Villa de Leyva

We arrived inVilla de Leyva after a bus ride from Bogota which was a bit longer than scheduled. It was pouring and dark when we arrived and we started marching through town to reach our hostel. On the way a dude advertised his place to us and we ended up at what was a really cozy hostel. We put our bags down and headed out for some food. Villa de Leyva is a national monument of Colombia and is supposed to have one of the largest plazas of any South American city, around 120m x 120 m.


After much indecision we ended up at a restaurant that served pretty good burgers and had a view on the plaza. In the cold weather we asked for a heater and some guy came running 30 min later with a tank of gas. The tank lasted long enough for us to enjoy a round of Costeñas.
The next day´s itinerary included, but was not limited to, visits to dinosaur bones, giant ancient penis sculptures, Colombia´s stonehenge, and oh so much else.





The first stop was El Fossil, which is a giant meat eating aquatic beast which some dude found 40 years ago. The bones were never removed from the ground, and instead remain where they were found. The head alone measures over 2 meters long.





The next stop took a while to reach. We were literally in the middle of nowhere and pretty much all of us though for at least one moment that we were being kidnapped.


This guy was telling us to jump in this hole. HA. He mentioned that Natives used to throw adulterous ladies in the hole, and roughly translated the pit was called the Whores Hole. Interesting that guys where never thrown in. Meh...


Paul has the most climbing experience by far and he was getting his fix while prepping the jump. Most of the others were ready for a change of underwear.








Once we were out it started pouring... Torrential downpour. We were all freezing, but ready for the next destination.


This passage, the pit, and the waterfall we passed were all not in Lonely Planet, which is usually the know-all for trips. We felt pretty good to leave the beaten path, but crossing the passage below was not a task for all of us.
It´s hard to see in the picture, but the spot that Paul is at is around 30 cm wide and on either side is a ridiculous fall of 100-200 meters.


Pauls penalty for being such a show-off was hauling the water jug.

We were treated to a real local meal after the afternoon activities. The bottle below had a home-made hot sauce which was insanely hot, but tasted great. Caro had a coughing fit after her first taste.


On the way home from our full day we were all soaking wet, cold and exhausted. The driver mentioned that there was a thermal spring nearby and we could go if we wanted... perfect.
Although it was in complete darkness and the spring had a strong smell of sulfur(rotten eggs), soaking in the hot water was exactly what we all needed.

If all goes as planned we´ll be at the coast tomorrow.