Estelar Paipa Hotel & Centro De Convenciones

... it to the waterfalls in about 20mins so continued on to a couple of lookouts over the town. Up on the hillside we saw what seemed to be a resort of some kind and wondered how anyone ever gets to it. We’d read nothing of it and the mystery remains unsolved. The following day we had set aside for relaxing and catching up on diaries, blogs, correspondence etc. Oh – and Jody and Niamh to practice juggling. Andy had started them off the previous day with just one ball and ...

... C$5,000 or USD2.50) and within an hour or so, we arrived in the colonial town of Villa de Leyva. Unlike most other buses I had been on throughout the world, we were the only gringos on both legs of transport.

Collectivos (or micros/minibuses) are such a trustworthy way of travel as passengers are picked up and dropped off wherever they want (you just flag down the bus or tell the driver to stop) and it is a pay later system. This was a far cry from ...

... catch a bus. I sat out there, like a dunce, for about 30 minutes before I bothered to ask someone. A police officer looked at me though I was mentally soft and told me that I was on the south side of the highway and needed to cross over to the other side. That being done, I crossed over to a line hundreds of feet long of buses. This time I asked more quickly and got on my bus, headed north to the city of Tunja to make my connection to Villa de Leyva. There ...

... heat is indeed a physical force to contend with. The town consists of white-washed colonial buildings complete with tiled roofs. Huge, old, echoing colonial homes can be found overlooking the river. The structures are in various states of condition ranging from well-maintained to completely abandoned. Narrow streets are occupied by barely any large vehicles. However, they are quite active with motorbikes, bicycles and donkeys zipping by. Although I ...

... these streets? Cobbled is an understatement. The streets are paved in large, uneven stones laid in dirt that has longed since washed away creating mini canyons between the stones. It is virtually impossible to observe the environs while walking without twisting an ankle or worse. Needless to say, I didn't see many high heels here! Compare this to the flat stones on the streets of ...

... bills as toilet paper. The hostel was a great place to relax and was out in the countryside about 1 km from town. I easily could've spent a month there, but must continue moving right now. Most famous resident of the town: Jesus in a poncho. Too bad I lost my camera.

Even Colombia recognizes a rare gem when they find it and the colonial village of Villa de Leyva is living proof. The town has been around since 1572 and modern architecture is almost non-existent. Colombia has been protecting it as a national monument since 1954. There's not much going here but the people are friendly and welcoming. The two days I spent here passed by ...

... there we stopped at a roadside stand where arepas stuffed with cheese are sold (corn patties with melted cheese). I had stopped at this roadside stand many times before and had made friends with the woman who makes the arepas and the one who owns the stand along with their 3 kids (Michael, age 11;Erika, age 6 and Isabella, age 4). This family is poor by any standards, but oddly enough always happy to sell their empanadas ...

... court. Some were better than others of course, but overall I was impressed, as I always am, with their dedication and willingness to embrace a completely new system. So, you are probably wondering how I got a new nickname....well, I guess I better tell you what it is first...my nickname according to the participants was La Generala (The General) or Margaret Thacher (I told them that was insulting, but they assured me they were referring to her no nonsense attitude). The way ...

... stands filled with people of all ages. As we drove and night started to fall, the mountains appeared immense with fog resting on the mountain tops. We got to the hotel, Hotel Sochagota, where our two week training was going to be held. The hotel itself was kind of old and reminded me of a Super 8 (I'm basing this on Seth Rosenthal's description of such hotels, not my personal knowledge). There was no internet access and no gym. I found out the next day that the reason there was ...