A Few More Days in Villa de Leyva

Since rain storms seem to occur regularly at 2:00 on the dot and last until 4:00, we thought we were safe taking an hour walk at 11:00.  When we told our waitress at breakfast of our plans, she commented that it wasn't a good day to be outside.  But intrepid as we are, we set out to explore the countryside.  An hour latter, we were about a mile and a half up the dirt road and a torrential downpour occurred.  How could nature have changed her schedule on a whim like that?  Despite raincoats and umbrellas (we were not entirely clueless), we got very soaked.  Drying our shoes, socks, pants and coats has been a challenge with the high humidity here.  Oh well, we did have fun on the walk.

In contrast, yesterday was a fantastic day.  After an early breakfast, we started to walk into town, but were quickly offered a ride by a passing motorist.  He was a lawyer and we enjoyed chatting in Spanglish as he motored into town.  He dropped us near a bicycle rental place.  We rented bikes and headed off to explore the hinterland.

Our first stop: Casa  Terracotta, a whimsical free form house that Kathy wanted to buy.

Our 2nd stop: an archeological dig of an ancient observatory of the muisca people.

 

Next stop: El Fosil.  Most of western Colombia  was covered by oceans in ancient times.  This fossilized pliosaurus was found near here.  Note the teeth.  It was an aquatic, meat-eating reptile about 40 feet long.  After the museum, we visited the paleontology institute nearby where research is ongoing.  We had a private tour with an English speaking guide.  

We then biked UPHILL to town (Kathy walked her bike up the steep parts),  returned the bikes, and had a lovely late lunch before walking back to our Casona. We shared salmon with a cilantro and orange sauce  and a vegetable shrimp salad. Outstanding!