Villa de Levya or Bust

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WOW! Thanks, ali, for the advice about the @ symbol! i don´t know how i would ever get that.

I wish i had more time here, Its really not enough to spend only a week in a country, I barely scratched the surface. Yesterday, we met some guys on the plane on their way to peru, that were travelling for over a year. They made it through on $20 a day.

Anyway, forgot where i left off in colombia, and i´m actually in argentina right now! backtracking...

We ended up going to Villa De Levya about 3 hours (or supposedly 3 hours) from Bogota. Its a small preserved town, complete with gauchos and hard bargaining local artisans. We scoffed at the $120 a driver at the hotel wanted to charge us for a ride there and back, and took the bus instead. We were promised only 1 connection and a total cost of around $20.

Well, the cost was right, and the first bus was a roller coaster ride up mountains greener than Tuscany. (i´m guessing here). I´ve never seen land so deeply green. It wasn´t nearly as harsh as driving up a mountain in jamaica with the stick shift up your but, because there´s 5 people squeezed in to the backseat. And views,!! i´ll never go to the grand canyon, now.

But then we tried to make our connection, and 6 or 7 guys tried to get us to take their bus, none of which led directly to Villa de Levya. The one we took dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, where we got our advice from a teenager, who thought we were crazy. We ended up getting a taxi from there and the driver spoke perfect english! from a year spent in New York in highschool!

In any case, Villa de Levya was worth it, if only for Raul who took us on a 3 hour horseback ride, and got our horses to gallop by whistling. $5US an hour! we tipped him well. but i wish i could have said in spanish how much fun i had!

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Comments

[Simone]

Horseriding for 3 hrs - im so jealous!!! sounds like you are having a crazy adventure...dont come back...just send us tickets !!

[Noelle]

Wow Channon, this is like something out of the NY Times travel section what you're doing. Horseback riding for $5 US?! Damn...now if only you can find a polo player that inexpensive...