Travelling around the globe isn’t only about breath-taking views and gorgeous old towns in big cities. Sometimes you can spot hidden gem, where normally you wouldn’t go. Who would have known that cemetery can be such an interesting place? What could you find there except hundreds of graves, flowers and melancholic people? Well, today we’re going to introduce you Ecuadorian hidden pearl, which, thankfully isn’t known by many.
Location
Tulcan is a little town just next to the border with Colombia and if you are travelling around Ecuador you can get there easily from its capital Quito for few bucks. From the other hand if you are travelling across Colombia and want just see this amazing place you’ll need get a bus from Bogota to Pasto, then another one to Ipiales and finally from there you can jump for one day trip to Ecuador.
Brief history
Everything began back in 1936 from Jose Maria Azael Franco, local gardener who was looking after cemetery and one day he started sculping rows of bushes into different shapes. You can find there geometric shapes, archways and many unique sculptures designed and formed by him. The garden features angels, animals, Incan symbols, and bulbous, iconic creatures squatting in a row. Jose passed away in 1985 and was buried at the cemetery in between his legacy. Now his 5 sons with help of cemetery staff are looking after the topiary wonders. Nowadays we can find more than 100 green formations. “[...]so beautiful it invites one to die.” – That’s how Franco used to describe this place.
Our visit
We have chosen route number two to visit the cemetery and we crossed the border from Colombia. Because of the crisis in Venezuela, hundreds of migrants were waiting between those two countries for their asylum, which extended our stay in Colombia for a couple of hours. There were fewer people waiting at the Ecuadorian side, so we received our visas much faster. Luckily owners of the restaurant where we had a late lunch helped us and we put our bags at the back, so we could enjoy walking.
Because Monika loves cemeteries, she found it and took us there. Our first impression was just WOW! We stared with mouths agape and couldn’t stop taking pictures and thinking how much work it cost. How a man who did all this was skilled and motivated. Simply incredible. Let’s walk with us again through those narrow paths and let’s contemplate.
Instead of making single graves beautiful why we don’t make a whole cemetery?
Have you seen something like this before?
Do you like it?
Please let us know in comments!
Because of You, dear Steemit friends, we can go through our travel again and share stories!
Thanks to @soyrosa we’ll be able to meet some of you in person this Sunday in Rotterdam!
Thanks,
M&D
How great! Like @blockurator, I find cemeteries filled with stories, both told and untold, so to see one with such magnificent history is quite compelling. Thank you for show me this one.
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This is stunning! I can't imagine the kind of work and upkeep that would take, but it's so beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
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Holy crap that is a cemetery?!? Seems like too much fun and nice are to be.
I bet it was a boring old cemetery and the right person took over and started carving bushes.
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Could be the case he had enough and decided to do sth :)
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Looking forward to meeting you there! :D
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I love cemeteries. They aren't just a place for the dead to hang out. Each one has a million stories still alive, lingering and waiting to be heard. This one is amazing! I love the hedge work, and to think that someone spent countless hours creating that beautiful art. Very impressive, and appropriate for a place with a million living stories.
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This is so nice this trees sculptures. It is instersting to see them in a cemetery.
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Yes ihave seen the layingwall Graves in Italy but never such nice scenery and nature.
See you Sunday looking forward to it!
Gr. Britt
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That's an awesome cemetery. I've never seen such great looking sculptures.
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That cemetary looks so cool and I love the designs! I wish I had one like that somewhere in my state, I would visit it.
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Hey @route-m-d
Awesome sculptures. They must have taken a lot of care, attention and time. Definitely not what you would expect in your standard cemetery.
Gaz
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Good guy that Jose! Very nice to see one person inspiring something greater. Really a legacy.
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Hiya, just swinging by to let you know that this post made the Honorable Mentions list in today's Travel Digest. If you enjoy steemit worldmap and the manual curation effort we're going through each day, please consider supporting what we do!
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It is a breathtaking place, thank you for showing us this!
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It looks like the best cemetery I have ever seen, wow
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So cool, never seen this cemetery before and now I want to go!
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Now you know where to find it :)
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WOW! Have never seen anything like it!
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Cemeteries can be super super beautiful... This one certainly is! The most impressive I've ever visited was Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn/NYC. Huge huge huge (hours of walking) and then in the far end the skyline of Manhattan as a backdrop. Also in Scotland I always joked 'the dead get the best views'... Cemeteries always were placed on gorgeous cliffs and such :-)
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Wow! Those are true pieces of art. What a great find. My dad used to go to old cemeteries and take photographs when he was in his amateur photography phase. He definitely never came upon anything quite like this, though!
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What a wonderful tribute @route-m-d must be very peaceful walking around this crematory.
Such well shaped bushes, all the love a attention given in the garden to express the respect deserved for those who went before us.
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Never heard of this place but I really love the shapes of the bushes. We do have a different cemetery over here too but I love this one as well :D
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This is amazing! I've never seen anything like this before and I couldn't even imagine that it could be a cemetery!
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My goodness! It is really a cemetary? I can't imagine how they managed to make that place so beautiful.
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Yes, it's a cemetery! Cost a lot of work to maintain, but later we can admire it. It's not going to be forgotten.
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Wow! Amazing. Thank you for posting this.
On the other hand, Venezuela. Too awful.
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I have never seen anything like this! How lovely and unique! Thanks for sharing the photos and story with us!
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Wow! Pretty amazing cemetery! I do like cemeteries. They are always interesting
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I got tingles as I read this post. Such BeautyFull photos. The energy is amazing. I wish the cemeteries around here were created and maintained with that level of love and dedication. Thank you for sharing 🙏
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what an intriguing place. Have to pay a visit there one day. thanks for sharing @route-m-d
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I'll put it on the bucket list
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great photos
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I love cemeteries and this one is particularly beautiful! I couldn't help but notice that in the background of some of the pics it looks like they have stacked graves. Am I seeing that right? What a brilliant idea!
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Yes, they do. In South and Central America this is pretty common, you won't find graves like we know from Europe.
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I love it. Here in the US grave sites are getting quite expensive. We are running out of space in the ground. I'd love to see this method adopted here.
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Wow, that's an amazing place! I have never seen anything quite like those topiaries.
Cemeteries are interesting places... I have always found a lot of peace in them; when I was younger there was a large cemetery back in my native Denmark I used to go to, simply to "be still."
Thanks for sharing this "gem!"
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We're working on a post about cemeteries we've seen in different countries and yes you can find peace there.
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Haven't seen one like this before now. Thanks for sharing with us.
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Yeah great post and collection of pictures - seems like they figured out how to make cemeteries a more inviting place.
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