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Published: October 18th 2009
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Popayan is about 3 hours away from Cali, arriving at the bus station i took a taxi cause i feel lazy walking to the Hosteltrail. Nice place i was by myself in the dorm, then I noticed stuff in one bed, so there mst be another person here. I walked around town to get food and also to sight see. Almost everything here is white, the buildings, the walls etc. That is why they call it the white city. it was a holiday so the streets are empty, very quite so was able to walk freely and great to take photos with no people. After walking through town i went back to the hostel to find that new people just arrived and before you know it the place is packed, at least our dorm is full. I cooked dinner to save money, then met some of the people in my room. Went to bed early i was really tired, our room is a bit noisy, next to the street.
The next morning i woke up when the dude above me was getting up and getting ready early, i took a second look, its Johnny! The dude I hung out with
in Villa de Leyva, quick catch up and he is off with our 2 roomates to trek the Volcano in Parque Nacional Purace. i got up too to get ready to do aday trip to the town of Silvia about over an hour away to see the Tuesday market where locals sell their wares dressed in their native outfits, they come down the mountain to gather in Silvia.
I got dropped offf at the center of town where there is a plaza with lots of people, and the indigenous dressed in their costumes, the men are very handsome with their hats and jackets and they wear this silly looking boots oh and a skirt, not pants. I was busy taking photos of people and the mercado which was not really special but lots of people, the vendors are very friendly, i asked a lot about what they are selling, one even gave me a sampling of this odd looking fruit, and another made me try a panela, sweet cubes of brown molasses i think. It started raining, i was gonna go up this church on the hill but i stopped and shelter myself in this building that happened to
be next to a military checkpoint camp.
I watched as this dude stopped 2 buses and check drivers licenses etc. When he finished he walked up to me and I thought shit this might be trouble, but turns out he is very friendly, he does not speaka word of English and so we conversed in Spanish, his name is Naite, I asked him about life as a soldier here and if this place is dangerous because they are all over the place, then his buddy came, Antonio, a bit more outgoing than Naite, he took me to the barracks and gave me a tour, this is the prison cell, hmm, ok I said, this is the toilet, I told him enough with the tour and we just chatted, he asked me if I have a girl, why not? Umm I said because I am travelling, i meet girls as I travel, he finds it unacceptable, he leaned over me and said "quires tener sexo?" I said what??? I asked him over 3 times i think, I knew what he meant but thought I might be hearing it wrong, I looked at him and asked ,with you??? he said no!!
No with my amiga! Ahh(sigh of relief), but why i asked she your girl friend and if so why are ou passing it her to me? but you have to pay 20,000($10), I just said lo siento but I have not much cash with me, I am not sure if he was trying to set me up and extort money, but i doubt it, he genuinely is pimping his friend to me, i got uncomfortable so i bade him goodbye promising to return over lunch time and made my way up the church, took some fotos then went another way to get to the plaza to avoid the checkpoint.
Walked some more and watched as this guy tried to sell some concoction cure all thin in the plaza, he was surrounded by people, very animated and very funny. Anyhoo, I got bored so I went back to the mercado and bought veggies for dinner then hopped on the next bus back to Popayan. Got back to the hostel and while on the internet, John, a friend from Salento checked in, we had been trying to contact him since Cali.
Then another fellow showed up, Elliot, a Kiwi, we all
decided to go together tomorrow to San Agustin.
Me and John went to grab some lunch, went to this fabulous place serving tamales type things, very good we had seconds.Climbed up the Bolivar statue up the hill, rain was threatening so we hurried down and into the plaza mayor, John had to make a local call from one of the llamada people parading around the square with a cell phone, a common sight here in South America, as i wait for him i saw Elliot walk by, I called him and we all hang out at this bar for a few drinks before going back to the hostel. We all planned our trip to San Agustin tomorrow, and Christina an American girl will join us too. Made a corn soup and gave the rest to Johnny who came back from their climb of the Purace volcano, the American dude and Spanish dude who went with him were complaining how difficult it was as the rain pelted them, good thing i skipped that one. Last minute, Johnny decided to tag along with us to San Agustin, now that makes us 5.
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