After having an unforgettable time in Barichara and Guane and meeting fellow overlanders, we continued our journey south toward Bogota and eventually Ecuador, our next country on Panamericana but we had a long road ahead of us and a lot of things to see.
From Guane we took a different road through the epic mountains and valleys in a part of Sartender called Galan.
With beautiful and lively small towns and villages around each corner, it was another epic drive in Columbia. It was Sunday and probably the Mother’s day in Colombia. There were celebrations everywhere. We stopped at one of the cute towns for lunch and found another dog friend to share our lunch with and continued to our next destination, Ville de Leyva.
Villa de Leyva is famous for its beautiful well preserved architecture. Due to its location, it is a popular tourist destination for Columbians and I was a bit worried about finding a decent place to camp for the night. We arrived at Villa de Leyva just before the sunset, already too late for finding a place in busy touristic town. We drove to the place that we had in mind for the night but it looked like a private house with high walls and huge wooden door. The first good news for us was the height of the door! It is always a challenge in South America to manage through the doors, gates and all sort of entrances with Chaapaar. They somehow make everything too short. Any way the first obstacle was gone but we encounter another problem, no one was there. After waiting for a while, a kind neighbour asked us to wait a bit longer and she will call the owner. In 10 minutes a cute kind little old lady showed up and let us in. It was just a grass patch with high wall and few bathrooms and showers at the back. Just perfect to spend the night and be right in the middle of the town. After showing us how to use the old lock and key, she left us to it. We were the only ones there for the night.
We rushed out after her to see more of the town before sunset. Villa de Leyva was different from other towns that we’ve seen in Columbia. It was flat and the alleys were wide. A pleasant change after navigating Chaapaar through narrow cobblestone alleys in Columbia. They definitely had much more flat surface to work with when they built it. The main plaza was huge too and full of life with stunning views over the farmlands in the outskirt of town.
We had a beautiful night at Villa de Leyva. Beautiful sunset, great bar with local brewed craft beer to enjoy while watching life goes by in the main plaza through its beautiful and old wooden doors.
And we had one of the best burgers we had in our lives in a small Peruvian restaurant in town. Couldn’t ask for more.
It is always stressful to get to a populated area late in the day and try to find a place to spend the night. To be honest it is really demanding to find a place to stay for the night in general while overlanding but towns are cities are always more stressful and on the flip side, you can end up in a beautiful situation like this. A great safe and private place to spend the night with hot shower and kind of clean bathroom in walking distance to a beautiful town. And that’s all we need while overlanding.
We had a great night in Villa de Leyva. The weather is just perfect in this part of Columbia in March and makes it easier to spend more time outdoor.
The house keeper returned in the morning to make sure that we give the key back before leaving. Villa de Leyva was packed with nice cafes and restaurants, a good excuse to have a nice breakfast in town before leaving.
We didn’t have a long drive ahead of us for the day. We decided to stay in the same area a bit longer and do some work. The weather was great for camping and staying outside but Villa de Leyva was expensive with Columbian standard and didn’t have a good camping spot available in its close proximity. So we decided to move to the next town called Raquira. Beautiful and colorful little town with lots of pottery workshops. Our camp spot was one or two kilometer out of town, a big flat grassy area to camp with great bathroom and shower. A perfect sport to call it home for a few days and have some work done.
Raquira definitely worth the visit. It allowed us to take a break from driving and moving everyday. From Raquira, we had one more stop on our way before reaching Bogota, another small town called Guatavita. A very unique little town next to a big lake surrounded by lush mountains. The architecture was completely different from the Sartender region that we’ve been too. Its vibe was unique and different too in a very good way. We really didn’t expect much of the place but we were both surprised with it. After two months in Columbia, this country has something to surprise us every single day!
We camped on a hill top camping spot overlooking the lake. It owned by a group of rock climbers and had an artificial wall for practicing too. Like most of other places in Columbia so far, we were the only ones there and had a great night sleep.
From here we headed directly to Bogota, the capital of Columbia. The first capital city that we’ll visit in South America. We are excited to get there. In the next post, we’ll arrive in Bogota and share our first impression of this big city with you. Till then take care and enjoy life.
