At the end of day, the sun paints a mango sky over the flat lands of the llanos, or eastern plains of Colombia. As dusk falls, the birds and wildlife silhouette against the now-indigo heaven. The water of a pond splashes with the retreat of a babilla. How do you enter this world of the llanos that few travelers ever visit? The gateway is Villavicencio, just on the other side of the Cordillera Oriental, two hours from Bogotá.

The highway from the nation’s capital to Villavicencio is quite an exhilarating experience in and of itself. The 86-kilometer (52-mile) superhighway climbs out of Bogotá to an altitude of over 3,100 meters (10,168 feet). It then plunges down over 50 bridges and through five tunnels to Villavicencio at 467 meters (1532 feet) altitude—or a descent of almost 2600 meters (8530 feet). Túnel de Boquerón, the second tunnel, is 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) long and the last one, Túnel de Buenavista, is over 4.5 kilometers (2.7 miles long).

Once arriving in Villavicencio you have entered what Villavos (residents of Villavicencio) call the Territorio de Paz, or Territory of Peace. On banks of Río Guatiquía, it is the most important cultural and commercial center of the Colombian llanos. Villavicencio is a town of simple pleasures and complex history. Many of the men wear traditional llanero clothing, a poncho folded over one shoulder, hat and boots. You have come to Colombia’s version of the wild west, right down to the rodeos.

(Altitude: 465 m / 1,525 ft, Population: 275,511, City Code: 8)