After having been on the road for a couple of weeks, we needed to find a spot to rent a house for a month so I could work to pay the bills and so Quinn could play Minecraft. We’ve found that retirees know all the best places to be. Just Google “Best places to retire in {insert country here}” and you’ll find a nice, smallish town with a great climate, friendly people and all the amenities you need. In Colombia, Villa de Leyva seemed to fit the bill.
We stopped in Arcabuco for lunch on our way to Villa del Leyva. It wasn’t much, but it did have a very photogenic church and central plaza.
On our second day in town, just as we were getting to like it and looking for a place to rent, a fire broke out in the nearby mountains. The smoke in town got pretty dense at times. We were staying at a hostel a short distance from town with Martine and Andre who we had shipped with and three other travelers. That evening we all wondered whether the fire posed a threat. Should we pack up and leave rather than being awoken at 3am to make a rushed evacuation? What kind of warning systems existed here anyway?
The fire looked very close an ominous by night. The next morning we realized that it was actually quite a distance away.
Fortunately the next day helicopters were called in and by the end of the day the fire was out. After checking out a few places, we found a small condo outside of town but still within walking distance. We invited some of the people we stayed with at the hostel over for drinks at our new place.
Happy Hour with Rick, Jeff, and Leticia from San Diego.
Three Fords all made it to South America!
Jeff is sharing his popup camper with a small horse.
Sunset behind our condo.
The next weekend we went sightseeing. This region was once an inland sea that left a treasure trove of fossils behind when it dried up.
We visited two paleontological museums including this one with a nearly complete skeleton of a giant sea-fairing dinosaur called a kronosaurus, still in the position where it was discovered in 1977.
Quinn learns to excavate dinosaur bones. Honestly though he wasn’t that excited by it.
We also stopped to see the Convento del Santo Ecce Homo, founded in 1620.
Wine country! We sampled the products of a local vineyard. With wine and coffee produced locally, no wonder people love Colombia.
Healthy eating!
On Friday, to celebrate my birthday, Jen sent me out on a long bike ride. I got lost which made it longer than I had expected, but got to tour some beautiful countryside.
After the ride I met Jen and Quinn for a huge steak at a Mexican restaurant in town. It reminded us of how much we miss the food from Mexico.
Jen and Quinn made me a chocolate cake. Quinn helped me blow out the candles.
On Saturday we visited the market to buy fruit and veg for the week.
Take a little trip to San Gil and explore some cool caves. The cava de vaca
was awesome and quite an adventure!
Glad to hear things are going well and hope the diesel problem is finally
sorted.
R&K from UK at the mo. (Soon to be New Zealand!)