My little journey to the beautiful little colonial town of Villa de Leyva was an excellent self discovery mission and probably one of the most entertaining adventures of my trip.
Good start when the taxi ride was quicker and cheaper than expected, then the first connecting bus left as soon as I arrived. Then after bartering the second connecting bus with "no precios gringos" I was home free. Or so I thought...after searching aimlessly for around an hour I discovered that my hostal had recently changed address, so the random Colombian man in the car offering me a ride to "wherever I need to go", was actually legit and was not a kidnap attempt. Score. So after apologising for rejecting his helpful offer I met the super lovely Marta at Hostal Solar. If I haven't already mentioned how amazingly friendly and hospitable the Colombian people are, consider this it. And Marta sums it all up in one human being. Her complete lack of English was really not a problem; it is surprising and equally refreshing to realise how much Spanish I had picked up when faced with someone who was patient and spoke slowly. We had some great conversations and spent some quality time with the 2 day old kittens of her beautiful gatita!!
Mission day two:
After a lovely Marta breakfast to fuel the day I headed off on my trek to see the sights.
First on the list were the lovely "Pozos Azules" (blue pools), which were quite a striking contrast to the semi-desert environment.
On the way to the next destination "El Fossil" (I'm sure you can work that one out!), I was stopped by a Canadian biker who fast tracked my tour. After nearly taking a spill on the first corner due to a misjudgement in Russ' weight, we arrived at the archaeological site safe and sound. These guys make great white sharks look like bait fish! Would NOT want to see one of these diving!
A wrong turn at Alberquirky set us on the trail to a circa 1600's monastery which turned out to be quite the sight. Excellent result from a poorly scaled tourist map.
Next stop another archaeological site that was at the top of my list. My disappointment on arrival was quickly taken from me as the black clouds that had been a horizon back drop for the whole day decided they would take their part in my story. Approximately 27 seconds after we took off on the bike we got the first taste of Villa Lluvia. Around 2 minutes later we got the full brunt of it including the most intense thunder storm I have ever been lucky enough to be unprotected in, including hail stones! Returning drenched and cold, my mood was swiftly lifted by a lovely Bogotá family who took my out to a late lunch making me an honorary member of the family. Did I mention the Colombian people yet? Yep, thought so.
And as a final note, the trip brought me to something which I had been searching for, for some years now...
