Bogota & Villa de Leyva

From looking at our blog it seems as though we never work but believe me- we really do have a job but with that job comes lots of LONG weekends. This time we headed to Colombia's Capital of Bogota and from their to a small Colonial town just north of the city. While in Bogota we stayed and traveled with a good friend of Aaron's Aunt and Uncle who lives in Bogota.

A sculpture in the town square of Raquira. A town renowned for it's production of terracota  pots .

The walls in the town are all painted with borders or murals on the lower half.

Self Portrait?

One of the "Fabricas" of pots

Titled "Man peeing in pot.

After checking out Raquira we continued north to Villa de Leyva, a colonial town that has a population of about 4,000 people. Villa de Leyva is considered one of the finest colonial villages of Colombia, and was declared a National Monument in December 17, 1954 to preserve its architecture. It is located in a high altitude valley at 2,144 meters.

An old doorway in Villa de Leyva.

On this vacation we did lots of dinning. This town is full of eateries of amazing ambiance. Most places are set in court yards behind big white walls and a wooden door, once you past through the plain wall the area opens up to quaint court yards of impressive architecture filled with plants, music, smells of food and little shops.

A bowl of Ajiaco, the regions famous soup. It typically contains pieces of chicken, large chunks of corn on the cob, two or three kinds of native potatoes and it is served with heavy cream, capers and avocado, all mixed in just before eating. Ajiaco is so heavy that it is usually considered a full meal.

A women knitting her window. Many weavers have settled in this town and they are known for their quality work.

All towns in Latin America usually have a main plaza, where people meet and it is always based around the church. The main plaza in Villa de Leyva is the largest in the whole country.

Beth & Steve Navigating the map.

A smaller church located away from the plaza.

Around sun down the main plaza filled with people. The streets outside the estancos (liquor stores where people buy their drinks like a bar but just hang outside) were line with people. The lighting was perfect for people watching and relaxing. Really felt like we stepped back in time.

Man prepares for the dinner crowd at one of the many eateries in town.

Scenes from the city streets:

Dinning on a roof top, with chimminieas, live music and great wine. The man to the left is Luis he is a driver from Steves business---yes we had a driver and a car....a bit of an upgrade from our usual make-me-car-sick public bus route. He was a great guy, I think he really enjoyed his working vacation!

Just outside of town there is a ecological park with some hiking and waterfalls and much to our surprise there was an alternative descent: a zipline. How could we say no? So we all headed down the zipline, even our driver Luis who gave the double thumbs up sign the whole way.

Aaron with our guide, a native women in her late fifties who scampered around with more agility than a mountain goat. We didn't even realize we had a guide, we thought she was just following us after the zipline but then when she suggested we follow her over the fallen tree that was posing as a bridge, we started to figure out that she wasn't following us, we were suppose to be following her. Although the trail is suggested for all levels, it was far more adventurous than your average North American trail, the pictures below explain more.

The crossing, quite an adventure for most.

One of the waterfalls on the hike.

After the hiking we started making our way back to Bogota and we stopped in the famous sausage town. Where you can clog your arteries by just driving through but that wasn't enough for us we wanted to get greasy. So we stopped for a picada, a typical Colombian plate that is served family style and loaded high with chorizo, blood sausage, potatoes, yucca, pork, steak and arepas.

Picada

Not quite the romantic colonial eating establishment but the plastic chairs, on the noisy street, under tents filled with smoke suited us just fine. And once again our theory of the (vanyplas) plastic chairs proves correct. (we have found that if a place has plastic chairs and low ambiance the food is usually cheaper and more delicious)

We returned to Bogota with enough time to shower and change and make it to Steve's co-workers patio for a nice sunset over Bogota. Here we ate more chorizo and arepas but this time with some really good wine. They people were really nice and the women from Bogota tried to convince us why Bogota was better than Cali and why we need to move there. People in Colombia are not only extremely proud of their country but also of their region and will find a way of convincing you why their region and it's people are the best. It is an endearing quality.

Monday was our day to check out Bogota's streets and museums. At the museum we found a lot of Botero's work. Fernando Botero is one of Colombia's most famous artists and is known for his paintings and sculpture of fat people (ha ha in a culture where everyone is bent on being skinny!)

Bogota's major plaza.

Botero Sculpture

Salvador Dalí sculpture

Botero's rendition of the Mona Lisa

Man on the street "being" art

Ahhhh Flying in Colombia. I think I can honestly say that I have NEVER flown out of Cali on the scheduled time. In a country with almost perfect weather flights are never on time, often canceled and all with out explanation.

So on Monday night when we were told our 5:00 flight was full and delayed we were not surprised. We were bumped to another 5:00 flight that would leave at 6:00, only to be told that this flight was also over booked. Then came the announcement looking for people to give up their seats for some voucher tickets...thank you and yes we will. We were told we were put on a 7:00 flight instead. No big deal. But each time our boarding time would approach the TV monitor would change the time for like an hour later- once again no explanation.

This is when it gets juicy - Aaron was engrossed in his book and mine was kind of boring so I headed to the counter to watch the action. I don't know exactly how to describe this to you but people here just get away with a lot more. This is the scene at the counter.....NO LINE (of course), there were like 30 people surrounding one lady and just screaming at her, stomping their feet and demanding to be compensated. People were worked up. I found myself thinking what would this be like in the States? Maybe people would be complaining to each other, thinking about writing a letter and there of course would be a few people thinking they are very important arguing with the counter lady. But the people here were worked up, and it was contagious.

What is solo petite flight attendant to do? Nothing, what could she do. So when they were finally ready to board there was not getting that mob into a line, people just barged their way on to the plan complaining the whole time, pushing and arguing.

Okay it is late (10:30) people are tired and frustrated. But the reason this is happening is it is a Holiday weekend the air travel is busy. But to add insult to injury the pilot makes an announcement that we are waiting to be cleared for take-off and there is a long wait,he apologizes but the plane breaks out in boo's and whistles and starts yelling rude comments. People start demanding water by calling/whining out Aquita, Aquita!

Time for take off, please put all chairs in the upright position and store tray tables....please....please...please Senora! The lady next to me refused to put her seat back up and told the flight attendant that after waiting four hours for take off she is tired and WILL not put up her chair. The flight attending insisted it was FAA rules and she must. I was so embarrassed I wanted to crawl under my seat!

Welcome to Cali, where the local time is 11:30 please remain seated until the aircraft has come to a complete stop at the gate...please...please.....o well! Okay we were moving fast, I mean really fast, you could still hear the sound of the wind pushing against the wing extensions to slow us down and people from the back of the plane were already grabbing their luggage and running to the front of the plane. The whole plane was up and about while we were taxing, complaining into their cell phones and removing their carry on luggage, well the helpless attendant insisted they remain seated. I was amazed and amused....and glad to be home.