After a hectic few days in Bogotá we started to make our way north heading for the Carribbean Coast. The road up is one slog of a bus journey so we decided to break it up by overnight stays at some smaller towns out in the sticks.
The first town we arrived at was a sleepy old town called Villa de Leyva, full of colonial buildings and the biggest Plaza Mayor in Colombia. We arrived just before sunset so by the time we'd found our hostel and stored our things it was dark out and the twinkly town lights were on. This was the first time I think that I completely relaxed on our trip so far, it was so different from the bustling nights in Bogotá; so, for that night we sat on the stairs of the main square, grabbed a beer and people watched....
And ate chicken...
We've eaten a lot of chicken.
The next morning we were headed for San Gil so we jumped in a small shack of a cafe, grabbed some eggs and juice and made our way to the next town.
Now San Gil was, again, totally different from Bogotá and totally different from Villa de Leyva. San Gil isn't really known for the town and the buildings itself but for what's around the town... Rivers, mountains, canyons and caves. Lauren and the boys went white water rafting on the first day there whilst I chickened out and took full advantage of the empty pool. That night we finally got to play the Colombian game tejo throwing blocks of stone at clay and explosives whilst fuelled on free beer, we went dancing with some others from the hostel and then had more chicken.
The next morning was our final few hours before getting the 10 hour overnight bus to Santa Marta on the Carribbean Coast. When I say few, I really mean an entire day from 11am check out to 9.30pm bus ticket. So, with that we crammed in a morning at a natural pool Pozo Azul 5 mins from San Gil and a short stop at Chicamocha national park to see the canyons and mountains from high up.
All in all a great way to break up a huge journey north.
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