Bogota and Villa de Leyva

Our short stop in Colombia can be divided into two parts: Bogota and Villa de Leyva.

Bogota

We arrived in Bogota to find a bustling city larger than I ever expected.  We took a cab ride on the highway which was undergoing heavy construction, so the trip lasted about an hour, but still only cost about $10.  Once arriving in the zona called La Candeleria, we checked into our hostel, the Cranky Croc.  We settled in, had a nap, and then were ready for some exploring!   Or first stop was the Gold Museum, or, el Museo de Oro.  This museum has over 25,000 original gold artifacts, the largest in the world, and by the time we perused the 4 floors, we were golded-out.  Everything from ceremonial gold ornaments to death masks to little animal figurines.  Next we went to check out Bolivar Plaza which is the main plaza and holds a lot of congressional buildings.  The architecture there was quite lovely though, and the building have a rough history from revolution and revolt.  Our next stop was a little café called La Puerta Falsa.  Apparently this shop was famous for its chocolate completo, which consisted of a cup of hot chocolate, cheese to dip into it, and some dressed bread and a pastry of some sort.  Every component on its own was delicious, but I just couldn’t seem to acquire the taste for the combination of cheese and chocolate.  After exploring the graffiti-lined streets and colorful, narrowing alleyways, we headed out for a drink at a local bar followed by an Italian meal which was carne ravioli with tomato and mozzarella.  So delicious!  After dinner we took an early night as we were to leave at 5:30 for an early bus to Villa de Leyva the next morning for 2 days.
When we arrived back in Bogota for an additional two days, we checked back into the Cranky Croc and took to the streets once again.  Our first stop was to take an extremely steep gondola u to the top of a mountain (not my idea) to see the church and the view from the top.  Well, let’s just say I’m not a an of these sorts of contraptions and couldn’t move my feet the entire trip or unclench my fist from the handrail.  This thing literally defied gravity.  No lie.  I do have to say though the view from the top was quite stunning.  Afterwards, we waited about 25 minutes to get a cab and headed to another museum.  This time we decided to head to a museum called Museo Botero, which was an art museum with works donated by the Colombian artist Botero which saw his subjects from a different viewpoint, a ‘Chubby’ viewpoint.  That’s right, all of his art consisted of chubby things.. people, horses, hands, etc.  I was also surprised to see that there were a few Van Gogh works as well as some famous Colombian artists, but mostly just chubby pieces.

I have fat hands.

I had a great time during the day, but what I was really excited for was that evening, as we were headed to the famous Andres Carne de Res!  Aka, the meat eatery/party/bar/club.  We headed to the one in Zona Rosa (an upscale area in the North of Bogota) versus the one in Chia as we didn’t want to commit to the 45 minute cab ride to the outskirts of town.  However, upon arrival, we were not disappointed.  This place has 5 floors with ½ floors in-between, all of them different with bric-a-brac on the walls.  We got to our table and the first thing we were shown was the menu, which was about 20 pages long and came in a manually revolving metal case that weighted about 5 pounds (almost s much as my steak I later consumed).  In awe of the whole scene, we made our selections… Vince- A 600 gram T-bone with grilled onions.  Me- a 330 gram fillet with pepper sauce.  We were in carnivore heaven for the next 30 minutes, savoring meat and drinking a bottle of Malbec wine.

Delicious, delicious meat!

We finished off dinner with a chocolate volcano and then the craziness started.  People dancing, playing instruments, throwing things and confetti, clowns, people on tables, dancing, drinking…basically a lot of joyful sinning.  With our bellies full and drinks drank, we headed back for a night of rest.
For our last day in Bogota, we decided to take a 5 hour bike tour of the city, which wasn’t the easiest considering the packed streets on a Saturday.  Our guide took us to all of the good parts of the city… The Red Light district, the abortion center, the Bronx of Colombia, the cemetery…etc.  It was actually really interesting and we went to  few other places such as the bullfighting ring (it was fighting season but they only happen on Sundays and we were leaving that night : (  ) and the central park, and various markets.  We stopped at a fruit market and got to try about 6 or 7 local native fruits that were delicious that I couldn’t tell you the name of now.  Also along the way we tried Colombian coffee, fresh squeezed mandarin juice, chicha (the local corn fermented drink) and sugar cane coated coconut (so good!).  Who knew this trip would be such an epicurean adventure!

After the bike tour we grabbed some lunch and then tried to make it out to the police museum before we had to leave for our flight out to Santiago, but unfortunately it was closed and we missed seeing Pablo Escobar’s weaponry.  We headed out in our cab saying goodbye to Colombia for our overnight flight to Santiago, Chile.
Many people are fearful of going to Colombia, but so far, it was my favorite place we have visited and it’s a shame we only had 5 days to spend there.  I would have loved to travel up north to Cartagena and the national parks up there, so maybe that’s reason to return at another time in the future.

Villa de Leyva

Getting to Villa de Leyva basically consisted of relying on the Colombian people showing their hospitality.  Traveling by bus not having a concept of where you’re going or distances you need to travel is not the best idea.  Also, speaking fluent Spanish would help too… nevertheless, we made it to the small, colonial town set in the countryside below the mountains.  The town itself is gorgeous.  Cobblestone streets and white-washed buildings with red ceramic roofing, which was also overrun by the cutest dogs ever! (I always tried to give them some of my dinner…they looked hungry!).  The whole town was like this, not just the main ‘touristy’ parts, which I thought was fascinating.
We arrived at our hostel, a good distance from the town center, and set up our tent.  After settling in, we went exploring.  We spent most of the afternoon just walking around looking at different areas, but we also headed to a replica fossil museum which was…let’s just say… the worst museum I’ve ever been to that it was hilarious.  Our afternoons in Leyva consisted of wandering, getting a fruit popsicle on the way back to the hostel, sitting in the park, and enjoying doing nothing.  Probably the most interesting part of the our visit was that in the main square, an episode of a Colombian Soap Opera was being filmed.  There were always extras in either military or peasants clothing in the square practicing or just laying in the shade.  I have no idea what kind of op Opera used this kind of set.
Our second day in Leyva, we decided to do a 4 hour horseback riding tour that stopped at some interesting places: A blue swimming hole so blue and cold it was like glacial water, a fossil museum, and a sort of mini Stonehenge.

I'd give it a 6.

We basically spent the time with 3 other travelers trotting at very high speeds and getting sore bums from the hard saddles.  It was fun though, and afterwards the 5 of us went to lunch together at a place called Casa Blanca.  Headed back to the tent for a nap and then out for a delicious pizza dinner before our 5am wakeup the next morning back to Bogota.