hooves on cobblestone grabs our attention. Suddenly, the horse appears from a side street to our right, head standing proud and strutting in an almost rhythmic dance. In the saddle is a middle-aged guy wearing a patterned sombrero vueltiao (a traditional Colombian hat). Almost spoiled for choice, the cowboy steers his charge toward the brightly coloured bar on the adjacent corner to where we’re sitting. Having dismounted, he strokes the horse’s head before sitting on a brown wooden chair next to the bar’s entrance. Slowly he reclines until his back is resting on the wall behind, the front two legs of the chair hanging in the air at a 45-degree angle. On cue, the barman arrives with a cup of tinto (a traditional Colombian long black coffee) for our guy who receives it without barely moving from his ultra-relaxed position.

Such is life in the hillside pueblo of Jardin. Where daily routines of Colombian rural life haven’t changed for generations. Where its colourfully painted houses remain festooned with flowers and plants as they’ve been for past 150 years. And where visitors to this gorgeous part of Colombia are slowly catching on to the town’s beguiling charms. We took a two-night break there from Medellín, three hours away by bus. And if you’re travelling in Colombia, we think you’d be mad to miss it. Not because there’s necessarily a wealth of things to do. But you just might leave the place with the widest, most satisfying grin you’ve had in ages. So here’s how we reckon you should spend your time there. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).