This was originally going to be a blog about Bogota, the Colombian capital; however I only slept there for two nights and I spent no time there during the day. My time was spent in Villa de Leyva instead; and hence it is the subject of this blog. The reason for my change of destination was that some of the people I met in Salento were heading to Villa de Leyva and so I thought I would do the same.
Villa de Leyva is in the Colombian Highlands and it is about four hours north by bus from Bogota. It is a small village that resembles Cusco in Peru; except that it does not have any large churches. The architecture of its colonial buildings and its cobbled streets are reminiscent of Cusco and, of course, make it aesthetically-pleasing. Villa de Leyva is a small, rural town just like Salento and therefore it has a friendly local population.
There is not a huge amount to see or do in the town itself; although it is a nice place to sit and relax. The hostel I stayed at, named Colombian Highlands, is a large house surrounded by gardens and with great views over the countryside and this made it a good place to sit and relax. The countryside is one of the best parts of being in the Villa de Leyva because it contains many hills, woodland trails and waterfalls. I know there are archaeological sites outside the town, but I didn't have sufficient time to go to them.
Villa de Leyva has a reputation for having certain types of mushrooms growing around its waterfalls and we went out in search of said mushrooms during the day; but to no avail. We had an idea of where to look and what to look for, but I guess a lot of people had been there before us. The fruitless search at least took us out into the country for some exercise and fresh air and the hunt was good fun even if nothing came of it.
This blog is fairly short as I only spent a couple of days in Villa de Leyva and therefore I didn't have enough time to fully explore the area. I have added some photos of the town on Facebook and they can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=31314&l=fd393&id=603086503. I have now moved north to the town of Santa Marta and I will pass my final week around the Caribbean coast before my flight out of South America from Cartagena.
Colombia's Flag
Map of Colombia