http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Colombia , Villa de Leyva en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:00:57 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:00:57 +0000 This weekend I went to a town north of Bogota called Zipaquira with Carolina and Felipe. This place is actually Colombias number one tourist site but I can tell you that there did not seem to be any other mochilas there than me. Carolina told me that people just stared at me I guess I am quite spectacular with my blonde hair blue eyes being 10cm taller than everyone o However noone is r http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-438669.html 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 ear http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-437988.html I woke early this morning to the sound of church bells clanging and roosters crowing. Glancing around the room I sighed with relief and went back to sleep. Ahhhh.... I though no roommates.For the sheer kick of paying only 7 per night for a place to stay I spent Friday night in a shared dorm room at a backpacker hostel the ecolodge Renacer Guesthouse. One night was more than enough. Especially http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-434284.html 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 disp http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-434283.html At the bus station in Bogota I asked a lady which terminal for Tunja two hours away and we were in luck. From some of her Spanish and her body language I gathered that she was going there also. This saved us the usual hassle of wandering around being yelled at by men saying the names of every town in Colombia as quickly as they can We squashed in the the colectivo the journey was surprising a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-432824.html After the noise and chilly weather in Bogota we were both looking forward to getting to what is said to be one of the colonial gems of Colombia Villa de Leyva. We caught the bus from Bogota and arrived at Villa de Leyva in the late afternoon and checked into a hostel called Colombian Highlands which was a little bit outside the main village but very peaceful. We also had a private double room http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-419786.html Am wochenende war ich mit ein paar leuten in villa de leyva einem total schnen ruhigen stdtchen in der nhe von bogot ca. 4 h mit auto. dieser ort war das genaue gegenteil von bogot klein ruhig saubere luft ein architektonisches schmuckstck und der perfekte ort um mal abzuschalten. durch zufall fand dort an diesem wochenende eine fria statt also eine art kleiner jahrmarkt mir f http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-418291.html 28th June Villa de Leyva ColombiaThe town was having a festival this weekend. The cost of all the hostels went up from maybe 30000 pesos per night to 6070000 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-413675.html 27th June Villa de LeyvaIn our neverending efforts to save money we chose to buy breakfast from the supermarket. Colombia was alot more expensive than we thought the cost of a hostel was basically half of our daily budget.We ended up with tasteless croissants and a yogurt each. We also stocked up on some high energy food as we going to go on a hike from the town of Villa de Leyva to a waterfall http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-413663.html 26th June Villa de LeyvaI 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 work http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-413662.html Hola AmigosHet kost wat moeite maar ik kan me er eindelijk toezetten een blog te schrijven. Het is voor mij ook even terugdenken want het is al zon maand geleden maar ik zal mijn best doen. Inmiddels ben ik van continent gewisseld maar daar komen we later op terug.Ik was gebleven bij de voorbereidingen van onze trip naar Corcovado. Zodoende trokken we met al ons eten en een spaarzame voorraad http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-410868.html Last year when I was travelling people had told that me that Colombia was fantastic and it really was no word of a lie.......and thats why Ive been so poor keeping the blog up to date. And here I am with only 2 weeks left and struggling to fit it all in....After Bogota I went to a place called Villa de Leyva. After a long winding mountain route I arrived to a very pretty colonial town...a place http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-401311.html Day 704 03.03.09 The small colonial town of Villa de Leyva was given protected status over 50 years ago and so none of the buildings are modern and the cobbled streets are lined with small whitewashed houses with pretty little balconies and brightly coloured flowers tumble over high garden walls. We had managed to catch a brief but beautiful glimpse of the town on our way through in the dark the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-378914.html Villa de LeyvaWanted signs are plastered on walls and the midday sun glistens off gun handles. A commotion breaks out on one side of the town square followed by a horse dashing off through the streets. People murmur and exclaim lsquoZorrorsquo.Villa de Leyva is not only a popular weekend destination for Bogotans but so dramatically picturesque that it is regularly converted into a movie set http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-357743.html I have so many photos from the Villa de Leyva region I decided to create two separate entries. We visited an Ostrich Farm and this small fossil musem ingeniously named El Fossil and Estacion Astronomica Muisca. First the Ostrich farm.....Nothing terribly noteworthy to write about but an interesting couple of hours. No we didn't dine on the creatures apparently they only serve ostrich dinner http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-338016.html If Villa de Leyva doesn't enchant and enrapture you then quite possibly you've been at your desk too long. This little pueblo is irresistible. We helped ourselves to mouthwatering comedia infatuating cobbled calles and stumbled across deliciously bizarre sights. Staying only 4 nights left me wanting more rumor has it that the drummer who played with Elivis Presley lives in the area and owns a ba http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-336621.html Leaving Bogota we were up reasonably early and squeezed ourselves onto a micro to the bus terminal. Once again we got straight onto a bus about to depart to Tunja and since no one else had taken them we took the 2 seats up front with the driver which was quite exciting but also somewhat scary to have such a good view of Colombian driving. After 4 hours we were dumped off outside the bus terminal http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-315436.html HolaQue pasoooooooo Hoe is het met iedereen Maastricht is bezig met de INKOM introductieweek dus ik weet dat jullie in de greppel liggen Familie en vrienden weer terug van vakantie en aan het bijkomen Ik denk zelfs dat de meesten al weer aan het werkde studie zijn Geen idee wat het weer bij jullie is maar ik hoop dat jullie veel zon hebben.. dat de Hattemers naar het Heerderstrand gaa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-314058.html Weve now been away from home for nearly 8 months. In that time I estimate that I have lost over 75 of my worldly belongings the recent dearth of photographs of me is due to the fact that I am reluctant to be seen in a sack cloth packed my bag over 700 times taken over 412 international flights and consumed more omelettes than Robinson Crusoe on Chicken Island the little known sequel.In a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-285190.html 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. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Villa-de-Leyva/blog-261054.html