Villa de Leyva - The Little Town with a Big Heart

One sunny afternoon in Villa de Leyva, I was walking down the street past a bar, when a bloke in a Colombian football shirt steps out, grabs my hand and says "Hola amigo! How are you?! Bienvenidos a Colombia, I hope you like my beautiful country!". This to me sums up both Villa and Colombia: a land of happy people with open arms, who love a good day-drink.

The Main Square - probably at least 200m across

Just like San Gil, this was a place that sucked me in with its friendly, relaxed atmosphere and abundance of natural beauty. Villa is small, much smaller than San Gil, nested in a mountain range a few hours from Bogota. The most interesting thing about the town itself is that it has the largest civic square in Colombia - I mean, it's huge, the buildings on the other side fade into the distance, but that should give you an idea of how small this place is. It was perfect for soaking up the atmosphere and beauty of rural Colombia.

My first day there, I was having breakfast when a local lad called David invited me on a trip to some waterfalls. With a bunch of mates from the hostel, we explored a beautiful but very chilly river which featured some spectacular drops. David also provided us some education about the local indigenous groups, and showed us some of their sacred places.

Shower time!


A couple of days later, a few of us set out to another natural wonder, the short trek known as Paso de Angel. Many of the locals had warned us that this was a very dangerous place to go, but we had all learned that Latinos and travellers have very different ideas of the word 'dangerous'. That said, this was a hairy trek - have a look at this!

I feel like this spot needs a cool name - 'The Devil's Throat' or something like that

The trail rode the top of a ridge between two rivers, with steep drops on either side that sometimes got very narrow. At the end of the ridge we descended down to the left river, where we found ourselves perched on top of a huge waterfall, at least 30m high, plunging down to meet the other river below.

Lil help?!

I also took a trip to the edge of town to see the Paleontology Museum, which while small, had a very interesting collection of prehistoric marine life. In fact, there are so many marine fossils in the area, the streets are literally paved with Ammonites!

This is literally part of the pavement. I have seen better specimens used as doorstops.
I was an avid fossil collector when I was young so seeing this many Ammonites in the streets was mindblowing - some of them are around 400 million years old, and there they are being used as pavement!

My final adventure was to the top of a mountain known as Iguaque, to see a mountain lake near the summit. The Muisca people of the area believe that this is where the demi-goddess Bachue emerged into the living world and created humanity. It was a great hike up though challenging at times, especially when the nice track turned into a near-vertical rock scramble at high altitude. It was worth it to find the lake in all its serenity, nestled high in the peaks of Boyaca.

The Muisca Cradle of Life

Back in town, my friends from the hostel spent several nights with me in the Bodegas in the central square. In Colombia, they don't normally have bars as such. It is far more common to go to one of these bottle shops and sit outside enjoying your drink, or perching on the plastic furniture they usually have inside. There really is nothing like a few beers with your mates, occasionally reaching out to chat to the other people around you and pet the friendly stray dogs, before heading to a salsa club for the night.

We went to another town and some kids got really excited to have foreign visitors and stole my camera. Gonna have to find this kid in a few years to make a hip-hop record together.

I feel like I keep saying this in Colombia, but I say it for good reason: I loved this town, and everyone should go here. If you are visiting, spend a night (or ten!) in the wonderful Family Host World hostel near the bus station. The owner Heimy (said like Amy) is always ready with a laugh and recommendation, and the beds and facilities are fantastic for the low price.

Candid bush doggo

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