Villa de Leyva, The Fossil, and The Muisca Observatory
Plesiosaur
Constance and Gracia went on another weekend day-trip to the north of Bogota…the road north passed through cultivated areas with corn and potatoes at the higher elevations, and beets and carrots in the lower valleys. Photos of the views were not possible because of travelling either on the freeway at 110 km/h, or on the smaller roads which were much too bumpy….nevertheless, we eventually found ourselves at the museum of The Fossil, the in situ remains of an immense and rather alarming plesiosaur, whose every tooth was about the size of a Hitty. The girls were glad to admire this tremendous specimen from a distance.
Observatory
Near the fossil, we stopped at a site famous for its standing stones. This arrangement is called the Muisca Obserervatory, as there are two lines of upright stones oriented East/West. There are a number of other odd standing stones nearby.
Villa de Leyva
After wandering about the site for a while, we went to the town of Villa de Leyva, which preserves its colonial layout and structure, with narrow cobblestone streets and a big central plaza, here we found a nice restaurant for lunch…
Rain
…but as seems to happen around here, the clouds suddenly congregated right over the town and it began to pour with rain! After lunch we dashed from the restaurant across the street to a coffee shop where we waited out the deluge while sipping warming liquids.
Runoff
The canted cobbled streets were very efficient in carrying off the water, and the rain soon stopped enough for us to scuttle back to the car for the long drive home.
Map track
Our route map assembled from google earth images, the city of Bogota at the bottom of the picture and our route in green.
Your adventures continue…from ancient items to the modern day conveniences of warming liquids out of the rain. Looks like all are having a satisfying time.
Very nice to have the little bakery to dive in to and we were only sorry we had just eaten lunch and were too full to try the pastries as well as the tea and coffee. The sights and views along the way to Villa Leyva were wonderful too, and we are grateful for the chance to get out and about!
Thank you for the photos. We LOVED seeing the fossils assembled as in real life!!!!!
It was a pretty interesting day, and we all had fun! The fossil is in situ, not completely excavated, just in the shape it was found, very cool to see, there were also lots of ammonites, and some smaller fish and reptiles in the museum.
This is a great picture story even without the dollies, but they make it fabulous.
It was a really fun day, and the dollies are great company. Constance is blushing, though Gracia is preening at your comments, but they both are having tons of fun here in Colombia.
Whoa that is a very large and very nice fossil! Really enjoying hearing of your treks and the descriptions of the area. Glad you were able to find nourishing shelter.
The fossil was pretty amazing! Almost complete except for a leg that was stolen and the tail which was never found. It made the Hittys slightly nervous, especially the teeth!
I can see the ancient ancestors of the crocodile there. Cool.
Tremendous array of teeth – eh? The Hittys stayed well behind the barrier!