A Little R&R

June 5, 2013

From El Cucoy, we made the long drive to Villa Del Levya, which offered us a much-needed place to rest. We pulled into Hostal Renacer as the last minutes of daylight slipped away, Sara and Lupe (of SardineTaco) greeted us, “we both knew the sound of that vehicle!” Amazing hot showers, free coffee all day, and some of our friends on the road made it a great place for us to set up camp for a few days. We explored the town and surrounding area on bikes that our new-found friends, the Germans, Doris and Torsten lent to us.

We ventured to the town of Raquira and enjoyed bounties meat and pottery.

 

We ate ice cream, read books in hammocks, drank hot chocolate every night and reveled in the amazingness that is Colombia.
As we continued on our way to Bogota we stopped in Suesca and were surprised to find very few accommodations to offer, or even a place to park. After driving around and finding nothing appealing, we were forced to consult our last resort, the Lonely Planet. It mentions one hostal in the area, which after a little asking around, we found in the middle of a field. The place was dark and the sign hanging half-off lead us to believe that it must have shut down or was closed for one reason or another. Seeing that turning around at the end of this dead end road was going to be difficult, we deiced that this place was as good as any for the night. Sleeping with the cows would be fun. So we made dinner and settled in for the evening.
As we were getting ready for bed, a knock came on the door. Not a scary, make you jump a little knock, but a soft, I’m sorry to disturb you knock. George and I both assumed it was one of the neighbors just coming to see what the hell we were doing. We introduced ourselves to the nice lady and after we told her our names, she asked us, ?Que nessicitas? (what do you need?)
Us, Nothing. We were looking for the hostal but we see it’s closed. Is it okay if we park here for the night?
It’s open I’ll show you.
Low and behold through the gate, around the corner and behind two houses, a few big trees, bushes and water tanks there were lights on at the hostal.
Another great Latin America Lesson – open locked fences and wander around peoples yards, otherwise you’ll never find anything.