A beautiful day

We could have had a traditional breakfast or the inevitable eggs or Frosties. Well you have to give things a go and thankfully Tim on our table took the hit. It was a bowl of warm milk, chopped herbs with a fried egg floating in it.

We had a late start at 9, departing in a minibus, our nice big bus having gone back to Bogota. First we started at Pozos Azules for a walk round some artificial pools, an accumulation of rainwater and minerals which creates a lovely green and blue colour. It was beautifully clear and pretty in the arid landscape.

Then we drove by many plastic tomato-growing greenhouses to reach El Infiernito at the Zaquencipa Archaeological Park. This Pre-Colombian site was used by the Muisca people as an astronomical observatory and a place of worship. There were over 30 stone monoliths used by the indigenous people to plan planting and harvesting times. There was also a tomb which had contained the bones of a chief, his #1 wife, 2 servants and a child. The later 4 had been sacrificed on the chief’s death to make his afterlife more comfortable.

Our next stop was the Convent of Santo Ecce Homo which was founded by Dominican monks in 1620. It marks an important time in the history of the region, as it accelerated a period of evangelisation in a remote region populated by indigenous communities. The monks now are creating a nice business with a shop, restaurant and hotel.

The local guide was good but our own one kept telling us more stuff, often several times, imparting his personal beliefs on organised religion, faith and magical realism. He even started on gender issues by which time we were already fading from hunger as it was now 2pm.

The minibus dropped us at a “traditional” restaurant where we had the set menu. It was good value at £5 each. I got a thick tomato soup with bits of plastic cheese then trout, mashed corn, rice and a salad of tomato, beetroot and egg in mayo. We were all given a blackberry and strawberry juice.

We had been supposed to have a free afternoon and meet in the huge square (biggest in Colombia) for sunset at 5 but by the time we’d all been served and eaten and paid there wasn’t much time. I had long wanted to visit the casa terracota. It’s the biggest clay house in the world with furniture also of clay and tiles. Very Guadiesque and I imagined similar to the restaurant owned by a Scottish woman in Lalibela Ethiopia. I found on google it was shut till Thursday but Andres said we could see the outside if we wanted. Sasha, a young woman asked if she could come with us so we set off along a busy road then turned off along a dirt road. We passed some very plush houses set behind high walls, dripping with Bougainvillea. We reached the drive to the casa to find padlocks and barbed wire. A smart security guard came out to accost us. We asked if we could just go down to take some photos but it wasn’t allowed. We caught a glimpse of the roof on our way back. I was very disappointed.

There was time for a quick shower before we headed off to the big square to meet up with the group for a sunset drink. The cobbled square was stunning, surrounded by low white buildings, a simple church in the middle of the southern side, looking splendid against the mountains.

Poor Julia the American said she couldn’t bear what was going on at home.

After a drink and no spectacular sunset, everyone wanted to go back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner at 7 which was back in the square. We couldn’t be bothered to trek back and out again, or sit for an hour waiting. Anyway the very late lunch had been enough so we are going to relax in our room to prepare for an early start tomorrow.

This is such a relaxed pretty little town it would have been nice to have had more time here.