In June 1977 Samuel Vargas was on his way to harvest some peas one fine Sunday when saw something odd in the ground and wasn’t he surprised to find a prehistoric creature called a Kronosaurus where he thought there was just an odd looking rock poking out of the ground.
The 25 foot long sea creature has been kept in place and is on display just outside the town of Villa de Leyva in a custom built museum created around the find. It was all pretty astonishing and not least because they welcomed Rusty. I don’t think I’ve ever taken my dog into a museum before. I’m sorry to say he gave every appearance of being bored unlike his human handlers.
They dug it clear this huge lump of prehistoric bone and built a first rate climate controlled house over it.
Villa de Leyva sits at 8600 feet above modern day sea level on what is known to scientists as the Paja Formation which is a stratum of rocks that stretches across central Colombia and was once a 650 foot deep body of water called the Proto-Caribbean. In this sea swam a monster predator called the Kronosaurus which indeed looks like a giant crocodile to my eyes.
The theory is the Kronosaurus got out-swum by our favorite prehistoric killers we call sharks and these creatures died off. This fully intact example is not your everyday sight and is known across the scientific world but not to us ordinary mortals. It is quite the sight I can tell you.
There are no humans in the diorama because…
…humans and dinosaurs did not co-exist. Of humans these four brought you this fossil. Vargas on the left, his boss, then the owner of the land and the dude on the right the guy in the hat is an indigenous leader who got involved with the dig on the land in order to keep it where it was found.
I should point out there are thousands of fossils of ammonites which are prehistoric sea snails (after a fashion) and they are so prolific around Villa de Leyva they are used as decoration.
Outside the museum:
And they have display cases of ammonites and interactive screens for kids to do their learning. It’s a pretty spectacular place. 
And don’t forget the souvenir shops! We got a tasteful but tiny dinosaur magnet. Layne loves to decorate our tiny home with tiny souvenirs of our tiny travels.
Visiting these places is surprisingly casual for us in a way that isn’t possible in the US where we descend on our heritage in hordes. Here you find a spot to park, let your dog go for a wander and then leash him up and amble in. No signs, no regulations, no warnings, no handrails. Cost to foreigners is twice the price of admission for Colombians at this private museum and we had no complaints at $5 each.
Then we trundled off seven miles to check out another wonder of this region and yes the last part of our route was on a one lane dirt road.
If you managed to read the sign board I included you might get the impression I got that nobody is certain what went on here exactly before the Spanish shows up in the 16th century. Oh and there is no parking lot; the guard said to just park on the edge of the road so I did.
Scientists believe the Muisca people set up these stones in the manner of the better known Stonehenge to use as a solar calendar.
In short they used the stones to identify the movements of the sun so they would celebrate the solstices and equinoxes as fertility days. The idea was that the sun fertilized the earth so the locals held a jamboree to mark the occasion apparently.
An unusual spot carved out of a subdivision and when I asked if Rusty were allowed in the guard looked puzzled and said “Of course!” (¡Por supesto!). Silly me for doubting.
Informality rules once again. We were free to wander, obviously outside the simple roped off area and after a while I got with the program and let Rusty off his leash. There was a squadron of local dogs who appeared from neighboring yards and after a period of confrontation and barking when Rusty did not back off most of them went home to resume their naps.
I suppose the archaeologists must be correct when they suggest this was some sort of solar calendar but this field full of phallic symbols seems a bit over the top to me, like they were trying too hard in what must have been a society dominated by men.
Oh and where there is life there must be death. And when important people croak they get an elaborate tomb (“tumba”).
The interior was an undecorated musty smelling cave which I photographed for the record but rather ineffectually with a flash.
We were alone here after what must I imagine have been a busy week for Semana Santa.
West for a while and contemplated the passing of time.
It was a cool gray afternoon with rain clouds building over the mountains and gusts of wind blowing through the valley. The promise of rain was obvious and though it has been slow to start rainy season is kicking in. Luckily the dirt track to get out was dry!
Layne had spotted roadside signs advertising an olive orchard which I knew we weren’t going to be able to pass up.
We made an early dinner of the sampler for two people ($12:50) and half a bottle of Chilean red.
Layne had the nerve which I lack, to ask if future travelers might be allowed to spend the night in their parking lot if they visited so now there is a new “informal campsite” entry in iOverlander.
This is the only olive orchard in Colombia. We had a long talk with the owner about Colombia’s exit from the civil war 15 years ago and the difficulty of streamlining bureaucracy on a country devoted to paperwork.
The heir to the farm Camilo who speaks English and is off to Houston to study in August. Five years away from home…coming up.
His dad Pedro told us how he had to import his olive saplings illegally from France Spain and Italy because to do it legally was impossible. I moaned too about the absurd hoops we had to jump through to get our van unloaded at the docks and the need to renew our permit to stay an extra three months. I told him how Mexico gives us six months with minimal paperwork and he threw up his hands, “Cone back in a few years! Our Colombia will be transformed!” he laughed.
There are a lot of people here who see the vast potential of this untapped country and he is one of them.
Eighty years of growing olives in an unwelcoming country, it is the single minded vision of his father Antonio Cortes, now 98 years old who started this orchard 80 years ago.
His legacy is growing healthy and strong today:
And so home on the bouncy cobbles and peace and quiet of our campground in a field in downtown Villa de Leyva.
Quiet times ahead and Saturday we leave after a last visit to the market and drive to Bogotá and the gold museum and the Botero museum.
And then the mysterious red desert of Tatacoa. Utah in Colombia. Who knew?
