Travel Guide Santander

If Bogotá and the Boyacá form an economic and tourist zone difficult to delimit, this is not the case in the departments of Santander, Santander del sur (Santander du Sud) and Santander del norte (the northern Santander). Here, the eastern mountains seem to be confining themselves into a strange landscape that erosion has ciselé, eternal sculptures to troubling beauty. The estoraques of La Playa, sung by the poet Eduardo Cote Lamus (1928-1964), fascinated visitors.The Santander region derives its Wealth from tobacco and oil. Oil is operated in Barrancabermeja on the Magdalena River on the Border with Antioquia.The men from the Santander are known for their honesty. Alejandro Galvis, a writer in the region, a framework of the Colombian Liberal Party and founder of the daily Vanguardia Liberal, describes them as «open, good, welcoming and performing daily tasks with a noble imperative, a little away from the excesses of modern life». Then he goes on to say: " Being born in the Santander implies a spiritual commitment that makes these men and women defenders of freedom and human rights. At the dawn of the Republic, there were almost all civil wars organised to combat the oppression and despotism of old Europe. In these emancipation movements, names of men and women return to the national anthems singing the martyrs and heroes. In the campaigns of the Santander, we understand what the human warmth of these men in the Tropics means. The inhabitants of Santander have the cult of honour, generosity and the virtuous sense of brotherhood». It is thus in the village of El Socorro that was born the first revolt against the Spanish yoke (the only remnant of this glorious past communard is Casa de la cultura - Maison de la Culture - and its interesting revolutionary archives), revolt carried in particular by a woman, Antonia Santo, shot on the main square.