We awoke early to a foggy day. Because of the hour we were unsuccessful in tracking down a coffee and breakfast so we decided to get going instead. Our next stop was not far away at the Sanctuario at Las Lajas, Colomb??a.By the time we brought our luggage out to the bike, it was raining. Not hard, but the temperature was only 5C so it felt mighty cold.The ride was short and along the way the rain stopped. There was quite a crowd already at the Sanctuario but we were able to find parking and a small restaurant for coffee and breakfast.It was a long walk down to this interesting church built across a deep gorge. All along the rockface where the stairs were built, there were plaques set into the wall that thanked the Virgin of Las Lajas for granting miracles to people. There were hundreds of them.The church itself is only about 100 years old, but the building across the gorge was started in the 1700s after a peasant woman’s daughter heard the voice of the meztisos calling to her. I dunno- it is how the explanation read in English on the sign.It was a long walk back up to the parking lot with the thin air at 3000mts. Market stalls lined both sides of the walkway selling all kinds of religious trinkets and what looked like Chinese versions of Peruvian ponchos and hats.I wanted to have my picture taken sitting on a decked out llama but Bill thought I meant in Peru, not at La Lajas, so it didn’t happen. mix sun and cloud, a few showers, 14
