This Sunday afternoon that sign across from the market again catches my attention: Cancha de Tejo El Recreo. What in devil’s name is tejo? I walk through the courtyard to the rough, tin-roofed cancha beyond. Men in various stages of drunkenness are throwing a 2.5-pound (1.125- kilo) lead weight at an up-right board 18 meters (59 feet) down court. There’s a soft thud as it hits the soft clay bed.

“What’s the object?” I ask one reasonably sober man.

“To hit this.” He points to a ring set in the clay of a target near us.

“Is that an anti-personnel mine?” I raise a brow.

“Yeh—oh, but it’ll only make a loud boom, that’s all. The shrapnel’s been taken out.”

That’s reassuring. “How much does it cost?”

He tells me and adds, “It includes a beer. There’s a court just for women.” (Yeh, about a third the length of the men’s court.) “Just pull up a bench and wait a turn.”

So for a bit of excitement, join the gang in a game of tejo after the Sunday market. You’ll have a bang of a time.

Location:
Cancha de Tejo El Recreo

Calle 2 9-40
San Agustín, Colombia

Other Activity Types:
Tejo

Travel Tips: Tejo is a popular sport in Southern and Eastern Colombia. In other places, though, the target is called a bocín, which has mechas, or small packets of gun powder attached to it; the object is to explode these. It seems the resourceful citizens of San Agustín have found a new use for the landmines that were laid in the backcountry during the Civil War actions in their area.

Price Description: $1.30 per game

Relative price: Budget

Open Hours from:Sunday afternoons

Travel Skills: beginner/easy.

You Need to Bring: A sense of adventure, a good eye and pitching arm.

For the sporting types, there’s hiking, rafting, rappelling and horseback riding to enjoy in the San Agustín area.

Currencies accepted
Colombian Peso

By Lorraine Caputo

Upon re-declaring her independence at age 29, Lorraine Caputo packed her trusty Rocinante (so her knapsack's called) and began traipsing throughout...

Created: 11 Apr 2008

Updated: 14 Apr 2008

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