Colombia - sneaking across the border

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When Daniela (the receptionist fro Vilcabamba with who I had climbed Solomaco) arrived in Quito and asked me whether I would like to join her on a trip to Colombia, it did not take her much to persuade me, as after 4 months in Ecuador I did not mind a break from the country.

The trip started with a number of difficulties: somebody had advised me that I could leave from Quito´s Northern Ofelia terminal rather than from the main Terminal Terrestre. However, it was not a good idea, as there are only regional buses leaving from there, and it took me a long time to get to Ibarra, and then was stuck there for a few hours waiting for a bus to Tulcán, the border town.

At Tulcán the Panamericana is currently blocked and buses and trucks are not allowed to cross the border to Colombia. It all started with the Colombian government not allowing buses/trucks into the country any more due to hygienic problems with the Ecuadorian gods, then followed by a stike of the Ecuadorian truck drivers. So the bus was able to go only to San Gabriel, from there we took a camionetta which was filled with about twice as many people as normally fit in, then the whole group walked for a number of kilometers, refusing to pay USD 5 which some motodrivers wanted for taking us a few kilometers further. The last step a to take a taxi for 2 USD which then took us to Tulcán and from there to the border. In total the trip took me 10 hours versus 5 hours which it would take normally.

I then went to Ipiales, the bordertown on the Colombian side, then onto a bus to Pasto. I was sleeping in the bus, when there was suddenly a hard bump into the bus from the back, the bus started fishtailing heavily at high speed on the winding mountain road and I thought my last days had come and we were going down the hill....However, the driver managed to stop in time. It turned out that the brakes of the old Chiva behind us had not been functioning any more. The Chiva was completely damaged, the bus just partially. Luckily nobody was hurt. Of course nobody had a breakdown triangle which almost led to other cars bumping into us, but 2 boys quickly controlled the traffic. About an hour later three soldiers showed up and took control of the situation. A while later another bus picked us up.

Differences seen between Colombia and Ecuador so far:
1) The Columbian accent is very different from the Ecuadorian one, as I have real difficulties to understand them.
2) There are hardly any indigenas around
3) When you change money you have to provide your fingerprint, and its a lengthy proecedure, with them taking all details from your passport etc.

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Comments

[Frank D]

col-U-mbia
Off course the accent is different; people from Columbia speak very different English from that of people from Atlanta, New York or even Miami... Oh you mean the country C-O-L-O-M-B-I-A sorry got confused because COLOMBIA, and Columbia are two totally different places!