Raquira

 From Villa de Leyva we drove and visited Raquira one day.   This is in the heart of the olive growing/vineyard part of Colombia.  So different from anywhere else I'd been in Colombia.  Colombia is bizarre in how swiftly the entire ecosystem could change.  

Anyway, Raquira is famous for their pottery.  The town's economy is based around it, and now tourism.  

Here's one of the roadside stores selling pottery.  I didn't catch it, but you could also see where they were making the pots too.  

The entire town is just a giant shop for pottery. 

Of course there's angel wings too.

It's also famous for being so colorful.  

It was super fun to wander the streets.  To be fair though, it's not a very big town, so an hour or two is more than plenty of time to spend there.

😍😍😍

Raquira was actually a Muisca town before colonization, Raquira meaning "City of Pots" in Chibcha.  Muisca have been making pottery there since about 800 AD (I cannot source that--it was AI generated, but I will at least point out my lack of source).  No doubt since the clay is "ideal" for pottery, it was probably used before that too.  

The kids did pick out some souvenirs here.  I think we ended up with a bird whistle (Efraim's choice), an electric hand zapper thing (Jubal's choice), earrings for the girls, and I don't remember Sebas and Lando's choices.

These piggy banks are everywhere at tourist shops in Colombia (throughout Bogotá, Medellin, etc).  One died here at the hands of my children.   Oops.  

This was in the main plaza.  The statues were all in clay.

Donkey!

Leo bought us this oatmeal drink, Avena Colombiana, here.  The kids liked it.  I did not. 

Elena occasionally takes photos of me.  

Along the way to Raquira is the town of Sutamarchán.  It's famous for its sausages.  In fact, all the streets are mostly just a collection of restaurants selling sausages.  I did not find raw sausage hanging in the heat to be very appetizing, but I've read it's really good.  And honestly, we've eaten all sorts of stuff in Colombia, and if we had stopped, I'm sure we'd have eaten it too.  

Maybe next time.