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6 weeks Colombia

May - June 2015
A 45-day adventure by annalovestraveling Read more
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  • annalovestraveling6 weeks Colombia
    Day 16

    Half of the country in one day

    May 29, 2015 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    A day of pure travelling: I started in the morning with a flight from Pasto to Bogotá, where I went to fetch some stuff at Daniel's house. From there, I took the transmilenio to the bus station, so I could go to Villa de Leyva, changing buses in Tunja. Even though it was a really tiring day, I enjoyed seeing the beautiful landscapes on my way. Also, in Pasto I launched from the smallest airport I have seen in all my life: it offers solely flights from and to Bogotá, has two waiting rooms and security opens only before boarding.
    In the afternoon I finally arrived in the amazing colonial city of Villa de Leyva, and in the equally beautiful hostel. It is a little far to walk and not really cheap, but worth going, because it has an awesome ambient.    Read more

  • annalovestraveling6 weeks Colombia
    Day 17

    Villa de Leyva

    May 30, 2015 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Today was reeeeaaaaally relaxed. In the morning I went to a farmer's market in town with Alicia from England. The food was by far not as cheap as we expected, but really good, so we bought fruits and vegetables for the whole stay in Villa de Leyva.
    After lunch and chilling for some time in the hammocks, we did a little hike right next to the hostel. What we didn't expect was the spectacular countryside that was waiting for us within a distance of only 1h of walking!    Read more

  • annalovestraveling6 weeks Colombia
    Day 18

    El Hoyo de la Romera

    May 31, 2015 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    El Hoyo de la Romera is a huge cave of originally 120m of depth. Right now, tons of rubble let you arrive on solid ground after already 30m.
    The legend says that people used to throw unfaithful women into the hole. Once, a man did that, believing the rumours about his wife. She, though, was received by the arms of the tree which is growing all the way from the bottom to the top. She wandered around the hole and found a tunnel, which after one year brought her to Gachantivá (another village), exactly the day when her husband was about to get married again. Seeing her, he realized that he had been wrong and went crazy.
    We were lucky and got a rope to go down to the bottom. There, our guide showed us the path, the stalagtites and the minerals they're composed of, as well as the bats. At the end, we climbed up the tree (which seems way easier than it is). A trip exactly how I like it :)    Read more

  • annalovestraveling6 weeks Colombia
    Day 19

    Horseback riding

    June 1, 2015 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We had a nice four-hour ride to pozo de la vieja. There is also a story to it, which locals claim is true: from 1910 to 1986, once in a while people would see a woman in that part of the river, which was only covered by her golden hair. We were told the story by a woman who has a little shop over there, and according to her even her grandpa had seen the “vieja“.
    It was a really nice ride through an absolutely beautiful landscape with a lot of cattle with their babies. Also, the horses were amazing and really well trained. I had one that loved galloping, but equal to the others would stop at the end of every galloping part it knows.    Read more

  • annalovestraveling6 weeks Colombia
    Day 20

    Bike Tour

    June 2, 2015 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    This time we were a group of five people: Americans, Dutch, English and me, renting bikes to explore the area. Our plan was to go to the blue holes (pozos azules), to the archeological museum El Fósil, to an astronomical site called Infiernito and to the clay house Casa de Barro.
    First though, we had to stop at another bike rental to get our really shitty bikes fixed a bit. When we arrived at the blue holes, they were closed. We asked a man who told us that he knew the owners and would show us the way. It got weirder when he wanted us to buy one of his CDs so he would continue. We told him that we didn't want to go anymore (it would have been a pretty steep way back anyway), so he left us really pissed off.
    The museum was nice though. They have a huge skeleton of a baby (!) dinosaur (around 6m long without the tail) and some other fossils. El Infiernito didn't seem really special (it is like some kind of Stonehenge with stones standing around). We were relatively sure we wouldn't see anything different inside than from outside, so we didn't pay the entrance.
    Last we arrived at Casa de Barro, which is really cool. You see some of the outsides on the picture - the inside part is designed in the same, Gaudí-ish style, but seeming as of somebody would live. It is not only an art work, but has everything it needs to be habitable, even a kitchen, a toilet and s mosaic shower. We had a nice tortilla-guacamole-lunch on the rooftop.
    When we got back to the hostel, Alicia and I already had to pack our stuff to catch the bus to Sogamoso. It took like forever to get there, so I asked more than half an hour late, what usually hadn't been a problem, but in this case Chris, the friend that was going to pick me up, had an exam at 8. We arranged to met at an ice cream parlor named Frutillar, but it resulted a bit difficult since we waited at different ones (and neither he nor anyone else in the town seemed to know there were two). Therefore, it was already really late, so I came with him to the university (where they first didn't want to let me in) and waited while he was presenting his exam. I was fairly happy when we finally got to his house.    Read more

  • annalovestraveling6 weeks Colombia
    Day 21

    Pueblitos de Boyacá

    June 3, 2015 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    I went with Alicia to two of the small villages: Iza and Monguí. Iza didn't really have anything to offer (later we were told that people just came on Sundays to eat desserts), but Monguí is really nice. Even though there isn't much activity either, it is reasonable that it was voted the most beautiful village in Boyacá (the departamento, which is similar to a state).
    In the evening I prepared some nice Bratkartoffeln mit Spinat und Spiegelei.    Read more

  • annalovestraveling6 weeks Colombia
    Day 22

    Way too short reunion

    June 4, 2015 in Colombia ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Today I could finally spend some actual time with my “feo“ (= uggly) Chris, since it was the only day this week without exams. We did had a present trip (even enough it kept raining) to Playa Blanca at the Laguna de Tota. We had a lot of fun and at the same time it was really weird to remember that we had only known each other for around 1 1/2 days we had spend together with friends in Cancun. It rather felt as if we had been friends for years.
    Before we left in the morning and also the evening before, I could proof that the German frase “Liebe get durch den Magen“ (=“love comes through your stomach“) is actually true. Like I mentioned in the post before, I prepared some German food together with Chris' grandma. When he came back from his exam, we still sat on the table after dinner, together with his aunt, talking and laughing a lot. He finally thought that he had been exchanged, when he wanted to drink some of the juice and his grandma told him that he couldn't because she had prepared it for me :D
    It was really sad leaving after such a short time, but I'm also looking forward to arriving at the house of my flatmate Damaris in just a few hours.    Read more

  • annalovestraveling6 weeks Colombia
    Day 23

    (Colombian) Christian Church

    June 5, 2015 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Since the bus last night was fairly delayed and consequently none of us slept before 2.30, it took pretty long in the morning for everyone to get up. Therefore, after our really late breakfast we just did a little trip to the central point of Colombia, which is just 10 minutes by motorbike from Damaris' house, and saw where some of the boats stop on the rivers. Since right now it's wet season, you can't even see where the river is supposed to be - it overflowed its banks everywhere in the surroundings. Even the cattle had to stand inside the water.
    Damaris' parents both are pastors at an Christian church, so in the evening everyone went to "culto" (=worship). I didn't want to be rude, so I went with them. Besides, I was curious about the differences between Christian (a type of protestant) and Catholic church.
    At first it seemed pretty much like a mixture of poetry slam and a concert, only with religious texts. Apparently it was important to be the loudest and most passionate of all, using a facial expression of suffering, while the other people where in a kind of global hypnosis. Up to this moment I only thought “well, it's still not my thing, but they seem to like it“. But after around one hour came the turning point, when the guy at the front started to shout even more an half of the people had a mental breakdown, crying, lying on the floor, not able to do anything else but screaming. It was one of the worst things ever, and I still wander why anyone should go to such a service.    Read more

  • annalovestraveling6 weeks Colombia
    Day 25

    Villavicencio

    June 7, 2015 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Yesterday after breakfast, Damaris and I went together to Villavicencio, the town where she studies. Besides, here a living two friends of mine: Daniela, my flatmate from the first semester in Mexico, and Vanessa, the one from the second one. Damaris had to meet up with some classmates (and later went back to Puerto López), while I went with Daniela for lunch.
    Afterwards, I left my stuff in Daniela's house and we waited for some friends to pick us up, because we wanted to go to a swimming pool at a hotel. But obviously nothing here works according to “german time“: they guys had problems with their car, so it took them eternal to arrive, plus they drove a wrong way, for which it took another hour from the house to the hotel. When we finally arrived, it was already getting dark (remember: sunset in Colombia is at 6pm all year) and we just relaxed there a bit, drinking aguardiente (the typical colombian licuor). Besides two other girls, all of them were on a weekend trip from Bogotá, most of them guys (which ment we paid only our taxi home and the entrance for the club).
    Later, we went to the famous nightclub Capachos, which has different floors for electro&vallenato, salsa and one for Mexican music. Even better is, that starting from 2 am they had loads of gratis food outside. Around 4 we went back to the hotel of the guys for the after party. It wasn't as easy as it sounds: we had to climb a barbed wire and many of the girls who wore high heels couldn't walk anymore (I was really lucky I just took my flats), so the guys carried them. Two had to go all the way back, because Daniela lost her keys - but, gentleman like they are, obviously only the guys went in search for them.    Read more

  • annalovestraveling6 weeks Colombia
    Day 26

    The party continues

    June 8, 2015 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    After a shower the day “started“ directly with lunch at the finca (=farm) of Daniela's family, which is on a little mountain. Since it rained heavily, we didn't stay there for long, but went back to the house to catch up on some sleep.
    In the afternoon, we went again to the hotel. In the big group of almost 25 people we had a bonfire and later went all to the pool, where we also started the next morning.
    This day - equal as many days in Colombia -was all about food: first we had a colombian breakfast (caldo, arepa, torta de plátano, pan) at the hotel and in the afternoon Vanessa, a flatmate from my second semester in Monterrey, invited us for lunch. First we had Ajíaco (a soup of potatoes and corn, served with chicken, rice, avocado and banana - I know, those Colombians are crazy) at her place, then we went to get grandma's, because she had prepared rice arepas.
    We ended the day on top of the same mountain as the day before. From up there you have a nice view and can drink aguapanela con queso (if you order it without cheese, you can shock every Colombian). Besides, there is a famous monument called piedra de amor (= stone of love).    Read more

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