What about BETULIA?

It's a beautiful town, located in the centre of the state of Santander with an urban area of 551.875 km2 and 412.96 km2 rural area. Betulia is in the county of Mares near the Suarez river and it's about 94 km from Bucaramanga, the state capital city.

History

Betulia was founded on February 13th 1844 by Priest Pedro Guarín Gómez and his cofounders José María Prada, Julián García and Pedro Gómez. But before that, Betulia was inhabited by the Guanes, the indigenous group.

Guanes was a big community in the Andina area in our country. They was a CHIBCHA group and they had a chief GUANENTA. They was very important because they had a lot wealth and they expanded their cultture in Santander.

.......MOHAN INDIAN GOD ..........

Description

Betulia borders with Girón in the north and east, with Zapatoca in the South - West and with San Vicente de Chucurí and Barrancabermeja in the West.

This town has all climates from very cold to very hot, but the climate in the urban area is about 18ºC. It has beautiful sceneries nearby, mountains area like Mount De La Paz and Mount Yariguíes, and The Black Hill.

The most important place in Betulia is Mount Yariguíes because it's very famous national park with an area of about 78.837 hectares. The climate is warm and sometimes it's bleak plateau. It was called NATIONAL PARK in 2005 and its name is Yariguíes because before it was inhabited by the Yariguíes aboriginal comunity.

I'd recommend you to visit Betulia, it's a historical, peaceful, old-fashioned town and it's popular with tourist.

Symbols

*Coat of arms: It was made between 2004 and 2006 by the Mayor in that moment.

*Blag: It has three colours, green, yellow and white. The colour green means the beautiful scenery around Betulia with a lot fauna and flora. The colour yellow means the Guanes treasures in the region; and the colour white means the clouds over the town.

*The local anthem: It was written by Jóse Juaquín Gómez. This is:

CORO

Salve Betulia, linda y coquetabello remanso de amor y de pazla Niña Blanca, quiso el poetaque te llamaran por tu heredadla Niña Blanca, quiso el poetaque te llamaran por tu heredad.

I

Dios mismo quiso que no crecieraspara que fueras por siempre niñaque muy pequeña siempre estuvieraslibre y bonita como una ninfa.
Tierra de amores y de alegríade tradiciones y de libertadallí pulula la lozaníadesde la pila Bautismal.

CORO

II

Entre bambucos y cafetalesen esta tierra de mis amoresvan floreciendo los madrigalesal son de tiples y de cancionesel Betuliano tiene hidalguíaun alma noble y un corazónlleno de encanto y de alegríacomo legado del creador.

Betulia linda de corazón.

People

The people are very friendly. They are about 1700 in urban area and 4800 in rural area. In general, they are very catholic, but there are some evangelists. We are called The TRAGANUBES (literal meaning: 'clouds eaters') because the clouds sometimes are over town.

Celebrations

Regarding carnivals, festivals or other events, Betulia has its own carnival. It goes from June 28th to July 1st and it's called 'Fiesta del Sagrado Corazón' or Return Party, because many people come - back to Betulia and celebrate together; people from Atlantic coast, Bogotá, Barrancabermeja, Bucaramanga and Cienaga Magdalena, they are the colonies.

I'd recomend this carnival, you can see how the farmers make many arcs with fruits, plants, flowers and vegetables. Also, the horse trek and any parades. The music shows are wonderful and there are a lot of competitions, for example, The Arrieros Competition.

In December at Christmas, there is a festival with many parades. Also, Betulia celebrates other events like Betulia's birthday on February 13th, shelter party on November 15th, school party on August 7th and broad casting station party on August 10th.

Economy

The main economical activity in come is agriculture. There the main products are coffee, corn, tomato, tobacco and chive; also, Betulia has casttle farms especially Ceba livestock. In Betulia there is only one big shop.

COFFEE:

CORN:

TOMATO:

TOBACCO:

CHIVE:

CEBA: