Rumour had it that negotiating for long-distance bus fares was par for the course in Colombia but I couldn't bring myself to try, as the price given to me by the smartly-uniformed gentleman at the kiosk seemed reasonable and he was already printing off the ticket before I'd even had a chance to fire off a counter-offer. There was some excellent scenery on the way to Popayan - lushly-forested steep slopes culminating in misty ridges, which reminded me of southern China. We encountered only one roadblock, manned by police, at which everyone had to produce ID, and arrived in Popayan at lunchtime, where I said farewell to the other English chap, who was continuing on to Cali. Popayan is (yet) another White City, which I was keen to see as Colombia's most famous colonial town, Cartagena,
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