Back into San Gil this morning for a bit more internet business and to discover that yesterday we had missed the center of San Gil and its almost stationary traffic, and multitude of road works. There after we followed the highway through Barbosa towards Tunja and Bogota until early afternoon when we arrived at Arcabuco.
We were looking for a turn off to the town of Villa De Leyva and a camping ground called Camping San Jorge. In the main square of Arcabuco we asked directions; the first of many such occasions throughout the afternoon.
We never actually got lost but we were never sure we were on the right track (see discussion of GPS below in Camping). But eventually we crested a hill and there is was; on the left hand side of the road a Bomberos (fire station) and on the right Camping San Jorge.
After registering we drove the mile into town to look around and see if we could find the laundry we had read about. The town was as advertised by the guide book; loverly Spanish colonial buildings, narrow cobbled streets, and a number of nice plazas. In addition the streets were a maze of one-way signs that made navigation a bit of a challenge and there was a lot of tourist activity.
To our delight we found the laundry, Lavenderia Milán, and got them started on a large bag of clothes.
Camping
We approached Villa De Leyva from Barbosa via Arcabuco and had to ask people a number of times for directions even though there were a few road signs. This approach finds the Bomberos and the entry road to Camping San Jorge before entering the town of Villa De Leyva proper. The GPS coordinates of the entry to Camping San Jorge in front of the Bomberos are N 05 38.833 W 73 31.003 while the camping ground itself is N 05 38.921 W 73.31.145. This is not the same as the coordinates we got from travelin-tortugas and dare2go folks, both of whom gave N 05° 38.922 and W 73° 23.240. As you can see the N coordinates are close but the W are not. I could speculate that the W reading should have been W 72° 32.240. My GPS says that reading is close to the town.
We also saw a Zona De Camping close to the main square in Villa De Leyva at about the intersection of Calle 10 and Carrera 10. It had a narrow gate that would give width and maybe height problems to some vehicles. But for SUV's and Vans would be a convenient place.
