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Sandra has done a great job of finding interesting ways to spend our anniversary, and this year she wanted to return to her favourite Colombian town. Villay de Leyva is about four hours from Bogota and about twice as far from Medellin, so we flew through Bogota to spend some time with her family.

We arrived late on the first day and spent some time wandering around town and getting a feel for the activities on offer. Seeing the Fossil Museum, which had been built over the discovered kronosaurus fossil was one of the main reasons for going, and the museum didn’t disappoint. The fossil has been left where it was, but the ground around it has been covered to provide better support after the archeologists exposed the full skeleton. It also held many other fossils collected throughout Colombia and some amazing murals.

We spent a day in Raquira, which is deservedly known for its murals, but unfortunately this has attracted huge numbers of tourists which has encouraged a plethora of souvenir shops. But the people are friendly. At one point a police officer even stopped to take a photo for us, suggesting a better angle for the photo. It was only my second interaction with the police in Colombia, and much better than the first, when they stopped me on my way to the supermarket and searched me and my bag determined to find drugs.

Another ‘must do’ that we enjoyed was the Pozos Azules (blue wells), which are seven ponds near Villa de Leyva. Sulfur, selenium and copper from the soil have given their water strong colours that are well worth the walk to see. The rain came down while we were walking to the sixth, but thankfully the worst held off until we reached a shelter at the seventh and final pond.

Sandra might say that the highlight of the trip was the chocolate museum, which was more a shop and a restaurant showcasing locally produced chocolate. ‘Grandma’s hot chocolate’, which included spices was a winner, as was the enormous piece of black forest cake. The larger-than-life Charlie outside and the chocolate zen garden were perhaps more interesting even than the delicacies in the shop.

My highlight was definitely the sky bikes. It was only one of the activities in a nearby adventure park, and probably the least frightening, but it stood out for its uniqueness. We started on the five bridges, and Sandra almost gave up, but pushed through her fear and enjoyed the last few. Then we moved to the sky bikes before doing a flying fox and a superman run that were great fun. The last was a tarzan swing from about twelve metres up. Being told to ‘take a step forward’ into empty air was a bit much, but there was no turning back at that point. In the video you can hear me stifling a squeal.

We also enjoyed a number of dinners with live music and the scenery surrounding the colonial town was spectacular. If we didn’t have the Crystal Canyon to look forward to, we might not have come home.