Mountain Adventures - Colombia

Yariguies National Park

5 star rating   13 September 2025

Eva who has been on 3 In The Saddle rides. Colombia - Barrichara - Yariguis Extended | This was our second ride holiday with Julio and his team. Amazing horses that are so very well cared for, well trained and just truly amazing. Julio is very knowledgeable, answers all the questions we had, very accommodating - things might need to change last minute, but everything is run so so smoothly. What we also particularly liked is the contact we have before we arrived and via the chat group he sets up - there are always last minute questions and he comes back super quickly - big thumbs up for that!

As for the ride itself - there is no way you will ever get to experience we did on your own, or as a 'normal' tourist. We are far off the beaten track and it's amazing to 'join' the local life for a few days. Everyone we met were so friendly, invited us in to their homes - cooked for us, showed us their life, how they harvest what they grow etc. amazing.

The horses are unbelievably strong and sure footed and it is so obvious that Julio adores his horses and same for Wilson (groomsman). They are like his dogs! Follows him whenever they can.

[Abbie from ITS replies: Thank you so much for your wonderful review. We are delighted that you enjoyed your return visit to Colombia - it is such a special place].


The Riding

How well were you matched with the right horse for your ability?
5 star rating
How would you rate the variety of riding, pace or terrain?
5 star rating
How would you rate the overall standard of the horses, tack and stables?
5 star rating

The Accommodation

How would you rate your room(s) for comfort and facilities?
4 star rating
How would you rate the standard of the food?
3 star rating

Do you have any comments about the accommodation and food?

So - accommodation was fine - and it's a bit of a struggle to find the service we in the developed world would expect. But we stayed in nice and clean places and it was very safe. Sometimes you have hot water - but that's no guarantee! But this was all explained, so all good.

Food; very basic and it does get a bit same same (meat, cassava and plantains). But again, no issues in terms of getting ill or anything - it's just that it is not very varied - but you are in the middle of nowhere an this is what they eat in Colombia - so again, this was part of the adventure!

And we got to experience the 'culinary' experience… In this woman's comune house - lots of context, and history and then the Giant Fat Bottomed Ants were peeled and cooked (and yes, we helped with that) and we ate them… never done that, but we are so proud we did it! And they didn't actually taste bad - you just can't think of what it is, or look at them!


Before Your Holiday

Did you have all of the information you needed to:

Plan and prepare for your holiday?
5 star rating
Feel comfortable about your transfers and what to expect?
5 star rating

How could we improve the quality of pre-holiday information that we send?

All very good thank you! and again, really appreciate Julio setting up the whats app group. This time we knew him from last year, but we also appreciated that then - it's like you get to know eachother a bit before joining the ride.


How could we improve the way we handled your booking and payment?

Nothing - all good


Do you have any other feedback for us?

No - thank you for your help and we had the best time (again!)!

This is not really a comment for you - but we do find it sad that Colombia gets such a bad wrap - it's the most beautiful and diverse country, amazingly friendly people - and we felt super save the entire time. I hope people would get this side inside of the country than the drug fuelled, guerilla side of the news!