Photo Gallery

Landscape near Cuesta Boba, a well-known, striking stretch of mountain terrain in the Colombian department of Santander. The area is situated in the High Andes within the municipal boundaries of Tona, near the village of Berlín and on the major road between Bucaramanga and Cúcuta. Altitude 3,200 m – 1977

Landscape near Cuesta Boba, a well-known, striking stretch of mountain terrain in the Colombian department of Santander. The area is situated in the High Andes within the municipal boundaries of Tona, near the village of Berlín and on the major road between Bucaramanga and Cúcuta. Altitude 3,200 m – 1977

In pre-Columbian times, the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia was densely forested up to altitudes of at least 3,000 metres. Spanish colonists and land-hungry mestizos cleared the forests and cultivated the steep slopes with maize and cassava. Rain washed the fertile humus layer down into the valleys until the bare gneiss was exposed over a wide area. Today, vast masses of scree fill the valleys, where rivers meander between gravel banks, as is the case here with the Rio Chicamocha in the department of Santander. - Book: Picture 20 - Colombia - 1977

A view of a slum in Bucaramanga, the capital of the department of Santander in Colombia, which is also known as ‘La Ciudad Bonita’ (The Beautiful City) or ‘City of Parks’. – 1977