Colombia’s Historic Countryside

Colombia’s historic countryside has an incredible array of colors, architecture and culture. It seems like everywhere you travel you meet particularly hospitable and interesting people that make the Colombian experience all the more unique. Only three hours from the capitol, but a world away from the bustle of Bogotá, lies the historic countryside town of Villa de Leyva.

Colombia’s Historic Countryside

Villa de Leyva represents Colombian antiquity without the fabricated feel of a tourist mecca, and it’s a ton of fun! Founded in 1572, the town has preserved it’s beautiful Spanish architecture along with one of the largest main squares in the hemisphere. The town sits at around 6,500ft., and if  checking out Spanish architecture just doesn’t do it for you, waterfalls, horse rides and dinosaur excavation sites abound. When you arrive, you’ll notice there are no well-defined hostels, so you’ll most likely check into a historic home-turned-hotel, and once you drop off your stuff and walk around you’ll notice how quiet and serene your surroundings are compared to where you just arrived from. Vintage cars, immaculate Spanish architecture, open air markets and a beautiful landscape add to the charm that is Villa de Leyva.

About the photographs

All photographs were taken handheld on a Canon EOS 5D, with a Canon 17-40mm L & Canon 50mm 1.8 at ISO 50 observing the sunny F/16 rule. A B+W 77mm circular polarizer was used as well. Images were captured in RAW, processed as TIFF16BIT, and exported & uploaded as JPEG. No photoshop.

 

 

[testimonial name=”Galen Rowell” about=”Galen Rowell was a master landscape photographer of the 20th and 21st century. Galen pioneered a special form of participatory photography in which the photographer transcends being an observer with a camera to become an active participant in the image being photographed.” image=”http://backpackerphotography.com/zimages/Rowell1973.jpg”]There is no new subject matter in the world to photograph, and now, with all this digital adding of stuff here & there, photographers may as well become painters.[/testimonial]