Popoyán is an essential pied-à-terre for those which wish to be familiarized with the history, the ethnography and the archaeology of the country joined together in the triangle Popayán - Tierradentro - San Agustín. It is a quiet city whose center was declared national heritage.
Popayán today is one of the old cities most typical of Colombia, a true colonial jewel.

SILVIA
Silvia is a colonial pueblito of less than 5.000 inhabitants, with 2500m of altitude, the village is worth displacement especially because of its often white simple small houses all aves of the red tiled roofs. But the interest occurs Tuesday, day of the market whereas Guambianos go down from the surrounding mountains, early the morning, for the installation of their gravers.
The market of Silvia is recognized like single through Colombia because of the large gathering of Guambianos Amerindians and in spite of the bringing together with civilization they preserved intact their language and their traditions.

SAN AGUSTIN
In Has parked Arqueológico San Agustín, one can admire there 130 statues carved at various times, that is to say for 3000 years front J. - C. until the beginning of the colonial period. A great number of vestiges of passage of these Amerindians is still present like terraces, roads, foundations of villages, dispersed on more than 200 km ² in mountains reaching 1700m altitude. One finds also a number impressing of sculptures and statues which were declared historical heritage and archaeological world by UNESCO in December 1995.
The area was a site crowned for the Amerindians who could come by far there to bury their deaths and to venerate their gods. The majority of the statues, of impressive size, indeed represent gods associated with the burials. The first Spaniards unearthed them by cultivating their fields.

TIERRADENTRO
From San Agustín, one can join Tierradentro by the road (seven hours of way) which curves in the Andes, which is worth landscapes sometimes of escarpés ravines, proud peaks, of ríos with tumultuous water finishing in cascade, the whole to cut the breath. One finds there the small town of San Andrés de Pisimbalá, true postcard lost in the Andes of less than 1000 inhabitants, located in a valley surrounded by mountains which contain the spectacular tombs précolombiens.
With San Agustín, Tierradentro is one of most important the archaeological discoveries précolombiennes of this century. One finds tombs of various sizes, qualities and depths in groups of 10 to 60 or more out of one ten sites.
Parks Arqueológico de Tierradentro proposes four archeological sites in the surrounding mountains: Segovia, El Duende, Viola of San Andrés and El Aguacate.

POPAYAN
Popayán is the tourist city par excellence, its downtown area is a true book of history, and all these buildings are works of art exposed to open sky. The churches for example, the hotels and the residences are lovingly maintained jewels.

TIERRADENTRO -, one goes to Tierradentro, in the department of Cauca, especially for its hypogean funerary dissimulated a little everywhere in the mountain.