V

Villa de Leyva was our third of three top-ranking colonial cities: Mompos and Barichara being the other two. It is hard to know which should get the gold, silver, and bronze medals.

We didn't do much of anything in Villa de Leyva, being mostly content to wander the streets of town and admire the wonderful old courtyard houses that have been so lovingly restored. We did make a couple of walks out of town to visit a small archeological museum and to see a very famous fossil of a large crocodile-like dinosaur called a ??. Perhaps that was our favorite day, walking through the countryside, talking to friendly locals to get directions, and ogling the nice houses that rich Bogotans are building on the edge of the colonial town.

Painting of Plaza Mayor by Antonio Perez Vargas

The Plaza Mayor struck us as very unusual being so bare and austere, used as we are to Mexican and Central American town squares that are almost always lush and green and scattered with benches for people to sit and watch the world go by. But we also liked it just because it was different and because it was so beautifully proportioned and the whitewash of the buildings contrasted so nicely with the grey stone cobbles.

Plaza Mayor and Parish Church

Parish Church

Residential Street and Bare Hills

Iglesia de Carmen

Calle 13 Looking South

Cactus and house on Calle 13

Valley and Hills, looking Northwest

Decorated tile on wall, Calle 13

Country Flowering Tree

Old Chevrolet (1951?) on Carrera 11

Decaying House in Countryside

Chapel, Casa de las Fundadores

The Casa de las Fundadores is a religious conference center for an order of nuns whose founder was born here in Villa de Leyva. We encountered it on our walk to see the fossil and were surprised to find such a modern church and happy that we were allowed to wander its grounds and especially to enjoy its very nice cactus garden.

Meeting Halls, Casa de las Fundadores