Apartaderos

Apartaderos stands where the Trans-Andean road meets the turning for the Sierra Nevada, at around thirty-five hundred metres in páramo country: cold, treeless high moorland with frailejones, the tall woolly-leaved plants that only grow in the northern Andes. Terraced fields of potato, carrot and garlic climb the slopes around it. The Llano del Hato observatory, one of the highest in South America at over three thousand six hundred metres, is a short distance away.

What you actually see

• The frailejones - woolly-leaved paramo plants covering the high moorland.
• The Llano del Hato observatory - an astronomical station at over 3600 metres.
• The terraced fields - potato, carrot and garlic grown at extreme altitude.
• The paramo - treeless high moorland unique to the northern Andes.

When to go

December to April is driest and clearest, and the best for the observatory. Nights fall below freezing year round. Cloud closes the views most afternoons.

Honest expectations

The altitude affects people arriving quickly from the coast and headaches are common. It is cold and windy and there is little shelter. Observatory opening is limited and should be checked.

Nearby

Laguna de Mucubaji is northeast, and Mucuchies is southwest.