White city number 4,739

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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, sits on the hot and steamy Caribbean coast and hence in an area unlikely to be visited by me in this life. Popayan's reputation in the colonial architecture stakes is only just below that of Cartagena, but with the advantage of being in the Andes. My chosen hostel was run by a young Scottish couple with an impressive knowledge of both the area and the country as a whole. If you're coming to Colombia (or in fact anywhere in Latin America), their website www.hosteltrail.com is an excellent resource.

Unfortunately Popayan's main square, Plaza Caldas (named after the local chap who'd devised a method for calculating one's altitude based on the boiling point of water), was closed for renovations but there was an interesting selection of whitewashed churches and other buildings through the rest of the town. I visited one salsa bar, where I had enough trouble just tapping out the rhythms - for me, attempting to dance to them is clearly a no no.

Almuerzos and cenas (set menu lunches and dinners) in Colombia look to be excellent value for money, if a bit heavy on the meat and carbs, but I couldn't resist a Saturday night pizza blow-out for some variety.

From Popayan, I did a loop to San Agustin and San Andres (Tierradentro), blogged separately, before returning to the town for a batch of laundry and then a bus heading north.

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Photos

Catedral
Parque Caldas

Stained-glass windows
Templo Belen

Weathervane
Templo Belen

Street
As seen from El Morro

Mossy wall
El Morro

Standard almuerzo
Meat, rice, beans, and stuff

Eave and wall detail
Templo Carmen