Popayan, the white city

---

First of all, sorry for the blog overkill. We have finally arrived in a town that is so laid-back that there is actually nothing to do because the weather is bad today, so I finally have time to catch up on the blog. I hope to actually catch it up to date, but my butt might fall asleep on this plastic chair before I get to it. Secondly, thanks to everyone who is following the blog and I always appreciate reading your comments!!

We spent our first hour in Popayan checking out probably all 5 hostels there. We ended up at Hostel Trail, one of the nicest and cheapest with a super nice employee named Edward. We checked into a shared room with Benoit and Amelie. Popayan is another small town with not a lot going on, but it´s pretty and relaxing. It's known for it's white buildings, but in my opinion, most of the old colonial towns in Colombia have all white buildings.

Our first night there, Ryan and I went to eat at a really good Mexican restaurant but the portions were small so we ended up ordering $20 worth of food, which is a lot here. Then we roamed around the city and ran onto some kind of religious procession going on in the main square. There were a lot of people with candles, a bishop or priest, a Virgin Mary altar covered in flowers, a child singing really badly, and a group of teenagers playing music. There was also a lot of stuff being said into a microphone, but it was hard to decipher. We ended up in bed early that night because we only got a few hours sleep the night before in Cali. The next day we took a bus to Coconuco, a small town that has hot springs and warm springs. From town, you have to take a motorcycle taxi to the springs. We ended up at the warm springs, which was maybe a mistake because they weren't that warm and the day was definitely cool. But it had a big water slide and several different pools, some warmer than others. We spent most of our time in the warmest one, sitting right under the water source where it was the hottest. I made friends with a group of little boys, who wanted to involve Ryan and I in their playing and splashing about. They also wanted to hear me say things to them in English. They were cute.

We left at 6 p.m. when the thermal pools closed, took our moto taxi and bus back to Popayan, got some awesome doughnuts outside the local grocery store, and headed back to fix dinner at the hostel. The next day we parted from our French friends and headed to the ugliest city in Colombia.

---