Today we woke up in a beautiful hacienda in colonial Villa De Leyva. It was on a hill overlooking the beautiful military barracks, which made it very safe for us to walk around. This morning, we ate huevos pericos, which are scambled eggs with tomatoes and onions, and hot chocolate, rolls, and fresh squeezed orange juice. We then met up with up with Raul, an older gentleman who retired from his computer technician job to become a tourist/horse guide. We took a romantic horse ride that went first th
rough the cobblestone streets of Villa de Leyva to the pozos azules, which were blue pools in the middle of the desert. We went swimming in the cool, bright, blue water. I was excited because I could still do a back flip. The owner of the pools - who usually charges $2 for the entrance and for swimming - after talking to the ladies, decided to let us swim for free. He said that he has never had any problems living there except that he has made enemies of his neighbors because they were jealous of his land. And one day they fired their guns on his land. He said that he lived alone and was happy to talk to us. We then climbed back on our horses. Sherrie was the most experienced, so she got a black stallion named “god of the wind,” which was jealous 
whenever Caramelo, Scarlett’s horse, would pass. So Scarlett and Sherrie were constantly riding close together. And one time it wasn’t just the horses that got frustrated; Scarlett pushed Sherrie out of the way even though it wouldn’t make the horse move out of the way. Our next stop was El Fossil, a museum built around a huge fossil of a dinosaur. We took a tour. We then hopped back on the horse and went to an ancient indigenous phallic garden and observatory of the stars. The Spanish missionaries called it “Little Hell” because of the enormous sculptures of penises. The indigenous thought that when there was no shadow from the sun that the sun had come down to fertilize the ground 
and it was time to plant. We then rode off to a mud house styled after Gaudi type architecture. We then went to lunch and had steak and salad for $3. We then took off and went to the beautiful colonial city of San Gil, which is warmer than the cool southern part of Colombia. It is a city with extremely steep streets and colonial buildings. We found when we got here that the place where we had reservations only had a room for one person, so we moved down the street. We are staying in a hostel dorm with 3 other people in our room. Luckily nobody snores. We are also happy with the place where
we are at because it is quieter than the original place. Although there are no drinking games here.We woke up this morning and went to the hostel where we had our reservations and we made our plans for the day. We went to a 75 meter (200 feet) high water fall where the girls went swimming and I rappelled down the face of the waterfall. It had rained the night before so there was tons of water running over me. Luckily the rope was 13mm and doubled so I could let go and stay in one place and not fall. We met a nice couple from New Zealand who were traveling fo
r 9 months. She is an artist and he is a writer and wanted to see South America before they had kids. They were great and went with me to rappel. It was her first experience and it was quite the experience. Paul would be proud that I went first. When we got down, the girls were a photo shoot and a French couple passed by that had horrible Ghana body odor that you could smell from 20 feet away and outside. Sherrie threw up in her mouth. We then headed back to our taxi.We hurried back so that we could go paragliding. We didn’t have any lunch, so we picked up some potato chips and juice. We headed up to the mountains through tobacco farms to a peak overlooking farms and a huge canyon. We went tandem with the guides. The ladies went first and had a great time. Sherrie did some twirls and down spiraling and Scarlett got motion sickness. I sat and talked with another Colombian tourist that was waiting his turn about the political situation in Colombia. And we laughed about different things. When it was my turn, I tied my camera to my arm. I lifted my feet up too early and the guy who I was tan
dem with, Cristian, laughed. It was really cool being up miles up in the air and being able to see the patchwork landscape of the farmlands below and the canyons and mountains. I went for twirls and recorded it on my camera. One time I forgot to record so my guide took me up to go again. I also got motion sickness on the way down and was praying not to vomit on the people below as we started to descend. The girls said that I was as gray as a gray ghost when I came down. I kind of regret not vomiting on everyone below because that would have been pretty darn funny. We then came back to the hostel and ended up talking to an Australian couple who went on the Ciudad Perdida and told stories about how the guides would take you to the cocaine fields to see how it is processed as it is in guerrilla country. Because the guerrilla make money off the tourists they protect them but if the tour guides don’t pay them their cut, they shoot the guides. We also talked to a couple from New Jersey who were starting med school in the fall. It has been a great couple of days and now we are going to party as we have one more day in San Gil.
rough the cobblestone streets of Villa de Leyva to the pozos azules, which were blue pools in the middle of the desert. We went swimming in the cool, bright, blue water. I was excited because I could still do a back flip. The owner of the pools - who usually charges $2 for the entrance and for swimming - after talking to the ladies, decided to let us swim for free. He said that he has never had any problems living there except that he has made enemies of his neighbors because they were jealous of his land. And one day they fired their guns on his land. He said that he lived alone and was happy to talk to us. We then climbed back on our horses. Sherrie was the most experienced, so she got a black stallion named “god of the wind,” which was jealous 
whenever Caramelo, Scarlett’s horse, would pass. So Scarlett and Sherrie were constantly riding close together. And one time it wasn’t just the horses that got frustrated; Scarlett pushed Sherrie out of the way even though it wouldn’t make the horse move out of the way. Our next stop was El Fossil, a museum built around a huge fossil of a dinosaur. We took a tour. We then hopped back on the horse and went to an ancient indigenous phallic garden and observatory of the stars. The Spanish missionaries called it “Little Hell” because of the enormous sculptures of penises. The indigenous thought that when there was no shadow from the sun that the sun had come down to fertilize the ground 
and it was time to plant. We then rode off to a mud house styled after Gaudi type architecture. We then went to lunch and had steak and salad for $3. We then took off and went to the beautiful colonial city of San Gil, which is warmer than the cool southern part of Colombia. It is a city with extremely steep streets and colonial buildings. We found when we got here that the place where we had reservations only had a room for one person, so we moved down the street. We are staying in a hostel dorm with 3 other people in our room. Luckily nobody snores. We are also happy with the place where
we are at because it is quieter than the original place. Although there are no drinking games here.We woke up this morning and went to the hostel where we had our reservations and we made our plans for the day. We went to a 75 meter (200 feet) high water fall where the girls went swimming and I rappelled down the face of the waterfall. It had rained the night before so there was tons of water running over me. Luckily the rope was 13mm and doubled so I could let go and stay in one place and not fall. We met a nice couple from New Zealand who were traveling fo
r 9 months. She is an artist and he is a writer and wanted to see South America before they had kids. They were great and went with me to rappel. It was her first experience and it was quite the experience. Paul would be proud that I went first. When we got down, the girls were a photo shoot and a French couple passed by that had horrible Ghana body odor that you could smell from 20 feet away and outside. Sherrie threw up in her mouth. We then headed back to our taxi.We hurried back so that we could go paragliding. We didn’t have any lunch, so we picked up some potato chips and juice. We headed up to the mountains through tobacco farms to a peak overlooking farms and a huge canyon. We went tandem with the guides. The ladies went first and had a great time. Sherrie did some twirls and down spiraling and Scarlett got motion sickness. I sat and talked with another Colombian tourist that was waiting his turn about the political situation in Colombia. And we laughed about different things. When it was my turn, I tied my camera to my arm. I lifted my feet up too early and the guy who I was tan
dem with, Cristian, laughed. It was really cool being up miles up in the air and being able to see the patchwork landscape of the farmlands below and the canyons and mountains. I went for twirls and recorded it on my camera. One time I forgot to record so my guide took me up to go again. I also got motion sickness on the way down and was praying not to vomit on the people below as we started to descend. The girls said that I was as gray as a gray ghost when I came down. I kind of regret not vomiting on everyone below because that would have been pretty darn funny. We then came back to the hostel and ended up talking to an Australian couple who went on the Ciudad Perdida and told stories about how the guides would take you to the cocaine fields to see how it is processed as it is in guerrilla country. Because the guerrilla make money off the tourists they protect them but if the tour guides don’t pay them their cut, they shoot the guides. We also talked to a couple from New Jersey who were starting med school in the fall. It has been a great couple of days and now we are going to party as we have one more day in San Gil.
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