We spent a few days in Popayán, a whitewashed colonial city with a small town feel. There was very little to see specifically there, so we just wandered the streets and took in the architecture and did our usual people watching.
From Popayán we decided to take a detour to a small town called San Agustin. Located about 120km from Popayán, the road there is the absolute bumpiest ride we have been on. After about 5 hours of bumping along, unable to read and definitely unable to sleep, we heard a loud pop and felt the bus slide to one side of the road (which happened to be the side of the road with a steep drop-off) but foruntately we lacked another 10 feet on being in any danger. We got off the bus and saw the leaf springs lying on the ground and the back axel sitting at a 45 degree angle to the front axel where it had completely broken off of the bus. We were told later to wait for the bus to be fixed if we did not want to be responsible for the rest of our travel. Figuring the fix would be closer to a few days than a half hour, we jumped in the back of a passing pick up truck (which is actually a rather normal form of travel in the countryside) and made our way in 3 different vehicles to our destination. A longer day than planned, but a good story nonetheless.
We stayed at a little hostel run by a family and located on a farm. The farm grows everything from coffee to fresh fruits. Our morning coffee was amazing and the food in general was fantastic. The countryside in San Agustin is an amazing array of greens covered in flowers with steep canyons dropping off in every direction. The region was home to an indigenous group, about which very little is known. however, hundreds of burial sites have been found with statues marking the grave sites. The statues are carved from volcanic rock and were interesting to see. We visited sevceral sites during a day on horseback, making for an especially interesting mode of travel. The horses were rather competitive and were not hesitant to start an all out sprint to get in fron of the other, no matter the desires of the rider. See some of the pictures at the bottom for pictures of the many canyons, waterfalls and statues in San Agustin.
We are now in Cali. A big city known as the Salsa capital of South America. So we will be trying to show off our salsa skills in the evenings while taking in the big city during the day. Being much closer to sea level and about 2 degrees north of the equator, it is hot and we are spending the rest of the day trying to keep cool by drinking some of the most amazing fruit juices we have ever tasted. (Colombia is known for having an amazing variety of fruit).
Tracy ready to go from Ipiales (at the border) to Popayán.
Popayán after our morning climb.
One of the fun statues we visited (there were literally hundreds). This one has been well preserved and retains its color. It is more fun before you learn that the woman represented is taking the child in her arms to be sacrificed (or so anthropologists believe).
Transportation with a mind of its own.
Purdy flowers (there are lots more pics where this came from for the flower lovers)
This 9 year old met us at the waterfall and gave us a wonderful history regarding its name, its altitude, the height it drops and more. Her name is Jessica and we estimate she will likely cure cancer, create world peace and solve world hunger before age 25.
The next few are from a sugar cane mill we visited. The men are making a local treat called Panela. It is very close in taste to molassess and the process is basically identical. (But nothing is as tasty as molassess made in Todd, NC) Panela is cooked a little longer and a bit of oil is added. It hardens when cooled. We got to scrape the table for the extras that dripped outside of the mold.
Tracy standing over one of the large green canyons characteristic of this region.
4 comments:
I think your beard makes your head look like it was photo shopped onto your body.
Adam-You haved moved up quite a few years in the history books now. Moses isnt really an accurate description anymore. I am pretty sure that Don Quixote would have looked a lot like you back in his day.
Love the adventuresome stories and pics! Cant wait for more...
Not too long before I get to take my own little South American bus ride :)
Love yall!
it is interesting to see how the trip is shifting itself. Wonder what ou will learn from all of this/
Hola, Adam yo soy Angelica la colombiana de ERC. Me alegra que la estes pasado bien en mi Colombia. Cualquier cosa que necesites avisame. No te olvides de ir a la minas de Sal en Zipaquira, son bonitas.
Muchas suerte y divierte mucho con los colombianos
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