{"id":2089,"date":"2014-10-12T15:19:49","date_gmt":"2014-10-12T21:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/?p=2089"},"modified":"2014-10-12T15:19:49","modified_gmt":"2014-10-12T21:19:49","slug":"exploring-villa-de-leyva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/?p=2089","title":{"rendered":"Exploring Villa de Leyva"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>

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.<\/p><\/div>\n

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?<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The fire looked very close an ominous by night. The next morning we realized that it was actually quite a distance away.<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Happy<\/a>

Happy Hour with Rick, Jeff, and Leticia from San Diego.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Three<\/a>

Three Fords all made it to South America!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Jeff<\/a>

Jeff is sharing his popup camper with a small horse.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Sunset<\/a>

Sunset behind our condo.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

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.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"We<\/a>

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.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Quinn<\/a>

Quinn learns to excavate dinosaur bones. Honestly though he wasn’t that excited by it.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"We<\/a>

We also stopped to see the Convento del Santo Ecce Homo, founded in 1620.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Wine<\/a>

Wine country! We sampled the products of a local vineyard. With wine and coffee produced locally, no wonder people love Colombia.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Healthy<\/a>

Healthy eating!<\/p><\/div>

\"On<\/a>

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.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

\"After<\/a>

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.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Jen<\/a>

Jen and Quinn made me a chocolate cake. Quinn helped me blow out the candles.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"On<\/a>

On Saturday we visited the market to buy fruit and veg for the week.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"twitterCardType":"summary_large_image","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-colombia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2089"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2110,"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089\/revisions\/2110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}