Casa Yahri

Our arrival at Casa Yahri after a long travel day from Isla Baru in the Caribbean revealed something truly unexpected: while we'd known the villa was intimate & accommodated few people, we didn't anticipate that our family of 4 would have the home to ourselves. As we soon learned, Casa Yahri is booking only 1 party at a time, so this was our private home during a 3-day visit to Barichara in Santander. My wife & I settled into the spacious master bedroom on the upper level (with big, wooden accordion doors & patio) while our two sons shared a large room with 2 doubles a level below. The villa's open-air layout - lush gardens, flowering plants & local artwork adding brilliant color to a large sitting area and a well-stocked kitchen leading out to a long, slender swimming pool & large, adjacent in-ground jacuzzi - is set against the backdrop of colonial Barichara just a short, forested walk from the bottom of the property. Casa Yahri's gracious host & manager Camila leads a team of house staff, cooks, groundskeepers & local "tuk-tuk" drivers (Anderson was our favorite) that meet every need. It was the perfect place to launch a morning-to-nite hiking & river rafting expedition to stunning Chica Mocha Canyon and, later, to fall into our outdoor shower, comfortable sweats and a bottle of chilled Argentine white before dinner prepared on-site by the chef of Casa Guati, a fine new restaurant in town. Yahri is also the perfect place to embark on a day of exploring the cobblestone streets, beautifully appointed homes, artisan shops & cafes of Barichara with our guide Nico, who knew all the best places (including lunch at Shanti, the private home & garden of well-known restauranter Carolina, whose fresh ceviches are flavorful & delicious). Barichara is a gem & Casa Yahri sparkles like a diamond.