Only three hours from Bogotá, but a world away from the bustle of the big city, lies the picturesque town of Villa de Leyva. Founded in 1572, the town has preserved it’s beautiful Spanish architecture along with one of the largest main squares in the hemisphere. I wonder what they needed all that space for.
The town is also known for the 150 million year old fossils discovered near by, including 25-foot long marine animals. Crazy. Wineries also operate nearby, producing a young Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Waterfalls, abseiling, horseback riding, kiting, and dune buggies are other offered activities, but we chose to take it easy.
Eloisa and I were looking for a quiet place near nature to spend a relaxing weekend, which is how we arrived at this town. As it turns out, there is an area a few km outside of town known for it’s magic mushrooms. Bonus! We hitched a ride in the back of a pickup part of the way and walked the rest on pretty old dirt roads. The weather was lovely this day, although it rained the other day. On our way back to town, Josh proposed one of his famous “shortcuts”, which always leads to adventure. Amazingly, on this day, it actually did serve as a shortcut – besides providing us with adventure tromping through deep mud across fields and farms. As Hobbes (of Calvin and Hobbes) used to say, “you know you’ve had a good day when you end up with grass stains on your pants.”
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- What is this, 1858?
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- Local vendor
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- View from hotel balcony
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- Street scene
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- Schoolkids
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- Hunting for shrooms
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- Yes, that mushroom came out of that cow paddy
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- The long walk home
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- Dusk in the square
