Current Time in Villavicencio, Colombia

Villavicencio is a city in central Colombia and the capital of the department of Meta. It lies at the foot of the eastern range of the Andes, at the exact point where the mountains give way to the Llanos, the vast tropical grasslands that stretch eastward towards Venezuela and the Orinoco. This position has earned it the name Gateway to the Plains, and the contrast between green mountain walls behind and endless flat savannah ahead is striking.

The city has a population of around five hundred and fifty thousand and is the largest urban centre of the eastern Colombian lowlands. Its economy rests on cattle ranching, rice, oil palm and above all petroleum, since the Meta oil fields are among the most productive in the country. Villavicencio serves as the supply base, market and administrative capital for an enormous and thinly settled region.

The site was settled in the middle of the nineteenth century, and the town was named in honour of Antonio Villavicencio, an independence-era figure executed by Spanish forces. Growth was slow while the mountain road to Bogotá remained little more than a mule track. The construction of a modern highway with long tunnels and viaducts transformed the city into the natural outlet of the plains. Decades of armed conflict affected the surrounding countryside heavily, and the peace process has since opened the region to travel and investment.

Attractions are largely tied to the landscape and to llanero culture. The Bioparque Los Ocarros is devoted entirely to the fauna of the Orinoco basin, with anacondas, jaguars, capybaras and river otters. The Cathedral of Our Lady of Carmen faces the main square, and the Parque Los Fundadores marks the entrance to the city with a monument to the founders. Viewpoints on the mountain road look out over the plains, and nearby rivers and working ranch estates are popular weekend destinations. Caño Cristales, the celebrated river of five colours, lies further into Meta and is reached from here.

Culture is defined by the llanero tradition shared with Venezuela. Joropo music, played on harp, cuatro and maracas, accompanies a fast footwork dance that residents learn from childhood, and the International Joropo Tournament held each year fills the city with performers and horsemen. Cattle work, from coleo contests to cowboy poetry, is a source of identity, and the mamona, whole beef roasted upright over an open fire, is the signature dish of the plains.

Transport centres on the highway to Bogotá, which is only about two and a half hours away despite the mountain crossing, and on Vanguardia Airport, which handles domestic flights and light aircraft serving remote settlements. Roads lead east across the savannah towards Puerto Gaitán and the Orinoco.

The University of the Llanos, based here, specialises in agriculture, veterinary science and environmental studies suited to the region, and several private institutions add to the student population.

Villavicencio is important as the bridge between Andean Colombia and the Orinoco plains, a warm, musical and rapidly growing city with one of the country's strongest regional cultures.