Colombia - Villa de Leyva

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David here...

The journey from Bogota was a little more stressful than it should've been due to the bus terminal being moved and the conductor constantly trying to tell us something in Spanish. Damn Google Translate not working offline at just the time we needed it. Anyway, as Suzanne mentioned in the previous post, the scenery was stunning, especially the bit between Tunja (pronounced Tunka, as someone helpfully told us in passing on the street). It reminded me of Switzerland without the snow or the peak district, just bigger. We arrived at the Terminal del Transporte and stepped out into Villa de Leyva, which can only be described as one of the most beautiful towns we have ever been. No wonder the guidebooks say it is a must see.

All of the buildings are low rise and painted white, even commercial businesses. The whole town is cobbled and can be difficult to walk on, but it adds to the charm somewhat. The town is surrounded by hills and mountains and is a stunning backdrop to everything. There is no way that the photos will do this place justice. The central area of town is the massive Plaza Mayor, the biggest square of its kind in Colombia, and like the rest of the town, is beautiful. The church on the square is very modest, without the usual exterior decoration or massive spire. It is like the builders took one look at the hills that would form the background for the church and just didn't see the point of going overboard. And it works, the church, while modest, sits beautifully in front of the hills and looks amazing. You can probably tell that I like this place, actually, love this place.

Our guesthouse was a 10 minute walk from the bus station and was called Die Sonne Hospedaria. Our room was spacious, clean with a second bed where we could stow our packs, which actually makes a big difference to floor space for us. We unpacked our essentials, relaxed, looked up restaurants in town and then wandered out, strolling round, soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the cobbled streets and white walled houses. We ended up on the main square where many people were out, drinking beer from the many shops surrounding the plaza. So, we joined them. I had beer, Suzanne stuck to mango juice.

After this, we were hungry so went to the well reviewed Pizzaria Olivas Y Especias and had an expensive large pepperoni pizza between us. Very disappointing indeed. We have no idea why the place is so highly regarded. After this we sat on the square for a little while, I may have had a couple of beers while there before heading back to the hotel, relaxing for a while before bed time.

After a decent nights sleep, we were up at 08:30 for a breakfast of fried eggs, bread, corn arepas, lime juice and coffee and looked at what we could do in town for the day. We decided on walking up to Mirador El Santo, a statue of Jesus that overlooks the town. The walk was described as tough and steep at times and takes about 90 minutes to get to. We could see the statue and the walk up from the bottom and it didn't look like it would take that long. It did! It was steep, tough going and great exercise. It was worth it though. The view of the town and the surrounding hills was stunning. We stayed up there for about an hour, despite the group up there constantly shouting and asking each other to take photos of them doing yoga on top of a rock. Are the British the only nationality that has an inside voice mode?

We could see that rain was looking likely so made our way back down very, very carefully. Once back in the town we had a very nice coffee at Cafe Jardin before going to 2 free museums; Casa Museo Antonio Nariño and Casa Museo Antonio Ricaurte, both dedicated to heroes of the town. Both were very small, totally in Spanish but worth stopping at. We had another coffee on the square before heading back to the guesthouse to freshen up and heading out for the evening.

We had 2 options for an evening meal, one turned out to be closed and another was empty of other customers. Didn't fill us with joy being the only people in a restaurant. But we gave them a chance as we had expected the town to be quiet once the weekend day trippers had left. The Restaurante Orion en la Villa was small, cosy and decorated with musicians and music festival posters. The service was just right, attentive but left us alone. The food was lovely, Suzanne had salmon and I had pork and we felt full when we left. Good value as well compared to some other restaurants in town. We then sat in the square, me with a beer, watching the world pass by before it started raining and we headed back to the room for the night.

The next day we headed to the bus station to catch a bus that passed the Cascadas la Periquera, some local waterfalls we had read about. We were directed to a bus and it left pretty much straight away, taking about 45 minutes to cover the 15km to the falls. The journey was COP 4,000 each, around £1.10 and went through the back roads and smaller villages picking people up and dropping off as it went. The driver told us when to get off and what time the bus was due back (about 3.5 hours later) and a passenger pointed in the direction of the falls for us.

It was a short walk to the park entrance, which had lovely views of the area. We got to the first sign directing us to a house and a price of COP 5,000 per person. We approached the house and about 5 dogs came charging out barking at us. A man then came out and pointed us to the real entrance to the park, at a cost of COP 10,000 per person. The falls themselves are nice, not spectacular but nice. The walk takes about an hour to see each of the 3 main cascades and is mainly downhill there. We were led to believe that it was a loop walk however it was the same way back, uphill...at altitude.

We finally made it back to the entrance where we bought a beer for me and a juice for Suzanne and sat overlooking the valley. It was so lovely and peaceful that I ended up with another beer. While drinking that it started to rain, fortunately we were under cover. After about an hour we headed back to the road to wait for the bus. While waiting a jeep pulled up and asked if we were going to Leyva. We said yes and jumped in. Suzanne had spotted that this was a commercial combi so we were worried about how much it was going to be. He picked up another passenger on the way and we were back in town in no time. The cost, COP 5,000 each, only 2,000 more than the bus, though we did leave our umbrella behind.

We decided to go back to our room earlier and book a few flights, bus tickets and hotels in our next country, which was successful before trying to freshen up and head out. When we came to shower, there was no water pressure and as the shower had a head that heated the water, it came through scalding. We managed however and were soon on our way for food. We ate at La Pomarola which had good reviews of their lasagna, which Suzanne was craving. Again we were the only ones in the place and a TV was on plus a girl in there was watching videos on her phone. We might not have stayed but had already ordered. Actually, the atmosphere was nice, there was a big open kitchen so you could see the food being prepared and the lasagna was lovely. Big, cheesy and tasty good. It was then back to the room as it was raining.

After a decent breakfast we packed up and waved goodbye to Villa de Leyva as we headed for the 11:00 bus. We got to the bus station only to find that the 11:00 bus was either full or not running so we had an hour to kill until the next mini-van was due to leave. We just sat in the main plaza for a while, chatting and watching the world go by. We loved Villa de Leyva and could easily have stayed for longer, much like Guatape. It is a beautiful place that we would highly recommend visiting.

The 12:00 mini-van left promptly and was about half full for the majority of the journey, with locals jumping off and on at various points. The journey took over 3 hours to get back to Bogota so I stowed my shoulder bag in the overhead shelf and dozed for the majority of the journey. After 3 hours the mini-van pulled up at Portal Norte bus terminal. We knew we could get a number of buses from there to nearby the hotel we were staying at, so we quickly jumped off, got our backpacks and headed along the footbridge and into the Transmilenio bus station using our Tu Llave card, which we had cleverly loaded up with enough journeys to get us to the hotel and then to the airport when we were due to leave the next day.

It was as we were walking down to the bus platforms when the sinking, heart stopping and frankly horrifying realisation hit me that I had left my shoulder bag on the overhead shelf on the bus. Not to panic, it didn't have much in it that we needed...only our passports, yellow-fever certificates, the camera and the tablet (so both our primary and back-up of all our photos). Plus my prescription glasses and sunglasses and various other stuff we use day to day. Total panic set in as I turned to Suzanne and told her I'd left my bag on the bus. I quickly sprinted back up and out of the station and onto the footbridge but the bus was already gone and I could not see it in the traffic in the distance. We had no clue what to do. We'd never been in this position before and I felt completely helpless. We had flights booked the next day, hotels booked up in Peru, all our Colombia photos were gone. The realisation of what we could be losing felt like the weight of the world crashing down on me. How could I be so stupid as to leave such an important bag on a bus? I'm better than that, or so I thought. Obviously it was not as bad as if one of us was injured but it would mess up the majority of our plans in Peru. All we had was the bus ticket for the trip (unusual as the driver normally takes it) which had the company name and a few phone numbers on, but without a phone, this was pretty much useless.

I did the only thing I could think of, I went back to the entrance to the Transmilenio station and asked an attendant if they spoke English and could they help me. Unfortunately she didn't speak any English at all, however a passenger walking by heard and said they could help, seeing I was obviously in distress. I explained what had happened. Then someone else came over to help, and someone else and someone else. When Suzanne caught up with me I had about 5 or 6 people round me with their phones out all trying to ring the bus company. As this was going on a security guard beckoned us over and told us to go with him. I thanked the people all trying to help and we followed the guard back to the bus platform where he calmed us down and tried to tell us that everything will be fine, in Spanish.

A bus conductor came over and he could speak excellent English and another guard and they all tried ringing the numbers on the ticket, with no luck. The conductor then went online and found another number and gave it to one of the guards who got through to someone. They explained the situation and said that they will look for the bag on the bus and call back. About 5 minutes went by, which felt much, much longer, when they rang back and said they had the bag. The relief was immense, I can tell you, but how to get it back?

The original security guard again beckoned us to follow him and he took us out of the bus station and back down to the road where we waited for a few minutes. We didn't know whether we were waiting for our bag to be brought back or whether we had to go somewhere. Eventually a mini-van pulled up and the guard spoke with the driver and then told us to get on. We were led to believe that we needed to go to a terminal station somewhere else in Bogota. All we could do was trust what was happening and we jumped on to the mini-van.

The van drove it's normal route, which went everywhere and it was another 30-45 sickening minutes before we arrived at a bus terminal and were told to go round to the left. We asked how much the journey was and the driver waved us away, again telling us to go in and head left. So we did, thanking him very much. We walked through the, quite frankly, massive bus terminal looking for some indication of where the bus company office might be. Someone approached us and offered assistance and again directed us on where to go, when eventually we spotted the company sign.

I quite literally ran over, only to find the people there had no clue what we were talking about. My heart sank, before one of the men told me to follow and he took us through a doorway and there was another ticket office and my bag was sat there looking as full as I'd left it. The relief spilled through me and I cannot explain that feeling at all. Going from pure terror to that much relief, I still have not fully recovered as I type this a day after. I know losing possesions and our passports is not the end of the world, far worse things can happen, but the cost, hassle and time to sort replacements out and the loss of our photos just would've been heartbreaking so to get our bag back, complete with everything in it just made me so happy.

Obviously, without the help and kindness of everyone at the station and the bus driver we would've been unlikely to have got the bag back, we cannot thank them enough. We would love to find each and everyone of them to personally thank them, but cannot, but we are so grateful to them for assisting us yesterday. It highlighted just how friendly, kind and helpful the majority of Colombian people are. This is something we have found in all of our travels in Colombia, people have been so welcoming and interested in us and it has made us really love this country.

This all took place over the course of about 90 minutes and we had no clue where we now were or how to get to our hotel. A quick Google showed a Transmilenio stop a 20 minute walk away but after all the 'excitement' we decided to get to the hotel quickly so jumped into a taxi. It took about 30 minutes and cost us £7, and it started chucking it down, glad we didn't bus it as we would've got soaked. In fact, it didn't stop raining for about 6 hours, with lots of spectacular lightening and thunder to go with it.

The hotel we were staying at was just outside Chapinero and was called Hotel Abitare 56 and is more like an Ibis, but cost the same per night as the hostel we stayed in last time we were in Bogota. The room was a little small, mainly due to the massive bed, but it was clean, modern and with a good shower and fridge. We immediately felt at home and comfortable. We printed out boarding passes at the hotel computer for free and with no hassle and had a couple of beers in the room before heading out for food and some drinks.

We ate at Buffalo Wings, a short walk away from our hotel, which was OK but very expensive for what you got. COP 7,500 for a local beer was extortionate, we stuck to water and soft drink. We then headed to another new (to us) Rock bar called Blossom and stayed there for a few hours, reliving the traumatic events of the day and cheering to the people who helped us. The bar was not as Metal as Dynasty, Open Light or Abbott y Costello but was alternative enough to be enjoyable and relaxed. A nice way to end such a stressful but ultimately rewarding day.

Our flight to Peru (the 11th country of the trip and the 7th new one so far) was not until nearly 22:00 so we made full use of the 13:00 check-out at the hotel. Breakfast was nice and filling and only enhanced our enjoyment at being in such a nice but cheap hotel. We decided that as we wanted to stay near our luggage (which we'd left at the hotel) and we needed some shopping, we would head to a nearby shopping mall for the afternoon. It was also grey and the forecast for the day was nothing but rain. We walked the 40 minutes in the drizzle and got to the mall and spent about an hour wandering round, not actually going into any shops as they were far too expensive, high end brands when we were after something along the line of Boots back home or Watsons in Asia. By this time it had started chucking it down so we decided to grab a coffee, first at a Starbucks across from the mall, but found it full of people using the wi-fi but not actually drinking coffee. We then tried a coffee place back in the mall but found it too expensive considering it was in a food court, so gave up on that idea.

We then tried finding some food. We picked out 3 local restaurants that fitted the bill, the first was gone, the second was closed and the 3rd was too posh for us looking scruffy and wet. We passed a few others as we walked back to the hotel area but nothing appealed. By now it was getting too late for food so we got back to the hotel, picked up our bags and made our way to the nearby bus stop where we could get the K86 airport bus.

There were a few people at the bus stop waiting and soon enough we realised why, every single bus passing by was rammed full. Not just busy, but rammed. We had 2 airport buses pass by and then a bit of a wait when 3 all came at the same time, all of them rammed. We would not be able to get on if it was just us, let alone with our packs. We waited for about 40 minutes and decided we were running out of time so managed to flag down a taxi. We asked how much to the airport and he surprisingly said it would be on the meter. In about 45 minutes we were at the airport and it only cost COP 28,000, really good value even when rounded up. We were so pleased that our last experience of Bogota was not a scammy taxi driver.

We then found the Viva Colombia bag drop off desks and there was a massive queue. This took an hour to go through, with a group of annoying travellers constantly talking rubbish in front of us and a woman who kept pushing her suitcase into the back of our legs. We finally got through to the gates desperate for some food however our flight was showing as go to gate. All we had time to do was to grab an overpriced quiche and some empanadas from a cafe and rush to our gate. We quickly ate our food as everyone was boarding buses to get to the plane. The flight itself would've been alright if not for the idiot sat in front of me who had no idea how to sit still and kept pushing back on his seat, crushing my knees in the proces. Even the woman in front of him and the man next to him had to tell him to stop being a fool. I had to jam my knees and head behind his seat and push back so I could write out the custom and immigration forms, what a cockwomble.

I'm finding that I am getting more and more angry and annoyed at other peoples inconsideration, be it staring at a phone instead of looking where they are going, watching videos or playing music without headphones or not thinking about the impact of their actions on others around them. Maybe I'm just too old for this sh*t or is the world becoming a more inconsiderate place to be? I'd like to think not as shown by our experience with the lost bag, there are people out there willing to assist and help if they can but I see people acting in ways I would never dream of, or at least hope I don't, every single day.

Anyway, enough moaning, we got to Lima fine despite my poor knees and got through immigration with no issues, though the lady behind the counter took our customs form and when we asked for it, she made out that we didn't need it. We got to the empty customs queue and were turned back as we didn't have a form. Frustrating. We quickly filled a new one out and joined the now massive queue to have our bags scanned, and then we stepped out into Peru for the first time.

I was a little apprehensive about Colombia before arriving. It felt like a world away from the relative safety of Asia and you can't help thinking that on every street corner someone is waiting to rob you, kidnap you or worse...make you listen to reggae. After the first few days I did think Colombia was going to kill us, but not through foul means but through Heavy Metal bars, alcohol, late nights and too many empanandas. There are people on every street corner watching you but are much more likely to offer help than cause you trouble, if you use common sense of course. Colombia is also surprisingly beautiful, with cities surrounded by mountains and hills, pretty little villages on lakes and colonial towns set with amazing backdrops. It is safe to say that Colombia is our favourite country so far on this trip and we were both sad to be leaving. We've only just scratched the surface of this wonderful country and we take away with us some wonderful memories of the places we've been, the sights we've seen and the kindness of the people...plus a big bottle of Aguardiente.

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