We woke in Bogota, had breakfast and packed up the bikes. Chris had the receptionists in the lobby help him with his Colombian SIM card as it was messaging him about expiring.
We exited the parking garage with about half of Bogota to ride through, in all it’s insanity. Just after we pulled out and made a couple turns Chris indicates to me that he forgot his cable lock back at the hotel, so we circle a busy round about and head back, parking on the sidewalk so he can just run in.
On the way out of town I spot a motorcycle shop and stop quickly for a pair of gloves. They only had one pair that would fit me but they arent bad.
Back on the highway, after about 30 km of riding, I go through a toll booth and, not seeing Chris, wait for him at the other side. About 10 minutes goes by and no sign of him, which is virtually impossible in only 30 kms, so thinking he is either broken down or worse, I head back to look. I ride all the way back to a gas station we had stopped at together, then all the way back again to the toll booth, no Chris. Then I get a message that he lost me and was on a completely different highway than I was. The rule is to never leave the road your on without the other riders, but he thought I had and followed his GPS on a different route.
So I continue on my road and he takes his. Both with end in Villa De Leyva. I am on the fastest route, he is on the shortest. I cruise through another amazing, scenic area. Lot s of farming and very lush. The last 30km or so being beautiful country lanes. Arriving in Leyva, I ride to the Plaza Mayor, text Chris I am here, and shortly afterwards we reconnect. We find a small hotel, Villa del Angel, run by Andre and his family, and park the bikes there. An absolutely gorgeous place, the architecture is really something. After unpacking our things, we walk around the town for a while, surrounded by other tourists enjoying the quant village. Plaza Mayor in Villa is the largest plaza in Colombia, and was built in colonial times, along with the church facing it. During the revolution for independence it also played a roll as part of Simon Bolivar’s route to the battle of Boyaca (nearby) which was the turning point in defeating the royalist hold of Santa Fe (today – Bogota). The town maintains it’s architecture and style to this day.
If we had been behind at all, this would have been one of those stops we had planned on skipping. I am so glad we didn’t, as the place has a magical feel to it, although more of a place to take your wife to, not your friend.
The street dogs here are totally fun to watch too. The streets are packed with healthy, friendly dogs. All whom go about their day without a concern. If you took a dog from here and brought it home i don’t think you would be improving it’s life
We go out to dinner and pick a place with a patio facing Plaza Mayor. We have an acoustic guitar player, who had an awesome voice, playing while we ate. The entire feel of this town is quite something. As we pass the church, they have some ceremony going on where there was lots of pop like singing and a small group of people celebrating whatever moment it may have been (my understanding of churchy things not being good enough to know what it was). Then, when we pass the bus stop, all the people there are singing away with more churchy dressed people. It may not be my thing, but I sure enjoyed how happy the crowd was.
As the evening winds to a close, we head back to the hotel. If I ever return. To Colombia, this town will get more than a one night stop.
Colombia Motorcycle Ride 