We spent our last few days in Bogotá with some low-key exploring of the beautiful city and getting spoilt with Colombian hospitality in the form of another delicious lunch, courtesy of our host’s wonderful relatives.
On Monday, June 4, we left the capital and headed towards Sachica, our stop for the next two nights. Sachica is a small town that is around a 3-hour ride from the capital and a 10-minute ride from Villa de Leyva, the town we intended to see as it was highly recommended by every local we spoke to.
The road to Sachica
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- Sachica
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- View from our room
After checking in and making ourselves presentable, we headed straight for Villa de Leyva and spent the rest of our evening there. The town is beautiful and is popular for its white colonial architecture, cobblestone streets, and large central plaza. The town has undergone very little development in the last four centuries, in a large part due to its remoteness from major trade routes. As a result, it is one of the few towns in Colombia that has retained its original infrastructure. The central plaza, Plaza Mayor, is 14,000 square meters and is considered one of the largest in South America. Numerous restaurants and stores surround the plaza and it is a lively place, day or night, thanks to the number of people that seem to enjoy hanging out there.
It is easy to see why the town is so popular with locals and a growing number of foreigners as it can easily be used as the set of a Disney movie. The only drawback of this place is the large number of stray dogs that roam the streets and leave excrement everywhere. Needless to say, watching your step is important and we felt really about having had the rabies vaccination. Not that we crossed paths with any rapid canines, but precaution is always better than cure.
Upon recommendation from our hotel’s owner, the following day started with a ride up a mountain on a winding dirt road that is a short distance from Sachica to catch some breathtaking views of the valley below. I was a bit stressed going up because the sight of any dirt road takes me back to the nightmarish roads of Guatemala. But our favourite biker enjoyed the ride and said it was easy so, I loosened my white-knuckled grip on the bike as we went back down.
After enjoying the view, we went to see the famous Casa Terracota (Clay House) that is a 5-minute ride from the city center of Villa de Leyva. It is a two-story, 500-meter-square house made of clay and is considered the largest piece of pottery in the world. The entry fee was 20,000 COP (~9 CAD) for the two of us.
The house was constructed by architect Octavio Mendoza in the same manner as baked clay pottery is done, using the sun to do the baking. It is a habitable establishment and, despite its rustic appearance, it does include modern amenities such as solar panels, electrical outlets, and flush toilets. With its quaint, cottage-like appearance, gorgeous mountain backdrop, and rooms that curve and flow into one another, the house looks like the perfect home for a family of hobbits.
Following the visit to the Casa Terracota, we returned to Villa de Leyva for another fun evening. An “interesting” event occurred as we were preparing to leave the town after dinner. The bike was parked in a well-lit and crowded area, but despite that, a woman followed us to the bike and started asking for money. Phil, being the polite guy he is, responded in Spanish that we don’t have any. The woman would have none of it and was insistent. She then turned to me, but I spoke to her in English and she left quickly.
The encounter was more annoying than intimidating as the woman was pint-sized and unarmed. I just thought to share this story because we learned a very useful lesson that evening; create a language barrier when someone is trying to extort money out of you. Between the two of us, we know enough languages to do that in Latin America, but I think learning Klingon might not be an entirely useless investment for the future. 🙂
