Driving South

The plan is to visit the metropolis of Bogotá Sunday and check out a couple of museums. The capital city has a population of eleven million people living at 8,500 feet. That’s fully a quarter of Colombia's population living at the same altitude as Telluride, a town with less than 3,000 residents. Plus Bogotá has insanely special traffic problems at the moment as they are building a metro system so traffic is extra choked they say. 

So it is not exactly with joy in my heart that we are leaving the serenity and small town ease of little Villa de Leyva for the last time.

Forty years of making chocolates under her belt so Esmeralda  has got pretty good at it plus she  speaks English, so drop by. 

One last overwrought lunch with left overs for days was in the plans at Happy Monkey. I got the sausage plate which included the  big black pudding. I tasted several pieces thus confirming I do not like the taste nor the texture of cooked blood. During my travels I find rich people eat expensive cuts of meat because they taste better and cooked blood is basically inexpensive nutrition as poor people use every part of the animal which is laudable but…And that certainty opens the door to endless disagreements with connoisseurs who accuse me of not being an adventurous eater; I know my limitations and in my defense I grew up wealthy so I suppose I developed snobby tastes and I’m sorry. I promise I will at least try some guinea pig in Ecuador but I expect the same results. Rusty got the huge black sausage for dinner and loved it proving once again he has better taste than I.

Layne said nothing as I tucked into the huge long black cylinder then when we swapped plates she said quietly: “Is that blood pudding?”  “Yes” I said, grinning “and I tasted it!” So she had to and came to the same conclusion I did. In Peru a specialty is grilled heart roasted on a stick…I’m putting my big boy panties on in anticipation. 

Our other dish is a local specialty called a “canoe” which is a split plantain filled with shredded meat (or vegetables if you are so inclined) and covered in melted cheese. And they expect you to eat all of it! They laugh cheerfully every time we ask for a to go box. 

Good bye Happy Monkey it was nice knowing ya. 

Our Canadian friend Sue told us she  stopped by for one every day she was in town. We too developed a taste for a pause on our walks for  coffee and the light fluffy layered pastry they call Milhojas. It looks dense  and heavily  sugared, and it would be in the US but in this country food is less about piling on the sugar and fat. I know it looks heavy but you might be surprised by the layers of light flaky pastry with whipped cream also light and fluffy and in Layne’s case she went off the reservation to try the chocolate version while I stuck to traditional dulce de leche which is called “arequipa” in Colombia. Goodbye La Galleta Café. 

Rain threatened yesterday but was limited to a couple of brief showers. They do love their classic Land Rovers in Colombia! 

And in this historic city you will come across little treats and surprises when you least expect it: 

“In place”- yes but invisible under the stalled construction work to preserve the  place. A shame because a five hundred year old distillery might be worth seeing. 

It is still the biggest plaza in the Americas they say, horribly cobbled and unadorned, except by pigeons. And a surprisingly happy dog with his head in a cone. We exchanged smiles of sympathy with the owner. 

Below we see the Spanish Viceroy who ordered the construction of the garrison town that bears his name, and a dog who rose up to play with Rusty. 

Below we see the three dogs who were enjoying the sun while available and who couldn’t be bothered to even raise their heads as we passed. They have spent a lot of time this week indoors thanks to the rain so they might have been glad of the time to rest outdoors. They live just down the street from the campground and Rusty is very leery of them though they never move. Lazy buggers. 

     We will miss Villa de Leyva. 

Notice no trash anywhere. Colombia is clean, quiet and takes care of its street dogs. Mexico could learn from them. 

These roofs over vehicle entrances drive me nuts. With a tall van you can’t get into public parking in so many places because of them! Silly us for living in a van! 

Can you imagine having to put a thief proof grate over your utility box? 

Clean toilets with paper, hot (suicide) showers, use of kitchen, electrical shorepower to charge our house batteries all in  secure, quiet parking right downtown  for $15 US a night. 

A great stop in the history books.