Blogs from Villa de Leyva, Colombia, South America - page 3

At the bus station A tout "helped" me find a company that goes to Bucaramanga, Brasilia Expresso, I told the lady I need to leave right away, I asked if there was a 7pm bus, i thought she understood me, she issued me a ticket then I noticed it leaves at 9pm! I did not make my way here in a rush just to wait 2 more hours! So a guy who speaks minimal English helped me out, I asked if there is no earlier departure either from them or another company, he said "no". Ok no choice so i bought a ticket. Since I have time to kill I walked around and this other tout asked me where I am going, i said i have a ticket to Bucaramanga already but I asked him what ... read more

I recently read that in 2008, Colombia ranked the third happiest country in the world. From what I have seen so far, I have absolutely no reason to believe otherwise. And I am not referring to a "they have nothing but they are happy anyway" kind of situation. Quite the contrary: Colombians seem to enjoy a very high quality of life, and appear to have everything they need. There are no obvious displays of materialism or extravagance, and I also haven't seen much blatant or desperate poverty, as I did in India, or even in parts of the U.S. Services are plentiful and efficiently run, roads are paved, streets are clean. Everyone has shoes on their feet. It is a country that seems to be well-kept and cared for, and its citizens rightly take great pride ... read more

Knowing that we wouldn't be back, I was sad to leave our hotel in the morning, but I was looking forward to the tour of the surrounding area we had planned for the rest of the day. A breakfast of url=http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Huevos-con-Hogao.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/2009/10/baked-eggs-with-colombian-style-tomato-and-onion-sauce-huevos-con-hogao.html&usg=__76xxmg_lR7WcDlhPQZdAQJad7g4=&h=336&w=448&sz=48&hl=en&start=10&sig2=AI8U6--8xPEcIFGeiKLBmA&um=1&tbnid=g0vTO6fG9JwCKM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhuevos%2Bpericos%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26um%3D1&ei=N8hES9nsM-CA8Qbbou3WBA/huevos pericos, juice, and coffee was served in the dining room, and then we were on our way. Our first stop was the Finca de Avestruces (Ostrich Farm). We followed guided lectures on the ostriches... read more

28th June, Villa de Leyva, Colombia The town was having a festival this weekend. The cost of all the hostels went up from maybe 30,000 pesos per night to 60/70,000 pesos! But our hostel was a dump! It was under heavy construction and was really noisy all day because of the builders. There was also never any hot water, so I think the owner knew she couldnt charge us what the other hostels charge on a festival weekend, so she charged us 40,000 per night for the weekend. We visited a cafe for lunch called Teresa's cafe, just off the main plaza. It was a great place, all over the walls were messages from the people who had visited the cafe. But it didnt look tacky, it had a nice feel to it. We ordered some ... read more

26th June, Villa de Leyva I was woken up by what I thought was a storm! I thought I heard people saying there was a storrm coming and there was loads of banging, so I thought they were boarding up the windows. Terrified I woke Jake who just laughed at my crazy imagination. When I walked out of the room, I realised the 'storm' I thought I heard, and the 'boarding up of windows' was the builders working in the next few rooms. I hadnt realised the hostel was under construction! And there were hardly any clouds in the sky!! We went to a cute small cafe for breakfast. The portions here are designed for midgets i think (the average colombian is probably only about 5 foot!) so Jake had to order two breakfasts! I was ... read more