Villa De Leyva

Villa de Leyva

From Zipaquira to we caught a bus on a very bumpy road to another and a third which had some mechanical problem with the rear wheel and arrived at Villa de Leyva. Villa de Leyva is a colonial town whose center is a preserved as a historic monument. Bogotanos come here on the weekend and the place booms. The streets are paved with round river rocks which are rough for cars and for walking. From the bus terminal we hired a ride in a pickup truck from a guy named Cesar. He was very friendly and when Curtis quizzed him about eating options he called a buddy and came up with La Guaca Restaurant. We stayed at Renacer hostel in a little cottage. The place was out of town on a dirt road past an army base. 

Cobbled streets of colonial Villa de Leyva

In the evening we went down to La Guaca which in fact is four restaurants arranged around a courtyard in an ancient colonial house. We got an excellent seat and people started coming and filled the place. There were burning fires and hanging plants, terracotta floors and rustic wood and plaster. There was a trio playing Colombian songs that everybody knew and Sheri loved. We had a fine time.

The antique Casa La Guaca

The town plaza is a huge thing set on a bit of a slope. The cathedral is on the east side on a raised platform and there are three steps down from the shops and cathedral on that side to the plaza. On Saturday night hundreds of people come with bottles of vine or spirits and sit on the steps and talk and sing songs into the night.  

Saturday night on the plaza steps

Army patrols have tamped down rebel activity in most of the highlands, so people feel much safer than just a few years ago.

During the day we walked around town and trudged up on the mountains next to the town. We ate a place on the plaza, Wrap and Roll, where a Colombian couple struck up a conversation. He (Victor Rayo) had been working in Westchester County, New York for 15 years and she was a lawyer in Bogota. He was relocating back. They were super friendly and showed a bunch of places to go on her Iphone. He gave us is card and told us to call him if we had and questions or problems. 

Ranacer Hostel

Rancer Hostel

Porch of our cabana

One day we had Cesar take us up the entrance to Iguaque National Park. We walked up a steep trail through the woods to a lake above tree line at about 3340 meters (11,000 feet). For the indigenous people Laguna de Iguaque is the place of origin for humans. It is set in a cirque bowl and surrounded by “paramo” which is a high altitude bog with interesting plants (yellow-flowered frailejon). An Italian women came up after us. We left and headed down and fortunately for us made it most of the way out before a heavy rain started that made the rock and mud trail slick as can be. Not sure what happened to the Italian women. 

Start of Laguna de Iguaque hike

Laguna Iguaque

Sheri and a Frailejon plant

We caught a ride in the back of an open truck in the rain to the “main” road. Shortly a beat up bus showed up and we rode back to Villa de Leyva. Riding along with the driver grinding gears and blasting Colombiano music; passing by little rough and tumble farms on the windy mountain road in the rain; my feeling was we had arrived in South America.

El Gallo Cafe - cooked up a fantastic vegie arepa (fried corn meal cake). Server wouldn't accept a tip.

Cobble streets and antique houses

ZIPAQUIRA

ZIPAQUIRA

Leaving Bogota we took a bus north to the town of Zipaquira. The bus stopped about a hundred times leaving town and deposited us at a random intersection in Zipaquira. Zipa is the word for chief in the pre-Columbian Muisca language. The Muisca people were enslaved and pretty much worked to death by the Spanish conquistadors. One thing they did was mine salt at Zipaquira. They’re still mining salt. So recently the miners hollowed out some underground galleries and installed a cathedral, the Catedral de Sal. So being tourists we had to have a look. We dropped bags at Hotel Estacion Sabana and trudged up the hill to the mine. The place is a mix of religion, the fantastic, and incredulity. Like why would anyone do this? In the mine you will find: the stations of the cross, multiple huge crosses, the cathedral, a reflecting pond, and a cheesy tourist shop all 180 meters (600 ft) underground.

Entry to the salt mine

Salt Mine tunnels

The ticket guy asked if we were over 60! Turns out we should have said yes and saved four bucks each.

Salt cross in front of a gallery

Carved salt relief

The Cathedral

60 foot high cross at the end of the Cathedral

Looking back from the alter

The cross is a carved out void lit from behind

24 foot diameter carved salt columns support the roof of the Cathedral

Reflecting pool

Colombians love this place

Outside the mine is a statue of a one legged Colombian solder made from junk (basura)

Zipaquira town is more than 400 years old and is a nice colonial town. We stopped by the upper town square and sat out and had an Aguila beer (the bald eagle is the logo on the label). The town folks were passing by and chatting and cars were cruising the square on a Friday night.

Cathedral on the main square in Zipaquira

Masonry interior of the Cathedral

Hotel Estacion Sabana, with folks about campaigning for the elections in March

After a hard day in the salt mine

Next day we had to track down a place to change money. The guard at the bank said there was a Casa de Cambio in the mall with the “Exito” store. We trudged down there and found the place. We struck up a conversation with the guy behind the window. Eduardo wanted to practice English and actually shut down the business for a little while and bought us coffee at a kiosk. He didn’t speak much English. He is an amateur matador and said he had killed four bulls. He knows the guy in charge of security at the American embassy and gave us his number in case we had questions. He tweaked our exchange rate and gave us a half a percent more. Very friendly and didn’t expect anything back. People in Colombia are happy tourists are coming and tend to go out of their way to be helpful. 

Sheri and Eduardo

BOGOTA

BOGOTA

After an overnight flight, where we luckily missed by a couple of hours a snow storm that wrecked JFK, we touched down in Bogota. We were whisked to our hotel, the Bogota Marriott, on El Dorado Ave in the Salitre district. It was top notch and the area is modern and squeaky clean. Every person entering the hotel is swept with a metal detector and sniffed by a dog. 

Bogota Marriott

Welcome to Bogota

Squeaky clean Salitre district

In Bogota we attempted to decipher their backbone transport system called the Trans Milenio which is a system of busses and stations that are separated from the roadways. They have three section articulated buses which, according to the placard, are rated for 294 persons. At rush hour this capacity was probably exceed by 50 or 100 people. 

Salitre green space

Plaza Bolivar

We wandered around the old historic center of town, La Candelaria, and had a bowl traditional soup, Santa Fe Ajiaco, which has vegies, three types of pureed potatoes, corn on the cob, chicken, and topped with fresh delicious avocado. A hearty bowl. 

Sheri and her Santa Fe Ajiaco

La Candelaria section of Bogota

Sculpture at Botero museum

We visited the main square, Plaza Bolivar, where some folks were camping out in protest against their situation. All sorts of police were staging around the square. At twilight a huge procession of people came down 7th Ave and there was a stage set up and people filled the square. There were speeches and music and the crowd was yelling about Petro. Apparently Gustav Petro was Mayor of Bogota and was tossed out under questionable circumstances and these folks wanted him back. The signs read We Are All Petro (Todos Somos Petro). It all came off peaceably and we had our own problems deciphering the bus back to the hotel. We did track down a brew pub in Salitre and had a fine craft IPA. 

Colombian version of Occupy

Riot police having a chit chat

Rally in Plaza Bolivar

Gustav Petro remains

Next day we went up a cable car to the top of Monserrate which is a high ridge at over 10,000 feet altitude. There’s a church up there and a fine views over Bogota. We had a meal at a little stall among many stalls. People were eating piles of potatoes and sausage and entrails. They offered up a section of intestine to Curtis and he had a bit of a time getting the taste out of his mouth. 

View over Bogota

Church at Monserrate

El Señor Caído de Monserrate -Fallen Jesus is an important sculpture in the sanctuary

Going down we walked through the busy University section and to the Gold Museum where there are four stories of pre-Columbian gold objects that escaped the grip of the Spanish. 

Golden conch shell

Gold objects that were dumped in a lake

Golden flying fish

Golden nose ornaments

Gold nose rings with fine filigree

Afterwards we had cappuccinos at Juan Valdez Café which is a chain. In the evening we scooted up to Zona Rosa and walked around Zona T which is several solid blocks of upscale restaurants, bars, and clubs. We had a fine dinner at the Italian restaurant Luna. 

Copatria Building - continuously changes color at night

Andino Mall in Zona T

Overall the place is fairly clean and organized and folks were friendly. We jogged around the lake at Bolivar Park which is the equivalent to Central Park. There were joggers and mountain bikers; strollers and folks paddling kayaks. It’s very green and pleasant with nice temperatures although a bit smoggy. Sheri was impressed with all the different pedestrian bridges over the roads.