Tunja

We had some time off so we traveled to the state of Boyaca north of Bogota to visit the city of Tunja with William Valderrama and Lorena Betancourt. The road climbed higher into the mountains and we passed the beautiful countryside passing small farms, sheep, and fields of potatoes on our two hour ride. We were blessed to have a beautiful day even though it was a little cold. We loved to see another part of Colombia.





Tunja is a city of about 153,000 people. The main plaza is typical of cities in latin american with the church and government buildings. The monument in the center is of Simon Bolivar and this area is close to the place where the main battle for liberation took place. We also visited two museums that were homes of early Spanish rules and officials.






We visited Puente de Boyaca which is the battle site of Colombia's Independence. Simon Bolivar helped liberate Colombia from Spain in a battle here. This place has a special feeling, similar to Gettysburg.

This area near Tunja grows lots of potatoes.

La Zona Cafatera

From June 25th to the 28th we visited the la zona cafatera. We went with the Aguilera family. Natalia is in our classes. Her mother and father, Esperanza and Eduardo, with her brother Antonio and his wife Megan, her cousins Juan Pablo and Mariana and the exchange student, Ana, from Germany all went with us in a van. The ride was horrible over two mountain ranges, but the trip was fun and we were able to see another part of Colombia.

This is the beautiful area of the Cafatera situated between Medellin and Cali.

We stayed in a place called El Darien. It is a resort for military families. Sister Aguilera was once in the military so we had the opportunity to stay there. It had pools, a tennis court, good food and even a small golf putting green. We didn't get a chance to use much of it because we were always gone.

On Sunday we attended the ward in Cartago. Elder Peterson loved this small city. The members were fantastic.

We stopped at had a break of fruit juices and ice cream. This is Antonio with his treat!



Here are some photos from the Valle de Cocora. We hiked and we took our picture with the typical Colombian coffee grower that was demonstrating how to pack his mule. Natalie, Mariana and Megan rode horses while the rest of us hiked. The valley has the tallest palm trees in the world. The day was probably the best day of the trip.

On our hike we stopped at this bridge that had a pole to hold onto and the plank was quite scary. Notice that I have both hands on the pole!

The "Parque de Cafe" is a large park with a museum, nature walk and amusement rides. Mark is standing in the Plaza de Bolivar. We mostly walked around and saw the museum about how they make coffee and rode the gondola above the park and the train that went around the park.

At the "Parque de Cafe" we learned about how they grow coffee here in Colombia. This is a coffee plant.