Hightailing through the Colombian highlands

From the coast we headed south back to Bogota, we caught the 12 hour bus ride to Bucaramanga, a great name for a town which is modern busy and full of students. The road was flat and straight for the first 7 hours then hit the mountains and we spent the rest of the trip on the up and down switchback leading eventually down a steep windy road into town. We arrived late in the evening and found a room in the Kase Guane Bucaranamge hostel, known to all as the KGB. We then discovered that the rooftop had a bar and the bar had become THE place for the students to hang out AND it was Friday night. It was a case of if you can't beat them join them.... Luckily the bar shut at 12.30 as we were a little bus lagged from the day.

The following day we took the local bus 45 minutes out of town to the old colonial town of  Giron. A hillside town full of whitewashed houses and churches. 

 Alongside the river is a nice promenade where food stalls cater to the Colombian tourists who enjoy the town and provide lunches that consist of various cuts of meat cut into cubes and served over a plate of small roast potatoes. What was intended to be a light lunch turned into something significantly larger and our plans for eating our main meal in the evening for once were thwarted. (As a rule Colombians like the main meal of the day to be at lunch and we have got into the habit of joining them)

As our hostel was serving the Saturday night drinking crowd we really had no option but to join in. It was actually really nice to be with a majority Colombian crowd as they are really enjoyable drinking partners and many of them spoke really good English and wanted to talk. Liza renewed her love affair with Strawberry Daiquiris which meant that she was not at her most effervescent  on the next days 8 hour bus ride to the regional capital of Tunja (pronounced Tuna, like the fish.)  We had seats at the very front just behind the driver which would have been great except that a) We were next to the large loud television which was showing exactly the same films as our previous journey and b) our driver spent the entire journey moaning loudly to a) his girlfriend on his mobile or b) the conductor. Both of which activities required constant large gesticulations and all comments to the conductor had to be made while looking him full in the face. When he was not talking he was sending and receiving about 4 texts a minute. We made sure our seat belts were fastened.

We got off the bus in Tunja and immediately jumped onto a minibus for the 45 min drive to our destination for the day of Villa de Leyva. A stunning 15th century town set up by the early Spanish settlers as a retreat monastery town. We found a nice hostel just outside of town.

 Villa de Leyva valley

 The largest square in the whole of Latin America.... well that we have seen!

 The church in the Villa - and me!

 The old cobble streets mean that even new 4X4 vehicles are limited to about 5mph. There are fossils everywhere so much so that they have been incorporated into the streets and steps of the town. We only had a day here as our return to the UK is imminent which was a shame as we could happily have spent a week here, there being miles of mountain walks via waterfalls and fossil trails that we never got a chance to see.

 The old monastery.

 Lovely old colonial houses.

 And fairly nice sunsets; After this was taken we wandered into town for dinner. Villa de Leyva is the weekend holiday destination of choice for the middle classes of Bogota which means that Monday night is very quiet. We found a restaurant just as it was about to shut, ordered food before realizing that everyone was just about to go home. This however did not in any visible way annoy any of the staff. When we asked them to order us a cab back to the hostel (we had forgotten our torch) the chef said - 'Oh it is too much trouble to order a cab - I'll take you' This was to us by now a typical example of Colombian hospitality. A country we have found has so much going for it with stunning scenery, very friendly people and a place which we would love to have had more time to explore as we have yet to visit great swaths of the country.

The next day we returned to Bogota where we have under 48 hours before our flight to San Francisco for a 4 day layover to see Helen and Lee before our return to London on the 1st October. Home in less than a week.... see you all soon!