Villa De Leyva Kite Festival

This weekend I went to a kite festival in the beautiful Villa de Leyva and have developed a huge admiration for anyone who can fly a kite. I also had two realizations over the weekend:

1. Flying a kite is actually quite hard, after trying and failing several times I had to give up and just blame the wind. My ambition for the next month is to go a park and get my kite up in the air.

2. Synchronized kite flying is really really cool. They had this display where the kites 'danced' around the plaza to classical music- I never knew kites could move so well.

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to visit the amazing English tearoom in Villa de Leyva and gorging on scones and a fry up- for anyone interested the place is called La Taza de Te and has moved to Calle Caliente. I wrote about this magical pg tips filled place in an earlier post here.

Overall it was a great weekend. Whilst you might expect a kite festival to be very family-orientated at night the plaza overflows with drinking, music, and generally good vibes. If anyone is planning to come to Colombia in the last two weeks of August the kite festival is definitely worth a visit.

Villa de Leyva: An English Tea Room in Colombia

Since arriving to Colombia I have been on a quest to find a decent cup of English tea. I've visited many cafes in Bogotá in search of a good cup but to no avail, and after 3 months without tea I was beginning to get withdrawal symptoms. When tea does appear on a drinks list here its normally just an unappetizing herbal tea bag bobbing pathetically on top of a mound of frothed milk, a far cry from the builders tea we consume with force in England. However there is hope! A few days ago my cravings were satisfied, as nestled down a side street in the beautiful and relaxing Villa de Leyva (4 hours from Bogotá by bus) can be found a real English Tea Room!

'La Taza de Té' is an English tearoom run by an incredibly friendly and animated Colombian woman called Berta who has lived in England for 30 years and knows how to make a good cup of tea. I was over the moon to enter her charming Cath Kidson esque place adorned with English memorabilia and find on the menu Earl Grey, PG Tips, and a selection of cakes and scones- cream tea! (I think I actually cried a bit with happiness when Berta brought over my Earl Grey in a real china tea pot). the prices are reasonable (6500cop for cream tea), the cafe is welcoming and relaxed, and the tea and scones are delicious-  overall a great place to enjoy a cup of tea English-style in one of Colombia's most beautiful towns. 

The tearoom can be found about a 5 minute walk away from the central plaza on calle 10. As Villa de Leyva is very quiet during the week the shops and cafes here seem to open and close as they please, however the cafe should be open Wednesday to Sunday from about 10am. Berta also mentioned that she is going to start serving an English breakfast on the weekend so to anyone craving a good fry up, this is the place to go.