Jan Sherman sends pictures from trip to Colombia

Jan Sherman, who sent pictures from Wyoming and Alberta a couple of weeks ago, is back from a trip to Colombia, where she visited with Guiomar Dueñas-Vargas. The following are samples of the many photographs she took while there:



The mountains are incredibly lush and beautiful. It rains a part of most days and the air is cool (60s) and moist.



Guiomar and I spent the night in this hacienda about 3 hours from Bogotá. It was built in 1638 by the Domincan monks and is now a luxury hotel.



Bogotá is a very large, noisy city. Eight million people call it home. It looks best from this angle.



In a small village two hours outside of Bogotá, we found this beautiful church. It's very different from the usual churches that dominate small villages, which more often resemble the Spanish colonial style church in the following picture.



Note the Colombian sculpture in the foreground. This village of Sopo honors both its pre-Spanish and Spanish heritage.



This is a Catholic country, and the veneration of the Madonna is ubiquitous. Shrines to the Madonna are found in public buildings, on street corners, in front yards, and, in this case, on top a hill next to a gas station.



This photo and the one following were taken in the lovely mountain village of Villa de Leyva. The architecture is typical of this part of Colombia. Buildings are either blindingly white or very colorful.