From Bogota, we headed north to Villa de Leyva, a small colonial town with with washed houses and cobbled streets. The most attractive feature of Villa de Leyva is that it contains no modern buildings and everything has been preserved in the style of when it was founded.
The hostel we stayed at was by far the nicest hostel we've been at in South America. Set on a hill a short walk outside of town, a creek running down one side and countryside to the rear, it was very peaceful and relaxed. The room was like a flash bed and breakfast more than a hostel, immaculately clean, exposed wooden beams, hot water! Tumeke.
We didn't do a huge amount - we were rained in for a good portion of our time there - but it was a brilliant place to just while away the day. The rain also meant that we checked out a somewhat random pizza restaurant on the outskirts of town near our hostel (as it was the closest eatery). While marketed as a restaurant on the street, the "restaurant" was just the kitchen table of a couple of locals who happened to have a stone baked pizza oven outside. Once we got past the initial feeling of interrupting someones evening by rocking into their livingroom and asking for food, it was a quite unique and very relaxing place to enjoy dinnner - although grandma had to take her knitting off the table before we could sit down.
Sitting in the town square - one of the biggest in South America, odd for such a small town - browsing through shops of local artisans and just wandering aimlessly, three days passed quickly. We could happily have stayed longer but decided it was about time to continue on our merry way.
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