After almost a week in Bogota I arrived in Villa de Leyva, a gorgeous little colonial town about four hours north of Bogota. The lack of international tourists in this country is very refreshing – you don´t get endlessly harrassed by touts at the bus station to stay at their guesthouse and locals are not always trying to scam you or drag you into their mediocre “tourist” restaurants. However, it does mean that there isn`t much English spoken so I really need to figure everything out in my halting Spanish. It`s been working out pretty well though. I`ve found that people here are incredibly warm, helpful, and also totally curious about why I am traveling by myself. I have experienced more random acts of kindness during my four days in this town than probably a year in the states.
A few examples:
*My first afternoon here an elderly Colombian couple visiting from the southern coffee-growing region of the country (Zona Cafetera) asked me to take a photo of them in front of a famous ice cream shop. After our twenty minute conversation, they gave me their address, home and cell phone numbers and insisted that I stay with them when I visit that part of the country.
* On my third day here I woke up at 5am to horrible stomach pains and continuous vomiting. Around noon I hobbled weakly out of my guesthouse to buy some water when I ran into a man and his three year old son I had met the day before at a cafe. When he asked how I was doing, I told him I was feeling sick (total understatement, I felt like absolute shit). Before I knew what was happening, he immediately tracked down his niece who speaks English. She insisted on taking me to the doctor, even though I was pretty sure it was just food poisoning. She came with me to the doctor’s office (the visit cost $7, by the way, and this was the “good” doctor) where I vomited yet again (into a toilet that had a turd floating in it, ughghghgh). She sat with me during the appointment and translated everything he said, filled my prescription, and walked me back to my guesthouse. Total angel.
*This morning I decided to go on a six hour hike with another traveler in a national park nearby that was supposed to have a beautiful lake at the top (it ended up being kind of a pond). Anyway, I was woefully underprepared – hadn`t eaten breakfast, and carried in my backpack a small bottle of water, a roll, a cliff bar, and two pieces of fruit. Dumb, dumb, dumb… so of course I was dehydrated and starving when I got to the top. Two different groups of Colombian families were picnicking by the lake, and members of both groups plied us with various snacks, yummy!!!! Maybe they could tell I was contemplating licking the salt off my arm…
*When the hike was over and I reached the bottom, I sat down, anticipating the hour and a half wait for the bus to take me back to town. One of those same families offered us a ride into town. Elated that we weren’t going to be soaked by the rain that had just started coming down, we jumped into the car. I looked behind me and realized that we had displaced the aunt and the little boy who were now sitting in the TRUNK. Seriously. Ok, it wasn´t like they were in the trunk of a Honda Civic, but it was a tiny minivan type car and the very narrow trunk area was clearly designed for a few groceries, not people. And they were now crammed into that tiny space, sitting on top of each other. I tried multiple times to switch places with them, but everyone kept shrieking “No, no!! Esta bien!!!” and refused to budge. So I stayed put, thanking them profusely.
I am very sad to leave this lovely town, but it`s time to move on. Tomorrow I`m catching a bus to San Gil, another small town a few hours north of here that´s famous for rock climbing and whitewater rafting. Woohoo!
