VILLA DE LEYVA

During the week, it’s easy to spend hours ambling along the narrow streets lined by red-tile-roofed, whitewashed houses, many featuring balconies decorated with flower pots overflowing with bougainvilleas and geraniums. Abundant fossils from the surrounding area are embedded into plaster walls, and massive front doors are flanked by carvings, some echoing the occupation of the original residents. Once you leave the old city and venture into the more modern part of town, don’t be surprised to see a yard full of chickens or goats next to an Internet cafe. Evenings in town are equally seductive. On a Thursday night in July on the plaza, a group was gathered around several guitars and a harmonica at Terraza, a patio bar where Europeans and Colombians gathered to drink rum and warble Spanish love songs.