After a relaxing breakfast in the main square in Ibarra, we set off for the Ecuadorian border town of Tulcan, where we had planned to spend the night before heading to Colombia the next day. As we hadn't originally been intending to travel through Colombia, we knew little about where we wanted to go, so our plan was to spend the afternoon in Tulcan reading up on Colombia. Unfortunately, we had also neglected to do any research about the town of Tulcan itself, so half an hour before our bus arrived, we opened the guidebook to read that 'it is a pretty grim place with little to recommend it'. Based on this and the distinct altiplano feel of the town (i.e. cold, barren and dusty), we changed our plans at the last minute and headed, completely
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