What is Arví Park?

Ecotourism Regional Park Arví (Arví Park), located in the village of Santa Elena (Medellín - Colombia), is an open park developed land for public use, created for the enjoyment of all local, national and international community, which by the construction of an organized tourism, consolidates a conservation strategy and promotion of the potentials and strengths of the township, exalting its cultural and environmental wealth and archaeological heritage, tradition and silletero entrepreneurship of its people, through a proposal for sustainable nature tourism.

With abundant cloud forests, which are one of the most important natural resources of the territory, Arví Park preserves the quality of the waters that flow into the valleys of Aburrá and San Nicolás also be the habitat of flowers, mosses, fungi, sarros, frogs, birds, butterflies and many other species that are vital to forest conservation.

The word Arví, has no exact definition and meaning; it is said, that it comes from an Indian word which seeks to symbolize abundance, being directly associated with the term "Bocachico", a fish that was found in large quantities in the territory by the Indians. Likewise, the term refers to a legend that goes back to the era of colonization where the Spaniards sought the "Valley Arví" with the intention of finding a territory rich in gold and salt.

Arví Park is open to the public from Tuesday to Sunday between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm. When Monday is a holiday (in Colombia) the Park opens at that time and closed for maintenance next Tuesday public holiday.

Arví territory

Arví Park is located between the municipalities of Medellín and Guarne (Antioquia - Colombia) in the villages of Piedras Blancas, Piedra Gorda, Mazo and Barro Blanco, with an approximate area of 1,761 hectares that are part of the River Nature Reserve Nare.

It is located approximately 25 km from the center of Medellín, with a height of 2200-2600 m. Above sea level. Dominates the cold weather with a temperature ranging between 12°C and 17°C in a humid tropical environment where they are abundant mountain cloud forests.

Approximately 95% of the area corresponds to Arví Park of Santa Elena (Medellín) and the remaining Guarne (eastern Antioquia) by 5%.

Santa Elena

Santa Elena is one of the five (5) districts (rural areas) of Medellín, has an area of 70.4 km2 and is located east of the town about 18 km from the city center. It has a humid tropical climate of influence mountain, where the average temperature is 15°C.

The territory is divided into eleven (11) sidewalks (although traditionally includes eight (8) paths of other municipalities) which are inhabited by about 19,000 people who are known with the gentile "Santaelenenses".

It limits the north with the municipalities of Copacabana and Bello, south with the municipality of Envigado, the east with the municipalities of Guarne and Rionegro and the West with the urban perimeter of Medellín.

The territory was inhabited by the indigenous Tahami, a tribe that exploited and marketed salt, which was abundant in the territory. At the time of the conquest, Piedras Blancas (village of Santa Elena) was instrumental in the discovery of the Aburrá valley and became a developed area in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth centuries by gold mining, an activity that later it would be detrimental for the destruction of natural vegetation.

It is a rich township in water, being broken Santa Elena the main watershed. It is recognized by the identity, culture and silletera tradition.

Guarne

Guarne is a municipality located to the east of Antioquia (Colombia), 2,150 meters above sea level, with an average temperature of 17°C and at a distance of 21 km Medellín. It has an area of 151 km2, divided into 97% of rural extension and 3% in urban areas.

It is crossed by the highway Medellín – Bogotá. It limits the north with the municipalities of Copacabana and Girardota, south of Rionegro, Medellín and west to the east with the municipality of San Vicente.

Guarne is a town rich in water, this element being one of the greatest natural wealth of the territory. The economy is based mainly on farms, followed by industrial activity.

Environmental heritage

The environmental heritage can be defined as the formation of all natural resources of a territory, comprising a diversity of natural ecosystems, rivers, forests, wild plant or animal species.

Cloud forests are part of this heritage and are one of the most important assets of the village of Santa Elena, because they preserve the quality of the water that goes to the valleys of Aburrá and San Nicolás, besides being the habitat of flowers, mosses, fungi, sarros, frogs, birds, butterflies and many other species of vital importance for forest conservation.

Arví Park is a perfect place for passive recreation activities, contemplation, and education, given its importance and relevance as a reserve area and environmental protection, where you can demonstrate the diversity of flora, fauna and landscape wealth of this territory scenario.

Water

A variety of water sprouts and streams enrich the landscape and come into different aqueducts that are in the territory. Water has been instrumental in the development of the area, being broken Santa Elena a water resource of great value and importance to the territory since it brings together most of the tributaries of the area.

They Arví originate in several water sources, which are part of the two largest river basins in the country (Magdalena and Cauca). The water system Arví Park is dominated by three main streams: Piedras Blancas, Holy Spirit, and Las Palmas.

Fauna

Arví Park is the hostel of a varied wildlife; 69 species of mountain birds that enliven the forest canopy, freshwater crayfish, which show the water purity, pearly butterflies appear cyclically at the same time of day, day mammals and nocturnal identified by their fingerprints and insects that keep order the ground where we walked. These species are responsible for maintaining the living forest, so we must take care of them and protect them.

Flora

Plants in all strata of the forest: tree layer, undergrowth, weeds, and vines. 540 species belonging to 258 genera and 173 botanical families, within which variety of ferns, bromeliads, anthuriums and orchids are highlighted, are responsible for beautifying the forest and the ways of Arví Park.

Soil

As surface formations that make the soil in Arví Park, are formed the floramientos rock of volcanic ash; all with different morphological and compositional characteristics.

Cultural heritage

The village of Santa Elena is recognized by the silletera tradition, a tradition that has been known since pre-Hispanic times and initially it was a means of transport, where peasants and indigenous people carried their backs people and products to Medellín and surrounding municipalities.

These freighters, known as silleteros have been declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Nation, and are people who through flowers passed from generation to generation for over 150 years, farming practices and ancestral knowledge.

Apart from the silletera culture, other cultural manifestations such as rural peasant traditions and customs that, despite being near the city, they have been kept in the territory.

The territory is an area of rich heritage and archaeological finds, allowing tell stories of millenary ancestral origins, such as the network of old roads, some of the open roads and other stone, with its prehispanic evocations on routes salt, gold, and timber.

In 1998, the Ministry of Culture declared a national treasure to Cuenca Alta de la Quebrada Piedras Blancas, by archaeological importance, with the Resolution 797 of July 31, 1998.