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Published: November 30th -0001
Like many of our bus ride experiences in Colombia, so far our "direct bus“ from Armenia to Popayan turned out not to be. The bus said Cali on the front and everyone in the bus company assured us it was only stopping for a few minutes in Cali before going on to Popayan, so we could stay on the same bus. It seemed likely, since on the back of the plastic Cali sign displayed on the bus was written Popayan - so of course in Cali the driver would swap the sign over and we'd be off in a few minutes. When we got to Cali about 2 hours after leaving Armenia, we discovered the "few minutes“ were actually an hour and a half. But there was another bus leaving in 10 minutes for Popayan. We duly changed buses and left 30 minutes later. Ah well, our main desire was to arrive in the daylight, so there was no real rush. Unfortunately the bus we transferred to was practically full, so we ended up with back row seats that had no clear window view. Apart from being able to see the dodgy driving through the windscreen.
We got into Popayan
around 4:15pm and that gave us time to find out the times of the buses to San Agustin and then get a taxi and find a Hotel. During our bus change adventure in Cali, we'd met an English guy, Paul, who was travelling alone and we shared the taxi to our chosen Hotel or in his case Hostal. It turned out he was following a similar route to us and was going to San Agustin the next day like us and onwards to Ecuador, also like us. So after we stopped at our hotel, we knew we'd meet him again.
We stayed at the Hotel des Balcones close to the centre of Popayan and got a huge suite with two bedrooms and a large bathroom. We negotiated the price down to our budget and moved in. It did have WiFi, but the Internet connection was extremely unreliable. As I write this I have 3 and a bit (including this one) blogs waiting to be published once we finally get a reliable Internet connection again.
Popayan has a nice clean whitewashed old town, that dates back to Spanish Colonial times. We didn't have a lot of time to wander
around after finding an ATM that in the end would only give us a maximum of USD150 - which really only covered the night's hotel, evening meal, drinks and our onward journey the next day to San Agustin. However, what we can say is that Popayan is certainly a nice town and a great place for a stop over when you want to break a southerly heading journey.
Unfortunately any further exploration we might have made was curtailed by the weather as the heavens opened and it poured down. We took refuge in a bar and it took 2 beers each before the rain stopped sufficiently for us to find the restaurant the Hotel had recommended to us.
We found the "Italiano“ restaurant, which is Swiss-french owned, within a few blocks of the bar which had been sheltering us. It seems a little weird to have Fondue or Raclette in Colombia somehow, so we avoided those items from the menu. But I chose a Garlic Steak, from the "Swiss and International“ part of the menu and was well pleased with the result. It turned out to be a huge chunk of prime beef, cooked to perfection - offered
San Agustin: Our Jeep Trek-3
A Burial site with Maya guardat very non-Swiss prices. The owner had been a professor of cuisine at one of the top European catering schools, and chef at a number of Michellin-starred restaurants. I'm not sure whether he was cooking that night, his wife was definitely in charge of the money, but if he wasn't he had taught his staff well.
Both the Hotel and the restaurant were candidates for our return to Popayan after we had been down to San Agustin.
The next morning, after having a good sleep and breakfast at the Hotel des Balcones, we got a taxi to the Transport Terminal to meet our bus for the supposed five hour bumpy ride to San Agustin. There we met up with Paul again. Our luggage was shoved in the back of the minibus and with a few people standing up, we started on our way, almost on time.
The estimates for the journey varied between 5 and 7 hours, but what all said was that it was a bumpy ride, although the distance that was bumpy, and therefore slow, was diminishing as they paved the road. Fifteen years ago, when Felicity last visited San Agustin, it took nearer 12
San Agustin: Our Jeep Trek-4
Another burial site with Maya guard hours to do the same journey.
The likely amount of time it would take us this time was not helped by us soon having to stop to fill up with diesel and have our tyres checked. Then about an hour into the journey we were stopped at a Police control post. Everyone had to produce a form of identity. For the Columbians it was their Identity card and for us foreigners it was a passport. There were two Swiss people sitting with Paul who were not going all the way to San Agustin, seemingly just doing a day trip and they said they left their passports in Popayan. This didn't go down too well with the Policeman who had got on the bus. He had checked our passports and got off to take the Columbian Ids for some sort of processing. A few minutes later and with the memory of a goldfish, he was beckoning us to get off the bus. We did and a more senior guy started lecturing us, in Spanish of course, on why it was necessary to carry a passport. We immediately stopped him & pointed out that we had shown a passport. The senior
San Agustin: Our Jeep Trek-5
Yet another burial site with another sort of Maya guard guy looked at them and the goldfish realised that he'd got the wrong two. We were waved back onto the bus and the Swiss guys got the talking to. Eventually they were let back on and after a half hour stop, we carried on our way, stopping about 10 minutes later to let off the Swiss couple and a couple of others.
Around 3 hours after leaving Popayan, we stopped for lunch and a pee stop. The Colombian gents watered the land across the road, rather than use a Bano - so when in Colombia do as the Colombians. The ladies had more decorum and used the basic facilities. Also parked at this Restaurant was a kind of party-like bus of locals. Basically it was an old wooden Dodge bus, with no windows and tied up tarpaulin, which could be released in the event of rain. This bus was heading the other way and the occupants seemed very jolly. We took a few photos of them and they seemed to enjoy the attention.
It took a further two and a half hours or so, before we arrived at an intersection. Of course, this bus couldn't really be going
San Agustin: Our Jeep Trek-6
The Jeep called "Trooper" that struggled to get up the hill with all of us on board to San Agustin, how silly of us to imagine it would be. The three of us who were going had to get off the bus and wait for a taxi that would take us the 5km up the hill to our destination. A taxi turned up and we thought it was this one, but he was the scam taxi driver. We had paid all the way to San Agustin and were assured there was nothing more to pay. Had we gone with the scam man though, we would have definitely had to have paid again. As it was the genuine taxi turned up and we were joined with a girl who promptly tried to sell us hotels in the area. Fortunately, Paul already had a reservation and we knew where we wanted to go. So her proposals fell on deaf ears, especially as fortuitously we passed the Hospedaje El Jardin as we drove around San Agustin. They initially tried to ignore our requests to stop, but then they did stop and we got out and trudged up the hill to our chosen lodging.
To describe El Jardin as basic is probably being a little generous - but it was
San Agustin: Our Jeep Trek-7
Another Maya statue looking out over the hills better than many places in San Agustin. Given the road up, from Popayan at least, and the quality of accommodation, this place is for the backpacker and adventurous traveler only. Those after 2 or more star comfort should not bother making the trek. But it is cheap and 3 nights here cost us USD60 for two including breakfast (USD45 without). That is with a private bathroom - which has no toilet seat and no sink and the shower is a single tap to get hot water from the shared hot water tank, which is only hot during the morning and even then maybe not if other people are having a shower at the same time. The sink is shared with everyone else and only has a trickle of water. So you have to queue up for any hand washing or cleaning of teeth, or at best do it in front of everyone else who may be gathered in the communal area. There are many dorm rooms that don't have any sort of bathroom and those are USD3 per night cheaper per person. But we decided to splash out.
If you are adventurous or can adapt to shared facilities quickly,
El Jardin isn't too bad and the lady of the house is very helpful and accommodating. She has a friend called Olga who is a tourist guide co-ordinator who we soon met. However, not before Paul turned up with another guide, who spoke some English and was trying to persuade him to take a Jeep tour the next day and needed to find 4 others to make up the minimum of 5. We weren't sure of how things worked here, but we felt sure that Olga was likely to be a better bet and the Lady of the House, when we asked, said it was up to us who we went with, but tactfully confirmed our belief. The guide who was trying to persuade Paul, stormed off and shortly after Olga arrived. Olga confirmed that with us 3, she had 5 and the tour could definitely go ahead the next day. She also offered us a discount on the 3-4 hour horse ride which we were planning for the Sunday. So Olga's proposal suited us fine
The next day, after breakfast, we met up with our fellow travelers from El Jardin - Miriam an English PhD student, Terrence a
San Agustin: Our horse riding with trek-1
With Olga our elderly tour organiser in the foreground Dutch traveler and Jannick a French materials manager. Olga arrived at El Jardin and took us down to the Visitors Centre, where we met up with our driver-guide and the vehicle we would be travelling in. It seems that many people working in the Tourist trade in San Agustin are approaching or over European retirement age. Olga, for example, is 75 and is still running around like someone 20 years her junior. Our driver-guide was probably approaching his 60s if not over. His vehicle was also aging. Having done a few hundred thousand kilometers on rough roads, it had a few issues. The most obvious from the start was the sun shades for driver and front passenger kept dropping down. After a few kilometers, it was clear that the Jeep had a stalling and starting issue, which required a quick lift of the bonnet. And at the end of the day as we were returning back to San Agustin, the Jeep sounded like an old steam train, especially in the higher gears, and I for one wondered whether it would make it to the top of the hill. It did and it and us lived to tour another day.
The tour itself was quite fun. The 5 of us from El Jardin jumped into the Jeep and headed off to La Casa de Francois, where Paul was staying. The Guide refused the two ladies the opportunity to sit in the back two fold down seats, even if given the narrow headroom at the back, this would have made more sense. Instead two of the four guys had to risk banging our heads against the roof as we bounced along the unpaved roads.
When we picked up Paul, Francois, the owner of La Casa, invited us all to a two course meal that night at his Hostal. He is French and he and his wife used to have a Restaurant in town, but decided it made more sense to have it up at the Hostal. Since it was only going to be about USD8 per head and the restaurant choice is pretty basic in San Agustin, we all decided to partake.
But that was for later and the guide soon got us all bouncing along the road to a number of UNESCO archaeological World Heritage sites around San Agustin. Many of these turned out to be burial sites,
which got increasingly less impressive as we saw very similar empty tombs covered with stones and sometimes ancient Maya statues guarding them. We also saw some pretty impressive scenery as we drove along and stopped at some small waterfalls with high drops which made for good photo opportunities. Since he only spoke Spanish, we didn't understand every word of what our guide told us and some of what we could translate seemed possibly a little over embellished. But the six of us got on well and so we had a good time sharing jokes and generally enjoying what we saw.
We stopped for lunch in one of the smaller towns near San Agustin and had the "Comida Corriende“ a 2 course cooked meal with a juice for around USD3. For that price we had no reason to complain and in fact, given that the main dish came with a slice of banana cake, it was effectively a 3 course meal.
After lunch it was more burial sites to see and another waterfall and some more scenery before we headed back, being serenaded by the driver as he sang along to the music he had put on the CD
player. We egged him on a little and since the horn is a critical piece of car equipment in Colombia, more used than the indicator for sure, he began to use it to alert all the lady pedestrians we passed as if he was some sort of mobile Don Juan. He really enjoyed this bit of fun as he struggled to persuade the old Jeep back up the hill.
After all the burial sites and being squashed up in the struggling Jeep, we were well and truly buried and needed a beer in the local square to recover. Four of us went for this option, initially with the idea that we'd go back to the hotel before heading out for dinner. But one beer led to two and before we knew it it was time to make the climb up the road to Casa del Francois. The extra beer made that a little easier too.
We arrived at La Casa del Francois and sat down next to a nice roaring fire - pretty good to have as the night temperature in San Agustin can make it a little cool. All the people from our Jeep tour turned up,
together with a French couple who had just arrived that day to stay at La Casa. Everyone got on really well. The French couple preferred to speak French rather than English so a few of us, myself included, tried out our French on them. In the end, it was a really nice evening for around USD12 each for a two course meal with wine.
The next day Felicity and I met up with our horses for a trek around the other parts of San Agustin. The horses weren't quite as well behaved as the ones we had in Salento. Felicity's horse in particular was keen to make a run for it and needed to be controlled quite a bit. Fortunately, mine was a little bit more docile, although there was a couple of times where a quick tug on the reins was required to slow him down and he also had to be kept from veering off to the right a few times. Naturally we saw yet more burial sites and statues as well as some beautiful scenery on the 3 and a half hours that we were out on the horses. It was definitely a nice trek, but
we both agreed that the Salento ride was more fun.
In the afternoon we decided to take it relatively easy and wandered around town for a while, buying a bag of the nice coffee beans in chocolate that are a specialty of coffee country - so that Felicity would have a fix if the breakfast coffee to drink was insufficient. Unfortunately they were so nice that I ended up eating at least half of them too.
We also tried to arrange our departure from San Agustin for the next day and were told that the bus for Popayan would leave at 9am and we should buy tickets at 8am. Fair enough, so we made a mental note to get up early and go down there before breakfast.
Afterwards we returned to the El Jardin "Palace“, whose redeeming attraction is the 3 green parrots that sit on branches in the communal courtyard in front of a cage of Mynah and other exotic birds. The Parrots can be a lot of fun and they have been trained to say "Buenos“ (the standard hello greeting in Colombia), what sounds like "ready to go“ and do wolf whistles too. They can also
chatter in such a way that it sounds like a group of children screaming, laughing and shouting. I was writing this blog in our room and a couple of times I stopped and went into the courtyard where Felicity was reading a book in a hammock chair, to see what was going on. The second time I went out, one of the birds had flown across to where Felicity was and was cuddling up to her. As the pictures show, he also worked on pruning her hair and generally making friends with Felicity. In the end, Felicity took him back to his perch, long john silver-style with the parrot sitting on her shoulder.
In the evening we went back to the square for another beer, this time purchased from the "24 hour“ store, that had been closed the last time we were there. The owner of that was extremely welcoming and wanted us to sit in his store and drink whilst he practised his guitar and serenaded us. We politely declined, but did return for another beer. Afterwards we went to eat at a local restaurant and Hospedaje in town, where it was OK to park your motorbike inside the restaurant. It was basic food, but pretty good nonetheless.
Knowing that we had a long journey ahead of us the next day and we needed to get up reasonably early, we turned in quite early on our last night.
And more or less that was San Agustin. As mentioned its a UNESCO heritage site and worth a visit if, as I say you are adventurous enough to sit on a bouncy bus for 5-6 hours each way and make do with basic accommodation. I'm glad that we went, but I'm in no real rush to hurry back. Especially considering our experiences of trying to leave the next day...
Places we have visited and can recommend As mentioned above, we could recommend San Agustin for the adventurous and a Jeep tour & Horse trekking are good things to do. No particular places stand out as being worthy of a special recommendation. El Jardin is as good as most Hospedajes in San Agustin. Casa del Francois has WiFi and good food, but is outside the town up an unlit road at night - plus we didn't stay there so can't recommend it as a Hotel.
If you are willing to rough it, go to San Agustin for 2 days (3 nights) and check Trip Advisor for the best places on offer, before you go.
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Peter Chau
non-member comment
Cali to San Agustin
Thanks for your detailed description of your trip to San Agustin. It was great. I am thinking of going there from Cali. I have exactly four days to complete the trip. Do you think the traveling from Cali to San Agustin can be completed in one day? What about the return trip (which should be the same but may not be)? Do you have any recommendations on the traveling logistics? Peter