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Colonial Villages
15th December 2010
Leaving the coast behind we headed south to visit some of Colombia´s colonial hill towns.
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San Juan de Girón[3], founded in 1631, has a central plaza surrounded by blindingly white buildings trimmed with dark wooden doors, windows and balconies. In the evening a religious procession proceeded around the brightly lit plaza which was decorated for Christmas; many families were out enjoying themselves. We watched from the sidelines while sipping a beer from a nearby shop and snacking on grilled corn and meat from a street vendor.
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The much quieter Barichara (population 7500) [4] has kept its colonial charm. There are no modern buildings. The streets are paved with stone; the whitewashed walls have a splash of colour that matches the doors and windows. A pleasant way to visit the tiny, nearby village of Guane is by foot along the pre-Hispanic Camino Real, a footpath that once joined the indigenous villages. As we walked we enjoyed views of the surrounding mountains whilst listening to the birds and following the butterflies.
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Tunja [5], lying in a lush green valley at 2800 meters, was an enjoyable stopover. There are some elegant mansions from the Spanish days, a large Plaza and 8 churches built in the Spanish Mudéjar (Islamic influenced) style around the historic centre.
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A short bus ride away and 700 meters lower is the postcard perfect colonial village of Villa de Leyva [6], founded in 1572. We hired bikes to ride to the fossil of a Kronosaurus (a giant prehistoric croc) and an ancient Muisca people ceremonial site of phallic stones and cylindrical stone monoliths which functioned as a solar observatory. In the surrounding hills is the Convento del Santo Ecce Homo (founded 1620).
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