Mucho Frio - Villa de Leyva, Colombia

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After an uneventful six hour bus ride South (it's amazing what you get used to and what seems normal now, never back home would I even consider taking a bus for 6+ hours. Here it is just natural) I arrived at Villa de Leyva at about seven at night and quickly found accommodation at Hostal Rana. Villa de Leyva is another colonial town founded by the Spanish in 1572. Apparently the Spanish did a lot of colonizing around here back in the day. The villages here are so old and they exude history. I never tire of the feeling of stepping back into time, although walking on cobblestone is more difficult than one would think. The city itself was very quiet and the architecture similar to what I've seen in Barichara and Guane, albeit larger than the two. It was a nice stop off point to break up the trip down South to Bogota and at an altitude of 7,500 feet for the first time in 6 weeks I was in long pants, a coat, and the flip flops were put back into the bag. It was quite cold.

The days here were spent hiking around the surrounding mountains taking in the views of the valley below. At night it was fun to grab a chair in the main square Plaza Mayor and watch the locals go about their lives. One night I met Diego, a really nice guy from Bogota doing his study in graphic design in Villa de Leyva. He wanted to practice his English and I was happy to have his company. Nothing else was really going on so after a couple of days I devised my plan to go to the Amazon jungle where I currently find myself.

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