Sunday, February 13, 2011 – Monday, February 14, 2011
Been having a fairly relaxing time here in Villa de Leyva. Yesterday I spent a good chunk of the day getting here from Bogota. I woke up at 8am in attempt to get an early start, but by the time I’d packed up, eaten breakfast and taken a taxi to the bus station it was already 10. I got on a nice coach to Tunja but it took ages to get out of the city. Sunday some streets are closed off for bike riders, runners and rollerbladers. It was a sunny morning and incredible to see all the locals (and some tourists) getting their exercise in the heart of the city.
After an hour with lots of stops, we made it out of the city. The road to Tunja was through green hillsides with tiny towns. My fellow bus-mates included a mom and daughter from England travelling for a month in Colombia but when we arrived in Tunja at 1:30pm they needed to eat lunch before going to Villa de Leyva. I simply wanted to get to town, so I quickly found a minibus for Villa de Leyva and headed out. It left a few minutes after I boarded but spent about 20 minutes driving around town looking for more passengers.
 |
| Bus ride from Bogota to Tunja |
I arrived in Villa de Leyva before 3pm and found a taxi to drive me to Renacer Guesthouse, a beautiful house located 1.2km from town. The hostel pays for the first taxi ride, which is great because there is no way I would have lugged my bags across town and up the hill to the hostel. I had reserved a private room online because the dorm wasn’t available but it turned out they had space in the dorms. However, I decided that for two nights it would be a great luxury to have my own room and bathroom and was worth the splurge ($25 a night).
 |
| Renacer Guesthouse |
When I’d settled in my room, I walked to town down the cobbled streets hungry for lunch. I ended up at a pizza restaurant and ordered the vegetarian pizza. My fruit juice was made with a local fruit with a somewhat bitter taste; I’m still not sure what it is called. Never would I have guessed how covered my pizza would be when it arrived; I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pizza so heavily loaded with toppings. While I waited for my food, I picked up my kindle and started a new book, The Hunger Games a trilogy about a future society in the United States.
 |
| Vegetarian pizza |
 |
| Street in Villa de Leya |
I didn’t spend too much time in town since it was already 5:30pm by the time I finished lunch but I snapped some shots of the whitewashed houses. In 1954, Villa de Leyva was declared a national monument in Colombia and has been reserved in its entirety with basically no modern architecture. The main plaza is said to be one of the biggest in all of South America. Before heading back to the hostel, I tried getting cash out of the ATMs but I wasn’t able to get any money because, as I found out this morning, my card had been cut off due to increased activity. At the time I was a bit worried, but luckily it worked today.
 |
| Locals having a chat |
 |
| Plaza Mayor |
I walked back to the hostel prepared for a quiet evening reading my book and catching up on my blog. It was so lovely to have my own room but the internet only worked from the other side of the hostel so I spent a couple hours sitting in the cold using the internet.
This morning I slept in until around 10am and then spent two hours in bed reading, partially forgetting that it’s Valentine’s Day. As I mentioned, it was just so nice to have my own space that I wanted to take full advantage. I eventually got up and dressed so that I could see more of Villa de Leyva. I walked back down the main street, past some children playing in a yard, to the cobbled streets of the old town. With no particular path in mind, I strolled up and down various streets enjoying the picturesque white buildings with their dark green window frames, flowers flowing over the walls and the rusty orange tiled roofs. I saw the Plazuela de San Agustin, a small plaza with a huge garden in the center.
 |
| Views around Villa de Leyva |
When I got to the Plaza Mayor, tons of men and women in costume were standing in groups. Apparently a period film is being shot in the Plaza Mayor (been going on for four months already) so there were a lot of extras roaming around. By 2pm, hunger got the best of me and I found a restaurant to eat lunch. Ordered fettuccini alfredo with chicken and a strawberry fruit juice and sat reading my book. An hour and satisfied tummy later I was back on the cobbled streets. I ended up at the Casa Museo Antonio Nariño which was only slightly interesting given all the signs were in Spanish.
Before coming back to the Plaza Mayor, I ventured to the small church of San Francisco and down a few small streets. I noticed another woman walking on her own but didn’t end up saying anything. Anxious to sit down with The Hunger Games again (it is a bit addictive), I sat at a café on the plaza and ordered a cappuccino. At 5pm I considered heading back to the hostel when I saw the same woman from before sitting on her own having a beer. I almost passed by, but decided it was worth saying hello (since she had the Footprint and Lonely Planet guidebooks sitting on the table) and I asked where she was from. She kindly offered me a seat, and we ended up chatting for an hour. Julia, from Berlin, is traveling around South America for six months until April and was planning on staying at Renacer tonight.
After a lemonade and the sunset, we got a taxi back to the hostel with Julia’s luggage and then walked back into town with two other people from our hostel, Tomas (Germany) and Terry (Holland). Terry has spent a while in Colombia and was telling me about her trip to San Agustin, the area I originally wanted to travel to. Sounds like crossing the border from Ecuador and exploring the south of Colombia isn’t as unsafe as I thought, but now I’ve already changed my travel plans.
 |
| Sunset on Plaza Mayor |
We ended up having Valentine’s dinner at a restaurant in town serving a set menu with soup and meat, potatoes, rice and vegetables. The food was fair and post dinner we went for coffee and hot chocolate at a bar on the Plaza Mayor. Back at the hostel I repacked, showered, read and enjoyed my last night with a room to myself. I’m transferring back to Bogota tomorrow for my flight to Cartagena, but Julia and I realized we’re going to be in Medellin at the same time so we’re planning to meet up there. Will be nice to know someone when I arrive.
 |
| Me, Tomas, Julia and Terry |
No comments:
Post a Comment