Curiti

Fique is a fibre stripped from the leaves of an agave, and it is the material Colombian coffee sacks have traditionally been made from - Curiti has worked it for a long time and workshops in the village process, dye and weave it into sacks, hammocks, bags, mats and rope, some by hand and some on machines. The Ecofibras cooperative is the main one and takes visitors through the process from leaf to cloth. Just outside the village, Pescaderito is a series of natural pools along a stream in a small canyon, reached by a walk of a few kilometres, and it is where people from San Gil come to swim - five pools of varying depth with rock ledges around them. The village itself is quiet and colonial.

Highlights

• Fique worked from leaf to cloth - the fibre coffee sacks are made from.
• A cooperative taking visitors through - stripping, dyeing and weaving.
• Pescaderito pools - five swimming holes along a stream.
• A quiet colonial village - little visited compared with San Gil.

When to go

December to March; the pools are best in dry weather. Half a day.

Practical notes

The walk to the pools is a few kilometres each way with little shade. Pools are busy at weekends with people from San Gil. Workshops are working businesses with irregular visitor hours. Litter at the pools is a recurring problem.

Nearby

San Gil is south; Barichara is south-west.