We landed in Villa de Leyva this afternoon.  As we dismount our bikes after our ride, Gio asks, “What’s the next thing after ‘epic?'”  Well, that’s how today went.  Epic riding, or the next better thing after that.  And then we landed in Villa de Leyva, which is an unexpected jewel of a pueblo.

But let’s start from the start.  Our intrepid explorers earned this late day result – they were not blessed with the smoothest of beginnings, so let’s join the battle they’re waging to escape Bogota.

First off, Eric was a few minutes late for the 7:30 am rendezvous – he didn’t take into effect the fact that to go one block around the corner in Bogota means that you must drive in a huge loop and tame the maze of one-way streets.  But, Gio got his cab, and they met at “Don’t Stop,” the moto shop where the bike was delivered, just after 8 as planned.  (I scraped my first car bumper with my side bag on the way there – that elicited a dirty look and maybe some choice words, but I couldn’t understand what the guy was saying…)  That’s when the shenanigans started.  Fist off, Gio’s bike wasn’t ready until 10:00, which totally sucked but gave us time to sort, so meanwhile Eric worked on getting the Garmin GPS set up.  Anyone who has read my travels in the past knows my mantra when dealing with Garmin devices – Fucking Garmin.  Ugh.  I spent an hour searching for a map of Colombia online and even bought one that had a setup like a 1992 PC download that requires a PHD in programming to install.  Fucking Garmin.  I mean, fucking fucking Garmin.

I got to hang out with this big girl at Garmin. Almost made it worth it.

Meanwhile, Gio needed a BMW plug adaptor for his bike. As travel luck would have it, there was a fully equipped moto store WAY better than any of our stores at home literally across the street!  We walked over there, and they had the exact part Gio needed.  Keep in mind we’re in Bogota.  Then the guy from Wonderlicht (a BMW moto parts supplier, which of course happens to be next door to Don’t Stop) knows where the Garmin store is, and they might have the map.  And get this, it’s like 10 minutes away – NOTHING in Bogota is ten minutes away.  We start to head there to get our map.

But before we leave, we need to get Gio comfortable on a bike and bike style he has never ridden before.  Now, props where props are due.  The guy has never ridden an adventure bike before – he’s ridden mostly Harley’s of late, and I have to tell you, that’s WAY different.  These bikes are taller and ride totally differently.  Anyone getting on a new bike is going to have a few moments of adjustment, but within the first mile, he’s speeding through Bogota like a local.  It was impressive.

And so it begins…

And so we bomb to Garmin, and get this, they can download the map of Colombia onto my GPS! It’s all rather astounding.  Maybe this whole set of coincidences and serendipitous moments doesn’t play as strange in the telling as it did in the living, but it was something odd – it was like anything we asked of the moto universe it was supplied nearby.

The route out of Bogota was as “uneventful” as riding in Bogota can be, which meant that we rode the motos like we stole them.  Although, after riding here for a few days, the riding is starting to actually make sense.  I began to realize today that you ride here how you’d LIKE to ride at home.  You simply flow into it, and the cars just allow it all to happen with an absolute absence of the rage we see at home.  You don’t ride like a dick here – you simply enter spaces created that don’t get in anyone else’s way.  It’s hard to describe without seeing it.  It actually feels so smooth once you get used the madness.  At one point, we slid through about half a mile of stopped cars inches away from them on the right at left.  And it’s all good.  The beauty is that in some ways it’s safer on the moto because you can always move yourself away from trouble, which we can’t do at home – we’re sitting ducks in traffic.  If we rode like this at home, we’d be thrown in jail.

Even the tolls here have an extra lane all the way over on the right for all motos to go through, so we never have to make those stops, which are some of the most dangerous as you put your feet down on oily greasy roads in between half-dead people on the freeway on their cell phones.  Oh!  And that’s another thing here – NO ONE is on their cell in the car (at least from my limited experience).  They’re too focused!  I prefer this.

We made it out of Bogota in one piece, and immediately the roads started opening up and the twisties kicked in, and it was fantastic.  There were trucks to pass, but that wasn’t horrible, and the scenery was great.  Gio scraped his first bumper with his bags, and I got a little aggressive on the passing of a semi at a speed bump and ended up in another mini sandwich with a car, and Gio said that I was so close that my rear bag bounced UNDER the driver’s mirror as I cleared the speed bump.  Oops. Ok, for real done with that now.  Enserio.

I tried to take some pics of the scenery, but with no straight roads, it’s a challenge to ever pull the camera out.

Superstar.

Some scenery – hard to shoot moving.

Just a glimpse of the ride today.

Gio taking it in.

And then we arrive to this great little square and find our FANTASTIC hotel.  It’s an old colonial house with a great courtyard, wonderful rooms and balconies overlooking the square.  The hosts are wonderful people, and life is just so damn good in this moment.  We get the bikes parked in a private courtyard, get showered up and begin a meander of the pueblo.

Another courtyard shot of our hotel.

The gathering area on the second floor of our hotel outside our rooms.

My super rad bedroom.

The courtyard of our hotel.

The view from our balcony overlooking the square.

The lobby of our “hotel.”

It’s WAY beyond what I was expecting.  The great shops, chocolate “museums,” restaurants, arape stands, simple but impressive square, kind people.  This town just has an incredible vibe.  Apparently many people from Bogota come here for weekend getaways, and I can see why.  Kids are everywhere in their school uniforms just playing in the streets.

We wandered the streets and ate arapes (amazing), serrano, octopus and Spanish tortillas and then stopped for some pizza and live music, which ended up being all songs we knew sung in a deep Spanish accent (think Hey Jude followed by Sanatra IN Spanish then deeply accented Losing My Religion by REM).  Fantastic.  And then Gio decided to walk back to the hotel to get his computer.  After he was gone about 3 minutes the skies unleashed again and it rained like it can only rain here, and I thought to myself, I wonder if he made it to the hotel.  Hmmmm…  About a minute later a drenched and heavy breathing Gio came sprinting back into the bar!  Hahaha.  Awesome.  Yea, he didn’t make it and must have been JUST closer to the bar than the hotel and decided to backtrack.

Streets in town.

School kids playing in the peaceful streets.

Unexpected restaurants in VDL.

Super fun storefronts throughout Villa de Leyva

Main squae.

Another shot of the square.

Huge but simple square in Villa de Leyva.

Ahhh, this town.  I’d come back here in a heartbeat.  I’d like to spend a few days here to eat at all the restaurants and experience it more.  Tonight we walked back in the dark after the rain, and I could not feel any safer.  Can’t wait for coffee tomorrow morning.  Might have to stop at a few places.

Here’s where we are now: