We had another crazy, 6 and a half hour bus ride to Popayan, through gorges, steep hills, winding road and bush, very nice scenery. The bus driver appeared to need to pass on blind corners as fast as he could, tooting to tell everyone else to get off the road. Once again lots of check points, with the soldiers with automatic FN´s, with huge magazines sticking out of them.
Popayan is known as the White City, because most of the city centre is painted white. It looks very pretty. We booked into a flash hotel that was supposed to be cheap and the room turned out to be a dungeon, with no window and the walls 2 feet thick and no air so that we nearly suffocated. We had to find another place the next day and found a good one just over the other side of the walking bridge at half the price. It was alot nicer, but still a very hard bed. They still have horse hair mattresses here and these are common in hostels and hotels in Columbia.
Paul organized a guide for the morning and we walked around the sights of Popayan. We walked up
the hill overlooking town and there were small copies of the important building of town that had souvineer shops in them. We headed for a museum and had an interesting tour, with the guard giving the run down of the museum and the guide translating.
That afternoon there was a band playing in the plaza, a cultural exchange from Otovalo and that night they paraded around the plaza in their usual costumes.
Colombia's Flag
Map of Colombia