One of the professionals I have met here in Bogota, Natalia Jimenez, works at the Ministry of Tourism as a consultant for five of the country's provinces in their attempts to grow and professionalize their rural tourism operations. She has invited me several times to join her on work visits, but so far timing did not work. However, this past weekend of July 20 and 21, did work. We flew on Friday evening to the capital of the province of Huila, a city of about 150,000 called Neiva. From there we drove 20 minutes to a quiet mountain community called Rivera. Natalia had reserved two rooms in a small home-style hotel owned and operated by a fellow who moved from Austria to Colombia 20 years ago. He came to learn from another Austrian architect/artist and just stayed....
The place has been designed and build by the owner in a very artistic style with a nice garden area and interesting interiors. He only receives guests from referrals from previous visitors and many of them are Europeans. A nice start of the weekend...
Natalia and I went for dinner in one of the local "hot springs". We just enjoyed a very nice meal but lacked the energy to take a dip in the hot pool..... the photo of the pool is not very clear (night time).
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