Journey to Cali

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I began the journey on Tuesday morning at 8:30 but before the first bus trip began I met three fellow travelers, a couple from New Zealand (Matt and Jess) and a British girl (Fay). I started the five hour bus ride to Tulcan in my assigned seat but I quickly found myself in a big group, including a family so I moved up to be closer to the more western folk. The bus ride was an easy one and they invited me to go to a church on a bridge with them. As I wanted to take a night bus, that sounded like a great daytime activity. From the bus station at Tulcan, the four of us took a taxi to the border. Getting out of Ecuador was pretty easy. Getting into Colombia was a pretty interesting ordeal. In order to get into Colombia, one needs to fill out a tourist card. In order to get a card we had to go to the one window and then step out of line to fill it out, then fight your way back in line to turn it in. Though it was surprisingly easy after that. They never checked my bags or asked me any questions. From there you have to get a ride to the bus station at Ipiales. The taxi drivers were trying to rip us off so we took a collectivo, a small bus. We asked how much it was and he told us in Colombian pesos. We asked how much it would be in dollars. His friend said 25 cents. We climbed in and took the ten minute drive but when we departed, he said it was a dollar each. We got into a war of words with him that left him upset. We then went to the church that was on the bridge. It was incredibly beautiful on the outside, though being renovated on the inside. We then made it back to the bus station, where we found a 9:00 bus to suit both our needs. They were going to Popayan, which is on the way to Cali. There were a couple of hours to burn, so we went to change some money in the town and grab dinner. I was hungry and the pizza was pretty good. The bus ride that night was quite an event. At first there was no one on the bus, then at around 11:30. I was awakened by a bag hitting me in the face, soon followed by an elbow, both with no notion of apology. The bus filled up. I was next to Fay and we were across the aisle from Matt and Jess. The New Zealanders had a mom and grandmother behind them with an approx 5 year old boy. Matt and Jess put up their reclining seats to let them in. When the bus got going again, they reclined their seats again, to which the ladies pushed them back up saying "Nino" (boy), meaning that they wanted to sit upright through the journey while they reclined to make it more comfortable for the boy. This was ridiculous as they paid for it. When one of the drivers came back, they explained the situation to which the conductor told the ladies that they had paid for reclining seats and were to be allowed to recline. The ladies gave in but then started pushing again when the driver had gone. It was a battle of pushing till after a few hours the ladies finally gave up. The bus got into Popayan at about 4:30 and most of the others cleared out. I got a few hours of sleep but then woke up and started enjoying the countryside around 6. We got into the bus terminal just before 8am.

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Photos

Northern Ecuador
Beautiful countryside

Crossing the Border
Heading from Ecuador to Colombia

Church River
The valley and river of the Church on the bridge