An old colonial pueblo.

Villa de Leyva is one of the many old colonial pueblos. The buildings are always painted white with green wood trim. Here there were many beautiful flowers hanging from the balcony. The streets usually are cobble stone and they are very old. We were here for my birthday. At night, they had a wonderful fire works display. One of the best I have ever seen.

Gardens among the stone streets.

Villa de Leyve is an interesting pueblo. The streets are all large stones, but there were many beautiful gardens near the streams that went through the middle of the pueblo.

The path for the nobility.

These old and big stones have been in this pueblo for around 500 years. You can see in the middle a pathway. This path was for the nobility to walk on. We don't think we were nobility, but we liked walking on them because they were bigger and smoother than the other stones.

An old flour mill in Villa de Leyve.

This old pueblo was the center for milling the grains that were raised in the area. Today this old mill is a unique hotel. The gardens are beautiful.

The mall in Chia.

Some of the malls, or centro comercials, have life size nativities. This mall had an exceptional display and won many awards. It is so nice to be able to see nativities in public places.

The Christmas helpers.

Even Papa Noel has Christmas helpers. Elder and Sister Boulter's children sent a tie for each of our Elders. Papa Noel found some beautiful scarfs for the Sisters.

Papa Noel's gift for each missionary.

This was a busy time of the year getting ready for a visit from Papa Noel.

The nativities in the mission home.

A Christmas cookie exchange.

We hosted at the mission home, a Christmas brunch and cookie exchange for the Senior missionary sisters and the North American women in the Nogal ward. Most of the women had gone home before we remembered to take the photo.

Presenting the flag of Colomblia.

On our way through Boyaca, we stopped to watch the military in action, but on a friendly way.

El Puente Boyaca.

This was the bridge where Colombia's last battle for independence took place. The military was planning for a big program in two days. We saw the performance without the thousands of people.

Green houses for the beautiful flowers.

Colombia has many beautiful flowers and to protect the growing delicate flowrs, the country is full of many hundreds of green houses. When traveling to Duitama, we pass many of these covered green houses.

A fun way to travel.

This is a tour bus that we sometimes see around Bogota, but more often in the outer pueblos. The people sometimes sing and dance while traveling on these buses.

The cooking of the Colombia areapas.

When we travel through Boyaca, we pass many little shops or tiendas that make and sell arepas. These are made from flour, water, salt, and not much more. Sometimes it is corn meal.

Arepas are a staple in Colombia

The people of Colombia eat these arepas like we in the US eat toast in the morning.

So good on a cold Boyaca morning.