Villa de Leyva - Viva el campo

Dear all,

Thanks for all the sweet messages, really nice to read!!! I miss you guys, but I am having a great time in Colombia. I think I have never been to a country where the people are so nice, that is, unless you join the FARC ;). Basically anyone is willing to help you and they are super polite!!! Since my last report, everything has been a bit easier, thank God!!

So just before Eva came to pick me up, the water came back, it wasn´t warm, but there was water. So I quickly washed my hair and went to the other hostel with Eva. She shared a room with two people she met on the way, one Dutch girl and one American guy. After a quick breakfast we headed towards the main square of Bogota to see what was happening with the elections. On every corner, soldiers with huge guns where stationed and to enter the square they had to body search (no idea if that,s the right word in English, in Dutch it´s fouilleren) you. The Plaza is very beautiful, but apart from a small protest, nothing much was happening (and maybe that´s a good thing!!). Later that evening we wanted to grab something to eat but everything was closed, Colombians couldn´t even drink alcohol during the entire weekend of the elections, can you imagine!!! So we ended up at a simple pizza place, where we had dinner the next evening too.

And while in the Netherlands you are enjoying the sun, in Bogota we were bothered by the rain, so we decided to explore some of the shopping malls of the city. I have been vey modest and only bought a pair of heels, you do want to be a sexy backpacker hihi!!!

Last Tuesday, Eva and I headed off to Villa de Leyva, a farmer´s town about 200 km from Bogota. The entire village is built of white houses and the streets are paved with cobble stones, very nice and pretty and.... you can walk alone at night!!! We have found a real gem of a hostel run by a lady who makes chocolates, so you can imagine what we have been ding these days!! Unfortunately the rain cought up with us... We decided to rent bikes and go early in the morning, cause it mostly rains during the afternoons. ´Yes you can easily go to the falls by bike´.... the only thing is that you have to climb 12km!!! As we were climbing some hills, we asked for directions. No, we shouldn´t go up, we should go down and ask there!! Down the hill, they told us to go up again. So guess what Eva and I did.... we returned the bikes and went by cab. We have seen one waterfall, cause it started to rain, and rain, and rain and the paths were just to muddy and slippery to go on. That afternoon we found comfort in making chocolates!!!

Today has been a very good day, very sunny!!! Finally! The taxi driver that took us yesterday arranged for two horses to go and walk around the village. Later this afternoon we have visisted a bodega, I will tell you more about these activities when we get back to Bogota, cause I´m running out of time and I still have to look for the recepy for Dutch Apple pie that we are planning to bake for the lady of the hostel.


Big kiss!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Karlijn