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Published: August 31st 2010
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We've just come down from a high in Villa de Leyva. Oh and not the sort you might automatically think of when Colombia is mentioned. At the suggestion of a well meaning local, we've just climbed 300m above the town to get a bird's eye view of it - see the first photo. Well with dark clouds off to the South and rumblings of thunder every now and again - why not ? I put my Sergeant Wilson voice on and asked Felicity "Do you think that's wise?" (Google Dad's Army if you are lost at this point) - but to no avail We made ourselves into mountain goats and ascended the rocky climb, being told in Spanish near the top that God loves us. Given that we got up and down without issue and without rain, he probably does. But it was definitely worth the view, even if at our level of fitness we felt the climb up from Villa Leyva's 6500 ft (2000m).
I'm writing this blog a little bit back to front, having been in Villa de Leyva 3 days this is our last day. Today was actually a very healthy day - if you ignore the
Blackcurrant cheesecake and Rum and Plum flan we had for afternoon tea at the wonderful „Tartes y Tortas de la Villa“ in town.
We decided to make the 4km walk out to "El Fossil“ which, as its name suggests, is a fossil of a large kronosaurus from the early creataceous period (ie 125-189 million years ago). The walk is largely on a narrowish road with no pavement, so given that the drivers have had theit Bogota traffic shackles removed, you walk with care. It is still a good wander through nice countryside and given El Fossil is signposted on the road, it is reasonably easy to find. You have to pay 4000 Pesos (ca USD2) to get into see the fossil and a few of his friends. The bones of the star of the show are largely intact - only the tail is missing - and considering its age its fairly impressive. The rest of the museum takes about 15 minutes to swing through, so we were done in about half an hour.
Unfortunately, today was Monday and some of the other attractions we wanted to see, such as the Muisica Observatory - the Villa's answer to Stonehenge
- aren't open on Mondays. There are other places to see like the Dinosaur park (Gondava) or the Vineyard but they are quite a bit further away. We would have done a tour that costs 33,000-43,000 pesos each to see a few places, but the guy we asked would only take 4 people and with the BOGers (people from Bogota who visit at the weekend) gone and few foreign visitors around, it was unlikely we'd find the other two. By the way something I forgot to mention in the previous Blog, Bogotá's airport code is BOG (which would sum up the terminal we arrived at) and the council people proudly wear BOG on their uniforms. Hence my reference to BOGers.
There are plenty of things to see around Villa de Leyva and a car-based tour or walking aren't the only means of getting around. Yesterday we hired horses and did the cowboy thing, trekking out through the streets and the scrubland to firstly the Pozos Azules (blue pools). Small blue pools that are cold to swim in, but require you to pay about USD1 to see or USD3 if you want to swim. Not that exciting, even if it
is nice countryside. We wanted to got to El Fossil next, but as we just had the horses for 2 hours, the guide persuaded us to ride to the Granja de Avestruces (Ostrich farm) to see er...ostriches and other animals (llamas and water buffalo). No big deal either especially if, like us, you've seen these animals close up before. The 18,000 Pesos we paid to get in for the 15 minutes we spent there, on account of the horsey clock ticking, could have been much better spent.
One thing it could have been much better spent on is food. Villa de Leyva is a great place for foodies, with lots of good restaurants - even if, strangely, there is a predilection for Pizza and Pasta. There are upmarket places to go and equally good down market places too. We went to a local asado (roast) Restaurant one night. It was a biggish cafeteria-style layout, with basic decor but the food was great and very cheap. We had a massive plate of roast beef, pork and sausages to share between two for 20,000 Pesos (about USD11) and it was really delicious. As already mentioned, the desserts and breads available around
town are great and in any case, the setting that these restaurants are in are equally lovely.
Villa de Leyva is a really beautiful town. If you are heading north from Bogotá, it should definitely be one of your stopping off places. The buildings are very well maintained Spanish-colonial style and the roads are essentially cobbled but with large various shaped stones acting as cobbles - high heeled shoes should definitely be avoided. The town is very clean too, with the possible exception of glass from the broken bottles of Poker beer that the locals have an affinity for at all times of the day or night. But because of the height of the stones there is no risk of cutting yourself. It really is worth spending a day or so walking around the town. There is always something going on and with a large police presence, the town is very safe to walk around.
On Saturdays there is a market, which is always worth a wander around too. Its on two levels and on the upper part, there was a kind of lottery game going on with prizes being various bags of goodies. We think every ticket
Villa de Leyva: Horse Ride-1
Our horses (left) and the guide's (right) purchase was rewarded with a free beer, because there were lots of Poker beers being consumed around there this morning. The market is held just below the main school, which has a lovely reminder, presumably to the Poker drinkers, sprayed on the walls that 'this is a school area and not a public toilet'.
The main sqaure (Plaza Mayor) is the place where people congregate at the weekend, children fly their kites and there is (well was when we were there) little concerts of local music and dance given in front of the main church steps - even whilst there is a wedding going on inside, as was the case when we were there. The whole place is delightful - so much so that we extended our stay by a night to 4 nights.
Hotels and places to stay are numerous in Villa de Leyva, and at this time of year (August) there is plenty of availability. We stayed at the Hospedaje Sol de la Villa. It is a light and airy Hotel with nice sized rooms with private bathroom, TV and free WiFi. You can pay around USD200 per night for the top places but this one
cost us around USD50 including a simple but nice breakfast. With so much unfilled capacity it is worthwhile asking for a discount - especially if you arrive during the week when there are no BOGers. We could have probably negotiated a cheaper price, but it was in our budget and it ticked all the boxes, so we didn't push it.
All in all, definitely a lovely place to be. Our next stop is Barichara, a place which our lonely planet guide describes as '...the kind of town Hollywood filmakers dream about'. Will it be as good as Villa de Leyva ? - time will tell.
Places we have visited and can recommend Hotels
Hospedaje Sol de la Villa
Carrera 8A No. 12.28 (One block from Plaza Meyor/main square)
Restaurants/Cafes
Tartas y Tortas de la Villa (Gourmet cakes & pastries)
Carrera 10 No 11-39 (two blocks from Plaza Meyor/main square)
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