Villa de Leyva: cheap, good food and relaxing place in South America

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When time seems to lose its rhythm



White walls seem to come to life in the cozy nights of Villa de Leyva when as quiet witnesses of our history, hundreds and hundreds of yellow butterflies alight, spending the night flapping their wings occasionally while they wait the first ray of light that wakes up the overwhelmed activity of “La Villa”, which paradoxically pass in the most longed calm.

At 2143 meters above sea level and in the side of a big mountain range known as “Macizo de Iguaque”, we find this beautiful town with a magnificent weather that some people describe as Mediterranean.

“La Villa” is a cultural and historic Paradise of the center of Colombia, declared national monument in 1954 and thanks to that and its dedicated architecture, it offers pleasurable living condition for its residents and tourists.

Easy to arrive, difficult to leave it

Only three hours, including two in a double lane highway, separate the capital city from Villa de Leyva, it ensures a constant traffic of domestic and foreign visitors throughout the year.

“La Villa” It is a healthy soil, ideal for walking, exercising, meditating or just relaxing, where violence and crime are virtually nonexistent; on the contrary, its inhabitants are friendly and helpful people who live in harmony and struggle diligently to give eternal life to paradise.

Villa de Leyva is a land of traditions, a land of spinners and wool weavers, of farmers and artisans, of plastic artists and writers; its 10.000 inhabitants are divided between those who have been living there for generations, and foreigners who arrived there to fall in love with that land and never go away.

Villa de Leyva has many of the facilities existing in the big cities: hotels and hotel chains equipped with satellite television, comfortable rooms, spas, wireless Internet, between other services for the most demanding people; inns and hostels for those who are adventurous, traditional and international food restaurants, banks, transportation services, ATMs (Automated Teller Machines), shopping malls, schools, supermarkets etc., making it a focus of development in the region, and an excellent investment opportunity for those who are involved in the tourism industry.

On the other hand its surroundings are full of historical remains embedded between roads through nature trails, water fountains and deserts where the overwhelming development machinery hasn't arrived yet.

It’s also very common for retired people or those with health conditions to live there taking advantage of the benefits of its mild and dry climate, and the calm in which the days pass free of pollution, noise, signs and lights, and the burden that the time brings since as well as the “villaleyvan” architecture brings us to mind the colonial era, it also gives us the feeling that time fracture its ravaging hike, to run in a slow and harmonic way.

Land of everything and for everyone

Throughout the year as a way to enchant its visitors, the town hosts several festivals and activities that enable cultural exchange between the different manifestations of the country, the transmission of oral communication and centennial customs, besides the exposure of different folksamples that are part of the national character to foreign visitors.

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Photos

"La Villa's" Main Square
Dogs sleeping on the paradise

Land of freedom
A Child jumps free as the wind

Comments

[Ramz]

Superb
Hi Juanita, I just saw your blog, the narration and snaps are really woderful. The locations are fantastic. No dought this attracts tourists and retired people. The snap of young girl springing up is marvellous. la Villa 8 is alos a stunning shot. Your photography sense is good and intelligent. Welcome to travel blog and do post more. Wish you all the very best. Villa de Levya is class, wish i see this place once. Ramz from India. do visit my page.