Figured out my "disease"

We arrived at a very beautiful camping area after another slow 6 hr drive. Total of 187 km which shows on maps.me to take 3 hours BUT with all the slow driving vehicles we can usually double our time which normally includes half an hour lunch break.

But the drive is beautiful. You can see for miles and miles on this high roads. When we started there was hardly any truck traffic and things were going smoothly. Then the road started to deteriorate - not to gravel but to pot holes, big dips in the road, and road construction. So this really slowed us down plus going thru lots of small towns.  All interesting but I was getting a little tired just sitting - have no internet so I can't look up anything as we drive.  Plus kept forgetting to look for a place to buy another 2GBs of data.

The views are so beautiful

We see what looks like greenhouses and later see they are covers for tomato plants. So alot must come from this area.

Guess what that sign means...... low beam lights only :) usually when coming into a small town

 One thing I dont like seeing from Mexico all the way here and probably further south is all the signs that go up for elections. Even painted on buildings and rocks. The problem is that these signs remain for years and never get cleaned up. Just fall apart and hang in pieces until they finally fall to the ground. Which can take years!

We decide to stop at a restaurant for lunch. The first one we stopped at was pretty pricey and they had pizza on the menu but not until after 5. So we left and kept on driving and stopped at another one. Sat down and looked at the menu, seemed like a lot of variety but also a little pricey. But we stayed - I just didn't want to drive anymore. Still have a headache and not feeling that great. So I order spareribs with comes with french fries and patacon (fried plantain) and Dwayne goes for the chicken breast which comes with the same sides. Each cost 23,000CP ($10) I know that still doesnt seem pricey to most people but when we were paying $10-11,000CP for great meals in Cartegena, its a little hard to swallow -- LOL!!! But the meals were good and it filled us up enough that supper will only be a sandwich and soup :)

Nice restaurants along the highway

Beautiful amaryllis planted along the parking area

Sweet corn bread steamed in corn husk - instead of bread with the meal

Our view while eating lunch

the decor included this old Singer and a phone with no dial - must have had to put calls thru an operator??

Beautiful painted straw baskets on the ceiling. Very cool place :) 

Back on the road a few more small towns and then we get into a larger city. Looking for water but only find 5L bags - so Dwayne buys 2 - this will last us awhile until we get to a bigger city and refill our 20L bottle. We were to lazy to drive into the middle of the city to look for a grocery store at this point!

Dwayne found a nice car that we could hitch up to Vanna!!

Along the highway we see dairy farmers bring their cans of milk by cart and horse 

Then the milk truck comes along and sucks the milk out of the metal containers

And once completed turn around and head back to their farm

We are looking for a place I found again on IOverlander of a campground. When we turn off the highway it's a gravel road. I check the info again on the campground and it says there is 4km of gravel. So we take is slow - since it is a little narrow, and of course a truck meets us coming the other direction, at least it was at a wider spot so Dwayne had room to move over because the truck wasn't going to!!

We get to the site and meet the owner Hernando. We ask about staying for a couple of nights - no problem. There are lots of cars in the parking lot but he says they are renting the main building for a party. They should be gone by 7pm.  He gets a couple of cars moved so we can get by and set up camp. It is so quiet here, a small pond to look at and mountains all around. No one else is staying here. There are also 5 Casitas around the property that he rents outs by the night. Also has 2 huge army tents with cots that hold 45 and 65 people. His wife Christina who can speak English says that they have quite a few school students that come out for weekends and use those army tents. There is a large communal area with kitchen table and chairs to make the meals for these large groups.

Our beautiful spot for a couple of days. 

And our view 

One of 2 beautiful fireplaces in the main building

The main building

Outside of building.

After we get set up its about 5pm and we're surprised how cool it is getting! I actually have to put on a sweater and Dwayne puts on his jeans and jacket! What a difference. Now its like camping in Alberta in June - cool but pleasant. We even brought out the comforter that has been stored under the bed since we got Vanna out of the container!! Think we will need it tonight.

Hernando comes around and talks with us, he knows a little English so we're both kinda speaking Spanglish! LOL!! He says it will get to about 12C tonight. He comes over a little later and introduces his daughter Katarina who comes out on weekends from Bogota where she lives and can also speak English. As I found out later it is also where Christina stays during the week with both their daughters who are in University.

After making soup and a sandwich for dinner, then read for awhile I was ready to pack it in again for the day and it was only 8pm!! It is so dark and quiet out here - just love it 😍 But had crazy dreams all night - think it was the cheese sandwich that did that! LOL!!

We wake up at 6 and the sun is shining in the window.  Dwayne gets up and makes coffee and we sit outside and enjoy the morning view.  There is a bathroom setup here that is kinda outside. Door to the toilet and shower but the roof is open. Pretty cool. All these building have been built by Hernando over the years. He also does some farming, mostly corn and beans.  Anyways, after 2 coffees I go and have a nice hot shower :) Lots of room and not worried about how much water I can use :)

Toilet is behind the door and then there is a door to the shower which is behind the curved brick wall. All open to the fresh cool air 😍

Enjoying breakfast made by Dwayne :) He always tell me to go ahead and eat because it takes awhile to make his - to hard to get both done at the same time 😃

But when I get back again I start getting a headache, yucky feeling my stomach. So take some tylenol and gravol.  Then Hernando comes walking by and asked how our night was - told him it was "muy tranquilo"! But that I didnt feel great. He said it was the altitude that was making me feel nauseated and dizzy.  We are at 2340m so around 7000' - so oxygen is thin. He said to drink lots of water and breathe in deep and hold the breath for bit.  Don't walk around fast - take it easy. I said maybe we would do the walk to the falls later in the afternoon. He said the falls is quite a walk up so probably not good for me.  Find out that there is free wifi in the main building so head there after Dwayne makes us breakfast and spend the day "resting" blogging, and looking up places where we plan on going.  Checking out info online about Bogota where we will be probably in 3-4 days.  Dwayne is also feeling so-so. But wondering if it's hitting me more because I'm taking high blood pressure pills??

Later in the afternoon after going out for a horseback ride Hernando, Christine and Katerina return and are making late lunch before Christina and Katerina head back to Bogota. They ask us to join them - thank you! Now I dont have to make dinner tonight 😍  We have beef tenderloin, rice, a pico de gallo type salad with extras and plantain chips. But it was all gone before I remembered to take a picture!! But I did get a picture when we had dessert of homemade coffee and cream ice cream and blackberry sorbet.  It was fun having dinner with them and chatting about our travels.

So we will stay here for 2 nights and see how tomorrow goes and maybe I'll feel better and we can walk to the falls before heading out to Villa de Leyva. Its only about 22km away so should just take an hour LOL!!