There Seems to be only a handful of Books about the Sierra.
My search so far has been limited to information available on the Internet, and the Library of the National Bank of Colombia here in Valledupar
The library had a handful of mildly useful things, including a few maps that were actually on the wall. There were some books on Natives in Colombia, a few were overviews or surveys with only a page or two dedicated to each of the tribes here in the Sierra. It’s said that Bogota is where everything is, and that finding things like book stores is difficult everywhere else. There are two libraries in Valledupar, and the bigger of the two was randomly closed when I showed up. When I asked the security guard why, implying that it sounded like a corrupt cock up, he kind of smiled that smile that said you’re right, but having grown up in Colombia, I would never say that,but I am kind of excited you said it!
Wikipedia:
it has what it has… the entries in Spanish appear to be a lot more rich in detail.. maybe it’s time for me to take my spanish to the next level, hey babe!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_de_Santa_Marta
Expeditions:
I have found two, one seems to be translated into spanish from some european langauge, and is account of a guy named Plouffie or something like that who went into the sierra from the Coast along the Palomino it appears in 1916.. it has a lot of discussion of Koguis and Arawakus, much of it anecdotal. My spanish is just barely sufficient for this kind of prose, but I saw a bit on how bug bites had him laid out for a month due to infections in his feet, which rang true for me since the only reason I was in the damn library is because I am limping with a foot infection as we speak.
William Sefriz from the University of Pennsylvania seems to have gone up the mountain from the Caribbean in 1934. I have to work up the courage to shell out the 12 bucks to read his book, and it’s likely worth it, I just hate the drudgery of e commerce! I’ll get it eventually..
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/208919?uid=3737808&uid=2460338175&uid=2460337935&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=83&uid=63&sid=21101425144893