The city of Paipa in Boyacá is famous for its natural hot springs, especially Hacienda El Salitre, but we decided to check out the rest of the city as well.
Other than the cathedral on Plaza de Bolívar, there are a handful of beautiful colonial churches worth visiting in Tunja. Some are active as churches while others have been turned into museums. They’re all within three blocks of the plaza.
Plaza de Bolívar is the main plaza in the Colombian city of Tunja. This wide-open plaza is surrounded by colonial buildings and features a monument to Simón Bolívar in the center.
The city of Tunja is the capital of the department of Boyacá in Colombia. It’s a university city with a pleasant atmosphere, two of the best-preserved colonial mansions in the country, and some beautiful colonial churches.
On August 7, 1819, an army led by Simón Bolívar crossed a small bridge known as Puente de Boyacá and defeated royalists and troops from Spain in the Battle of Boyacá. The victory sealed independence for Nuevo Granada (now Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama). Today, you can visit the battlefield and see the bridge and the many monuments commemorating the battle.
One of the best extreme sports destinations in Colombia is located a short drive north of Bogotá in the small town of Suesca. Although we didn’t visit Suesca specifically for that purpose (it was a great place to break up our drive to Boyacá), we took a couple hours in the morning to check out what outdoor activities are available.
Our tour groups to Cartagena have often decided to spend a day at Rosario del Mar (formerly Gente de Mar), a beach resort on Isla Grande, one of the Rosario Islands. They’ve preferred this option rather than a trip to overcrowded Playa Blanca.
Early in 2017, my friend Sabtain from Toronto contacted me to ask if we could help coordinate a charity project, Bags for Belén. He was organizing it with his new charity, Creating Change Together (CCT). They raised over US$2,000 in order to buy schoolbags for children in our hometown of Belén de Umbría and wanted to come distribute them in early May.