Some Colonial towns in Colombia on the east

Villa de Layva which is 4 hours north of Bogota, is a trendy weekend retreat for Bogota people. It is a small colonial town untouched by the 20th century. We have been making our way up north from the capital of Bogota, stopping in a few colonial towns - cobble stones and white washed houses. El Fossil is a museum with a reasonably complete fosil of a baby kronosauras - a 120 million year old prehistoric marine reptile, vaguely resembling a crocodile, of 7 mtrs in length. We also visited Casa Museo de Luis Alberto Acana, where this painter, sculpture, writer and historian lived the last 15 years of his life, and featured his works. The other place we visited was El Infiernito, which had cylindrical stone monoliths sunk vertically into the ground, dating back to the early centuries AD. The Indians were able to measure the length of the shadow and determine the season of the year, and therefore, be able to plan their agricultural needs accordingly. Another colonial town further north is Barichara, set amid hills on the rim of a canyon. We walked downhill along an old Spanish trial to the small town of Guane, and visited the fosil museum. Thankfully we managed to get rides on motorbikes for the return trip, as it would have been a long and sweaty uphill climb.