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Published: February 27th 2010
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Popayán, or the White City, was my last proper stop in Colombia. Although with a population of nearly a quarter of a million people, the centre feels more like a tranquil provincial town rather than a bustling city. In fact Popayán, which used to be one of the main political hubs of the country, has given Colombia more Presidents then any other (a fact the locals seem proud of), though these days the city is only a provincial capital. The architectural splendour of the city is unquestionable; the cobbled streets with white-washed building on either side link the city’s many historical buildings, predominantly churches, of which there is no shortage in Popayán. The main square, Parque Caldas (not Plaza Bolivar for once!) was one of the few places where I actually saw a lot of people; most of the other streets seemed virtually deserted, though this was on a Sunday. Although I spent three nights in the city, I didn’t actually spend most of that time exploring the centre, as once you’ve walked around the main streets, there isn’t too much else to do. East of the city centre, a path leads up a hill (Cerro el Morro) which, despite not
being that high, offers lovely views over the city (the centre is quite flat and low built).
I also spent one day exploring the Puracé National Park, some 30km out of the city. The focal point of the park is the Puracé Volcano, which is a relatively easy climb compared to other volcanoes in the Andes as it’s not that steep. I got an early bus (6:45) with the intention of giving the climb a go, but due to a breakdown in communication with the bus conductor (if that’s the right word - all buses seem to have a driver and another person who comes around collecting money or prepaid tickets), he told me to get off at the wrong entrance to the Park, some 10km from the main entrance where the trail to the volcano began. I had no idea as the volcano looks like a big hill, and there were lots of those around, so I was unsure which it was. In the end, it probably worked out better anyway, as if I had climbed the volcano I would have been caught in the thunderstorm that hit in the mid-afternoon. There was plenty to do in park besides
the volcano, and I started where the bus left me, at the San Juan thermal springs. These volcanic springs almost seemed like an alien landscape, with streams of steaming white liquid bubbling out of the ground and with the stench of sulphur almost overpowering. After the thermal springs, I followed the road to some waterfalls and a lagoon (to get to which I had to walk through a bog, getting very muddy). There was much more to see in the park, but by late afternoon I was getting tired, I hailed the bus as it went past; had I not I would have had to wait another 2 hours for the next, and would have been caught in the thunderstorm.
Having finished in Popayán, it was time to move on to Ipiales, on the border with Ecuador. This meant another early start (6 am bus) for the 8 hour journey, but I was travelling with a Spaniard (José from Bilbao) whom I had met in Manizales and re-met at the hostel in Popayán. Arriving in Ipiales in the early afternoon, José and I headed straight to the only main attraction in the area, El Sanctuario de Las Lajas; a stunningly
situated church on a bridge over a gorge. Built into the cliff face as someone once claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary there, the location and design of the church was really special. After this glancing visit, we went straight to the border (we didn’t particularly want to stay in Ipiales, hoping to be able to get to Quito on the same day.) The border is a bridge over a river, so our taxi dropped us off at the Colombian passport office to have our passport stamped, and after changing my few remaining pesos for dollars, it was over the bridge to Ecuador. Unfortunately, the customs guards on the Ecuador side wanted to search all of our bags (basically for drugs). This held us up by quite some time, as although the guard who searched my bags only barely glanced, the guard searching José’s belongings was meticulously thorough, which took ages. After the formalities at the Ecuadorian customs, we went in a colectivo (minibus) to the bus terminal in the Ecuadorian city of Tulcan. Fortunately, transportation in Ecuador is much cheaper than Colombia, so the 5 hour bus to Quito only cost $4.80 (the US Dollar is the national
currency of Ecuador after their failing Sucre was scrapped). The employees of the bus companies who heckled us to buy their bus lines’ tickets deceived as somewhat though when they said the bus was a direct express (we paid more for this bus than another company for this reason), as the bus stopped in many places along the way, and was consequently 45 minutes late. So we didn’t get into Quito until gone 10pm - a very long day of travelling. But at least we had got it all out of the way. As Ecuador is relatively small, I probably won’t have any bus journeys longer than a few hours whilst in the country. A taxi brought us from the bus terminal to the hotel we had chosen, only a few minutes from the historic centre (most of the tourist hostels are in the New Town, but this was an exception). Unfortunately, the hotel turned out to be full, so we ended up staying at a hostel up the road where we paid $10 to sleep in a dorm instead of $6 for a private ensuite room each at the hotel we tried to get into. But it was late,
and we were too tired to find a better place to sleep. In the morning, we managed to book into the better hotel anyway, where I still am now. You’ll have to wait until the next blog to hear about the sights and sounds of Quito.
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varudhini
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