Qualla: La Macarena https://qualla.com/la-macarena en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/7/s/la-macarena-wk/hero-small.webp Qualla: La Macarena https://qualla.com/la-macarena La Macarena: Introduction https://qualla.com/la-macarena/ Photo credit Peter Fitzgerald, CC BY 3.0. In La Macarena, the day of rest is not Sunday. The town sits at the edge of Colombia's eastern plains, where cattle herders called campesinos come into town on weekends to buy supplies, so Sunday cannot be the local sabbath. The town picked Wednesday instead. Walk down the main street on any Wednesday and you will find ninety percent of the businesses closed. The local population is under four thousand people. The town exists for one reason: to serve as the only practical gateway to Cano Cristales, a small river in the Serranita de la Macarena that botanists call the Liquid Rainbow.

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Image: Peter Fitzgerald | CC BY 3.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/7/s/la-macarena-wk/d27s-la-macarena-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full La Macarena: The River of Seven Colors https://qualla.com/la-macarena/ Photo credit Peter Fitzgerald, CC BY 3.0. Cano Cristales is not wide. It is not long. For most of the year, it is not even particularly colorful, a clear stream running through a stone-bed canyon in one of the most biodiverse hectares on Earth. But between July and November, the stream's riverbed erupts into reds, yellow...

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Image: Peter Fitzgerald | CC BY 3.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/7/s/la-macarena-wk/d27s-la-macarena-the-river-of-seven-colors.mp3 0:06 2 full La Macarena: The Serrania, and Its Dangers https://qualla.com/la-macarena/ Photo credit Peter Fitzgerald, CC BY 3.0. The river lives inside the Serrania de la Macarena, a plateau that rises out of the flatness of Los Llanos, the eastern plains. Colombia declared it a natural reserve in 1948, its first, and it is now a national park. The Serrania is possibly the single most biodiverse spot on Ea...

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Image: Peter Fitzgerald | CC BY 3.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/7/s/la-macarena-wk/d27s-la-macarena-the-serrania-and-its-dangers.mp3 0:06 3 full La Macarena: El Refugio, DMZ, National Park https://qualla.com/la-macarena/ Photo credit A.E.A.Weiss, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Serrania's indigenous Guayabero people lived here since prehistoric times. The first non-Indigenous settlement came in the 1950s, when colonos, the Colombian term for frontier settlers, arrived from the department of Caqueta and founded a town they called El Refugio. The name...

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Image: A.E.A.Weiss | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/7/s/la-macarena-wk/d27s-la-macarena-el-refugio-dmz-national-park.mp3 0:06 4 full La Macarena: Getting In, and What It Costs https://qualla.com/la-macarena/ Photo credit Felipe Restrpo Acosta, CC BY-SA 4.0. There is one safe way to reach La Macarena, and it is by airplane. Satena, the state airline, runs flights from Bogota into a small airstrip that looks more like a backyard than an airport. Overland travel is possible, but the roads are bad enough to be impassable in rainy season...

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Image: Felipe Restrpo Acosta | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/7/s/la-macarena-wk/d27s-la-macarena-getting-in-and-what-it-costs.mp3 0:06 5 full La Macarena: The Walk to the Color https://qualla.com/la-macarena/ Photo credit Peter Fitzgerald, CC BY 3.0. Getting to Cano Cristales from town starts with a boat across the Guayabero River, then a jeep, bicycle, motorcycle, or horse for most of the way in. The final approach is on foot. Guides lead groups through the savanna to the river's different sections, some of which have nickna...

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Image: Peter Fitzgerald | CC BY 3.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/7/s/la-macarena-wk/d27s-la-macarena-the-walk-to-the-color.mp3 0:06 6 full La Macarena: A Sleepy Town at the Edge https://qualla.com/la-macarena/ Photo credit Peter Fitzgerald, CC BY 3.0. When you are not walking to the river, La Macarena is a very quiet place. The town's population lives around a single main square with a church and a park. Pool halls on the corners of Calles 6 and 7 stay open late, serving Aguila and Poker beers. Restaurants offer simple food at...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/7/s/la-macarena-wk/d27s-la-macarena-a-sleepy-town-at-the-edge.mp3 0:06 7 full