Soaking up the charm of Villa de Levya

  

Duruelo at Villa de Leyva

Our ultimate destination for our trip to Colombia is Villa de Leyva. This preserved colonial city was rustic and quaint with its whitewashed houses among the mountains. We stayed at the lovely Duruelo resort decorated with a lot of gardens, hand-crafted furniture, and antiques.

With time to spare on the day of the wedding, hubby, the kids and I set off for a short walk to the Plaza Mayor (main plaza). This was also where you can find the restaurants serving international dishes and where we had dinner the previous night. Walking on the streets made of stone was not easy on the feet (neither is driving on it), but it sure looked pretty! We checked out the many stores selling first-class goods—clothing, jewelry, furniture, paintings, sculptures, pottery, hand-woven crafts and of course, souvenirs. It can be on the expensive side for some stores, but the quality was good.

streets of Villa de Leyva

 

dinner at the plaza

After we had our fill of window-shopping (okay, we got a few things), we decided to go on a horse-back ride. The kids were very excited, especially since they did not get a chance to go on one in Chicaque. So, for an hour, we rode horses and explored the villages nearby. The view was awesome and the houses were just enchanting. How I wish we could have brought those back home! We fell in love with doors, windows and little pots of flowers set on posts.

 

Before heading back to Duruelo, we decided to skip the fancy (and expensive) restaurants and went for lunch at the local market. We ordered a platter of lomo (pork tenderloin) with potatoes, plantain (variety of banana) and chicharrones (crispy pork rind). Truly a no-frills dining experience, we each only had toothpicks to eat our meal. 

We just had enough time to rest and prepare for the beautiful afternoon wedding. It was a perfect setting for such a memorable occasion.

Cerro de Monserrate: an icon of the city of Bogotá

At the heart of Bogotá lies a hill, Monserrate. It rises 3,152 metres above sea level where a church was built and devoted to “El Señor Caido” (Fallen Lord). Access is via funicular, a cable car (Teleférico de Monserrate) or by climbing, which is the preferred way of pilgrims and sportsmen. We were told that the record getting to Monserrate's top by walking is 18 minutes—this is definitely trickier than climbing the CN tower which is only 553 metres!

The view from the funicular

We took the Transmilenio (bus transit system) to the foot of Monserrate. After getting tickets, we lined up for the funicular ride to take us to the peak. The funicular had wide windows and glass ceilings allowing us to view the beautiful landscape. A few steps upon disembarking, the Stations of the Cross began. This activity marked yet another one of our hikes up a mountain.  We should be getting used to this by now!

One of the Stations of the Cross

The church sits at the top where you can also see a wonderful panoramic view of the city of Bogotá. It was a simple structure but, nonetheless, beautiful.

As with other tourist destinations, the summit had restaurants and souvenir shops. Since it was almost noon, we bought some snacks of empanadas and pastel de pollo (stuffed pastries) at the cafeteria to tide us over until lunch. Apparently, line-ups were not quite respected—ironic or typical for a place of pilgrimage? As it started to rain, I pulled out the kids’ raincoats from the backpack only to have folks cut in line to order. Good thing we were not too hungry! I was hoping, however, that my irritated stare would translate well in Spanish.

After saying my prayers (forgive me for getting annoyed at the folks who cut in line and delayed getting food for my kids!) and admiring the fantastic view, we made our way down the mountain. The Swiss-made cable car, Teleférico de Monserrate, then took us down in about 4 minutes and made for another picturesque ride.

The view from the top

Monserrate is not only known for being a part of the Bogotá cityscape, it is also symbolic of the faith of the people, rising above all. We have noticed that religion is very much ingrained in the culture. In pretty much every town we have visited, the attraction highlight includes a church (there is even a small chapel at the El Dorado airport terminal!). And, if there was one thing I can choose to represent Bogotá’s mountains and importance of faith, it would be Monserrate.

The legend of El Dorado at Laguna de Guatavita

After our visit to Catedral de Sal, we set off about one hour away from Zipaquirá, for Laguna de Guatavita where the legend of El Dorado is said to have originated. This is the lake where the Muisca (indigenous people of Colombia) conducted a ritual which is widely believed to be the basis of the legend. The story is more elaborate, but simply put, a ceremony took place on the appointment of a new ruler wherein he would be covered in gold dust and then dive into the lake from a raft. Gold and jewel offerings were also thrown into the lake by the worshippers. El Dorado is supposedly the name of the tribal chief but has evolved to mean the place, the lost city of gold. Conquistadors heard of this ceremony and made various attempts to recover the treasures within the lake. 

As if to check if our knees, lungs, and willpower would hold up to the test of high altitude, we went on yet another hike to get the view of the lake. It was also steep but the trail was mostly paved by stone steps.

Our companions and the kids were way ahead of us. Hubby and I must be getting old. Along the way, we saw some bright, red mushrooms and beautiful flora. The view of the town just kept getting better and better.

We were rewarded at the top by a fantastic view of the lake. It was well worth the climb! What has made it more magical is the legend behind it.

A few dozen pictures later (of all angles we could possibly take), we prepared to go down. We have come to realize that climbing down is harder on the knees than going up. We took a deep breath and began our descent. Somewhere behind the trees, my kids called out, “Mommy, Daddy, are you coming?!”

A jewel in the salt mines: Catedral de Sal in Zipaquirá

A visit to the Catedral de Sal (Salt Cathedral) of Zipaquirá is an attraction not to be missed. This underground Roman Catholic church (about 48 km outside of Bogotá), built within the tunnels of a salt mine, was unlike any we have seen.

In the 1930’s,miners had carved a sanctuary in this halite structure for their daily prayers, asking for protection to the saints before starting to work. 

The underground church was built inside this active mine in the 1950's and dedicated to Our Lady of Rosary, Patron saint of miners.

We opted for a tour in Spanish, with our companions as translators. As we entered the cathedral (which is technically not a cathedral since it does not have a bishop), we were awed by the solemn atmosphere and ambient lighting of violet, blue and pink hues. We were advised not to take pictures yet but only during the walk back as the energy fields inside the mine drained batteries quickly. It was so hard to resist! I risked a couple of shots despite knowing we were going back the same way. The shots were just waiting to be taken! The chapels carved in the tunnels for the 14 Stations of the Cross culminating at the main nave were simply dazzling. The kids were fascinated by the lights but were a bit bored after the 10^th station.

The tour ended with a 3D movie of a robot (in an attempt to appeal to the kids and have a modern spin) which took us through the history of the mines from the Muisca to the current extractions of salt. The whole tour took under an hour plus another 10 or so minutes for the movie. After the movie, we walked along the tunnels where there were works of art on display, a coffee shop (of course!) and some souvenir stalls reminding us that this is a tourist spot indeed.

Another attraction was the mirror of water (brine, actually) whose surroundings are illuminated to reflect on the static water. The result was a fascinating optical illusion of swimming in a vacuum underground. The kids were drawn to this marvelous illusion and I kept urging them to move away. I wondered if I should have stopped to pray at each of the 14 stations just to make sure that they did not fall over!

After we had left the mines, we decided to eat lunch while on a train ride for a short tour of Zipaquirá. It was a nice break from the dark and cold, and a rest from our 2km walk inside.

The Catedral de Sal is amazing. Where else in the world (except in Poland) can you find such a magnificent piece of architecture where you can actually taste the walls?! Well, we did not miss the opportunity. The kids (and adults) did have a sample!

A walk in the clouds: hiking at Chicaque Parque Natural

 I guess it is safe to assume that we enjoyed our Chingaza hike enough that we decided to go for another hiking trip at Chicaque, located in the municipality of San Antonio del Tequendema (thirty minutes outside of Bogotá).  We went here to go hiking and horse-back riding. We began our excursion walking among the clouds in this high-altitude cloud forest. With over 18km of trails, we took one of the easier trails from the entrance to Refugio (the restaurant and cabin located in the heart of Chicaque) as we were traveling with children. Needless to say, at one point or another, DD#2, our 4-year-old, had to be carried for stretches.

We trekked about 3km downhill in what were the most difficult trails we’ve done with the kids! I hounded my very adventurous 6-year old (DD#1), who was almost always leading the pack, and reminded her not to walk too fast. The trail was slippery and steep and would make for a dangerous fall (and besides, I couldn’t keep up :P). Midway through the trek, our knees started to hurt.  Some of us were already wishing for a jeep to pass by so we could hitch a ride to Refugio. We didn’t have any luck, though.  With the kids in tow, it took us over 2 hours to get to our destination—lunch and a wonderful view.

Lunch was grilled baby beef, Pollo ala Plancha (grilled chicken) and soup. We were already starving by then so I really couldn’t say whether the meal was amazing, because everything tastes good when you are hungry.

After lunch, we could no longer muster the energy and willpower to hike back. And since it would still take long to go on horse-back (although faster than walking), we decided to ride a jeep on the return journey. The kids were not thrilled to have missed the chance to ride a horse, but they had to content themselves by petting the horses and burros and running after the Refugio’s resident peacocks.

I still cannot believe the kids managed that hike! Such troopers they were and they made us very proud with their very few complaints. I also still cannot believe I managed that hike. What a walk in the clouds!

E-I-E-I-O: Farming in Panaca

Our family has been to quite a few working farms so we figured we knew what to expect in Panaca. Located 40 minutes from Bogotá, between Zipaquirá and Briceño, this farming theme park definitely exceeded our expectations. It had all the activities my 4 and 6-year old loved, especially since the park encourages interaction between the visitors and the animals.

Walking around in different stations

Just inside the entrance, we were initially quite unimpressed with the two horses in the corral--small compared to the huge Perjerons we had seen before. This was until we saw all the park had to offer! There were over 2,400 domestic animals in 7 theme stations, many different shows and a whole lot of fun activities.

One of the residents of Panaca

We watched a couple of shows before and after lunch. The first was the pig race, wherein hubby guessed the winning pig! The whole spiel before the races was in Spanish so we only understood a bit (and none of the jokes at all) but the singing of the emcees was good.

And they're off! The pig in the green shirt won!

By the end of the pig races, we had already worked up an appetite. There were 20 restaurants outdoors, we were told. We chose to have Churrasco (grilled beef) and Arroz con Pollo (rice with chicken) in one of the fast food stalls for lunch. The servings were huge! (We would realize later on that 2 regular orders would suffice for the four of us, and this applied to most restaurants we went to in Bogotá).

Dessert: Arequipe helado

Stunts at the horse show

After lunch, we managed to catch the end of one of the horse shows. There were amazing stunts, and we had the general feeling of watching a rodeo. We decided to skip the dog show (as we already see many different breeds during Woofstock in Toronto) and the small animals section (which we figured was pretty much the same as the other farms we’ve visited in Canada). Surely if we had more time, we would have gone to these stations, as these are always fun for the kids. Instead, we decided to let the kids go on a llama ride and bottle-feed the goats. It was a great decision as the kids had a blast! They had fed llamas in petting zoos before (with hay) but had not ridden on one. The girls took turns riding on Margarita, the llama, around the Estación Ganaderia (Cattle Station). Afterwards, they were given a chance to take the reins and lead the llama on a short walk.  I then got a couple of bottles of milk for them to feed the baby goats. Kids (children, not baby goats) can also bottle-feed the pigs or sheep in other pens. As my girls love feeding animals, this activity was exciting for them. Other activities we no longer got to try were riding the burro and milking the cow. Those would have been fun for sure.

We walked around some more to see the local animals—long-horned cattle, pigs, burros and many more. Then, the girls were off to play in the play house with ropes, tunnels and slides. This theme park was quite unlike any other we’ve visited. Surely, even Old Macdonald would enjoy!

Picnic and hiking at Parque Chingaza

An advice my Latino friends gave me was to take it easy when we get to Colombia. With the high altitude we’re not used to, one can become quite fatigued easily. Not heeding their advice, mainly because our itinerary was already planned, we were off to elevations of 3400 metres less than two days after we arrived.

In the eastern mountain ranges of the Andes, an hour and a half from Bogotá, lies the national park of Chingaza. Chingaza contributes 80% of high quality drinking water to Bogota and is home to many flora and fauna, some of which can only be found there.  Upon entering the park, one can admire the wilderness of mountains, lakes and waterfalls on the side of the road. We were told that the water from the falls is from the clouds, gathered and filtered by the plants, and released.

waterfalls by the road

we ended our hike at the stream

After our picnic lunch of tortillas (or wraps), we headed off for a hike to explore the reserve. In                   the páramo (moor), one can find beautiful and interesting wildlife. We saw the frailejones (a perennial shrub, some varieties of which are unique to the park) and swamp mosses that absorb up to forty times their weight in water. We saw thousand year old trees and plenty of deer.

One of the many deer we saw

Frailejones

The hike contributed to a hefty laundry bill at the apartment and a significant amount of time washing off shoes due to the muddy trails. Nevertheless, the amazing scenery was a treat!

¡Hola Bogotá!

To be honest, we would never have planned a vacation to Bogotá, Colombia if not for the wedding we were going to attend. We had a strong sense of excitement in going to South America for the first time. But we also had a nagging sense of hesitation stemming from common stereotypes—we are bringing our kids where?!  And just weeks after a couple of unsettling headlines on TV?! I did some research and consulted with my Latino friends, but nothing could have prepared us for the fun we would have in Bogotá.

at the Museo del Oro

A coffee cart, of course!

With 4 luggages in tow, we set off for a city which looked a lot like Manila. Upon landing (an hour late) in Bogotá, we were greeted by El Dorado airport customs and immigration line ups and found our way  to the traffic, the buildings, the street vendors—all of which felt much like being in Manila, except in Español! However, Bogotá, like Manila, had its own charm. The little towns off Bogotá that we visited were rustic and inviting, and our experiences (which I will endeavor to recount) were quite memorable.

                                                                                                                some street snacks

typical traffic

I was quite happy to note that the awesome hospitality that was shown to us by our hosts was equally  matched by the culture’s love for children. Children had their own priority doors in the Transmilenio (bus transit system) and even their own priority seats—of course, along with the elderly and handicapped. There were also mini-potties in the airport washrooms--to my youngest one’s delight. In one of our long trips, someone had to take a washroom stop. The driver promptly asked if it was one of the niñas (little girls). I will bet that he would have made it his personal mission to find a washroom if it were.  It was great to be in a country which took care of its young. The city was bustling, the food delicious, and the people, wonderful. The tourism slogan does hit the point—the only risk is wanting to stay—if only for all the other places we were not able to visit.

The TransMilenio

Our Bogotá trip statistics:                                                                

Distance from Toronto to Bogotá: 3,041 miles (or at least that was what the tiny TV in the plane said)

Time difference: Bogotá is 1 hour behind

Elevation: 2,640 metres above sea level

Number of pictures taken: 1,001

Number of hours delay for the flight back: 4 (aaaaargh)

Number of loads of laundry: 6 (ugh)

A bit of history and a lot of food and drinks at the Distillery Historic District

Hubby took me to the Distillery District for our first wedding anniversary, a year after the Historical district opened its doors as a village centered on art, culture and entertainment. In the mid 1800’s the buildings in the area started as a flourmill and later on included a distillery owned and operated by Gooderham and Worts, brothers-in-law who immigrated into Canada from England. In its heyday, the distillery accounted for half of the entire alcohol production in Ontario and at one point was the largest distillery in the world! But with the war and prohibition, the business declined until operations ceased. Over a hundred fifty years later, the district has been restored and is now the setting of thousands of films, wonderful events, exquisite dining, and is also home to many art studios. There are walking tours and even Segway tours to help you explore the place.

We have gone back maybe once or twice since our first anniversary, but not since our eldest daughter DD#1 was born. It has been years! So, for Mother’s Day, hubby took me and my mom (and the girls, of course) for lunch at the Distillery District.

We arrived before 11:30am and just walked around the area. We enjoyed walking on the cobble stone steps and looking at the beautifully restored and maintained brick buildings. Several works of art were on display and the girls had fun in the modern play area. The day started out a bit chilly and had I known there would be many structures to climb, I would not have had the girls wear tights. Needless to say, I now have to get two new pairs. Oh well.

We managed to get reservations at Pure Sprits Oyster House. The kitchen was backed-up. As they were fully booked, they should have anticipated the number of patrons! While service was slow, the food was phenomenal! I started my meal with their soup of the day, a butternut squash soup, which was wonderfully creamy.   DD#1 asked if she could have it along with her kid-sized haddock and chips. I then had the crisp-skinned Pacific Salmon, which no longer had a crispy skin by the time it was served as we had to wait for my mom’s Black Cod and Dungeness Crab paella! Both the salmon and cod were fresh and juicy. I had some pesto pasta on the side which was a perfect complement to the salmon. I also got to taste my mom’s paella. The flavours were rich and the rice was hearty with scallops and squid. Hubby had a Black Angus striploin which was perfectly grilled. The béarnaise sauce on the side was heavenly. We capped this with our first dessert (as you will read later on, we had more after this!) of crème brulee.

We then headed off to SOMA for chocolate! Hubby loved the Spicy Mayan hot chocolate which is supposedly their most popular creation. It is made of dark Venezuelan chocolate with a special blend of spices. I, however, was quite happy with my choice, “Dark Side of the Mug.” It was divine. Intensely dark, rich, and smooth--this time it was DD#2 who asked to finish my drink! We also got some chocolate bars of Costa Rican milk and Peruvian Dark to enjoy at home!

Next, we had to have some coffee (as if crème brulee and hot chocolate were not enough). So, we got a mug each and just relaxed inside Balzac’s. We sipped the intensely dark and bold brew at the loft while internalizing the art exhibit.

And what trip to the Distillery would be complete without some Mill St. beer? We got a 6-pack Coffee porter which hubby and I like—and we are not even beer-drinkers! This concoction is brewed with Balzac coffee, which gives the aroma of dark roast coffee and notes of chocolate, and is not available in all LCBO’s. It was a Happy Mother’s day! Cheers!