We spent 2 nights here as it was mid-point to our next destination – Mongui. Tunja is a good sized town – population just shy of 200k – and the capital of the Boyaca region. Just a few tourist sites to see and none that really interested us much. Our little hotel was only 2 blocks from the center plaza so we walked there our first evening. It was beautifully lit for Christmas. Good thing I took these photos, as the next day, Jan. 2, we saw workers dismantling the displays.

As we’re both volunteer firemen in our community, Dave was on a mission to visit whatever fire stations we could locate. He found Tunja’s not far from us. It was one of three of their stations, and they were more than generous in showing us all of their equipment and gear. No one spoke English but we had a few fire department related photos of ourselves, so they figured it out. It was a surprise that a city this size had a volunteer department, though it appeared they had some permanent staff. It does make sense when you note they have no wooden structures – only brick, block, or stone.