The next day we were going to head north to the former drug capital of the world, Medellin but with the flooding, it was gunna be a long trip out of the way. We opted to head back to Bogotá and back up the Venezuelan side of the country.
Here is a picture of the buses we rode, pretty comfortable actually, assuming you were lucky enough to get one with air conditioning. We rode all day back to the capital and caught a late bus to the town of Tunja.
This was a stop over for our trip the next morning to the historic colonial town of Villa de Leyva
We crashed at a hostel and got up early to catch the first bus out into the mountains. Villa de Leyva is a historic town that is frozen in time with its cobblestone streets and white-washed buildings. Below is a frequent picture of a washed-out road.
We would stop for 30 minutes and wait for them to create a new road. A bonus was that there were also no guardrails so you did not look out the bus window too often. I sat in front on this ride and I must comment of the craziness of the drivers. They have a time window to make it to the next stop, and if they get held up, then they must drive extra crazy for the next hour. Unlike in a plane, the driver has a great deal of influence on the choices. So, he begins to pass everything that moves around blind corners, which is all there is. Now, instead of just the driver you have the first 4 rows looking out the windshield, yelling at the driver half the time not to pass and praying the other half once he is pot committed.
We made it into the valley and went looking for some breakfast
We found a spot and I ordered some combination local meal. They brought me a bowl, which contained the milk, egg, cheese, and bread all mixed together. It sounds a little rough but tasted great. I tried to stick with local food whenever possible.
This is the name of the restaurant in case you ever make it.
We found the trail that would lead us out into the hills and passed some waterfalls. It was a rough walk up a switchback road in the brutal heat, but we made it alright
At the top we had a couple small footpaths to choose from. We followed one back into the valley
We came upon the above waterfall. I had been baptized by waterfall last month in Puerto Rico so I was comfortable keeping my clothes on, but Bryan opted for a swim
As he was getting out, some kids came by and asked if we wanted to rappel down the waterfall with them. It was tempting, but I felt that in sliding down a rope, they had too much control over our deaths and choose to keep hiking.
We lost the trail and came out of the woods along a stone fence. We climbed over the stone fence below and found ourselves on the grounds of a church during an outside service. I tried to be invisible but that did not work as everyone stared at us, I am sure whispering, “Damn Gringos” under their breath.
I wanted to get a picture but I thought would be taking it too far.
We snapped a few shots and headed back out of the city
We had to backtrack to Tunja before continuing onto San Gill, which is the adventure capital of the country. We skipped some serious hiking opportunities in the Sierra Nevada Del Cocuy, which required a few days commitment. We got in late and grabbed beers and dinner. Bryan stayed out a bit later.
Until Tomorrow,
Darren
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