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Mongui
Quiet night, but early wake up.
We take a taxi to go downtown.
During their quest for the Eldorado, the Spanish conquistadors seized the lands of the Muiscas Indians and it was on August 6th 1539 that Santiago de Tunja was founded in the heart of the Andes, at an altitude of 2,775 meters.
Soon the first religious and civil buildings were erected around the Plaza Mayor, Tunja receiving first the order of the Franciscans, then the Dominicans, the Augustinians and finally the Jesuits.
* Catedral Santiago de Tunja: Built between 1565 and 1598 and restored at the end of the 19th century, it has a composite ochre stone façade. Inside we discover the richness of the main altarpiece. The founder of Tunja, Gonzalo Suárez Rendón, rests there in a carved marble tomb.
* Casa del Escribano Don Juan de Varga: This writer served as clerk or secretary to the King of Spain. His house is one of the most beautiful colonial houses in Tunja. On the upper floor, frescoes are painted on the ceilings and represent elephants, sibyls, Christian symbols and a rhinoceros ...
* Casa del Fundador Suárez Rendón: This elegant colonial mansion from 1540 was the home of the founder of the town of Tunja. It was an important rallying point during the pre-independence period. On the ceiling, upstairs, two large frescoes from the 17th century.
We also visit the public library where we are entitled to a guided tour of more than 1 hour which has nothing interesting.
We continue our route towards Mongui and stop at the beautiful village of Tibasosa.
We arrive in Mongui in the middle of the afternoon which gives us time to visit.
Less touristy, with its steep and paved streets, Mongui is known to be the main manufacturing center of football balls.
* Basilica Menor de Nuestra Senora de Mongui: built of stone between 1694 and 1760, where the Romanesque style predominates, preserves the statue of the Virgin which bears the name of the municipality
Quiet but cool night: 8° ... We are 2,900 metres above sea level.
Tunja
It rained last night and the pitch is wet ... We leave without difficulty after greeting our very welcoming guests.
Once again, we cross "San Gil" and take the road that connects the capital before bifurcating to reach "Tunja" in the middle of the afternoon.
We thought we would stop only to drop the laundry in a laundromat, do some shopping and continue further.
But the traffic conditions being identical to the previous days, we landed in a parking lot near the city centre.
We have well integrated that the distance covered per day does not exceed a maximum of 300 km.
It doesn’t matter.... We have lots of time.
Juan Curi Waterfall
We leave "Barichada" with regret, especially since the weather is beautiful ... the sun without any cloud.
We return to "San Gil" to fill one of the gas cylinders and to reach the site of the "Cascada de Juan Curi"
We keep riding among beautiful mountain landscapes and always on roads in poor condition.
At our arrival we settle in the camping area and start our hike to the falls.
It is a series of waterfalls almost 200 meters high in total that falls into a real natural pool, where one can swim .
Impressive show, superb quiet place in the forest.
When we return to the campsite, we have lunch in the restaurant where we choose "beef cooked with beer" which is very difficult to eat ... very hard meat!!!
We spend the afternoon under a beautiful sun to update our website.
We are the only customers ... very nice night in a unique site.
ROAD BOOK 119
MAVROS ODYSSEE