Popayán, Colombia

The best thing about Popayán was the bus journey to the place from Cali. Ok, we only stayed there for one night and arrived in the afternoon, so there wasn't much time to do anything. However, we were up for a few beers in the evening, as usual, but there appeared to be almost no nightlife.

I was overjoyed with the 4 hour bus trip though, never a dull moment and we picked the best seats - right opposite the door...



Call this guy the conductor (not the driver, for my Spanish speaking amigos), his job was to try to get as many people on the bus 'en route' as possible. He jumped off on numerous occasions shouting "Popayán" at whoever he thought might have just decided to jump on..!



We were subjected to the well known South America bus movies



Street vendors. Lots of these people were allowed to enter and travel between 'stops' while trying to sell food and drinks to the passengers

Speaks for itself!? Don't ask me - only in South America!

A bit of cleaning in between hanging out the door and running along side

Our bus. I took this photo during a stop in a remote village between Cali and Popayán

We arrive, typical street in Popayán

The main square

Our hotel, it looks better from the outside

Evidence that Craig's postcards did indeed make it to a post office. The postal service in Colombia was a bit confusing and we spent hours trying to buy stamps and them find somewhere to post the cards in various parts of the country



¡¿Qué están?!

We couldn't find a pub for love nor money so we crossed this bridge into no-man's land

Just over the bridge from the 'historic centre', it's the wild west. We went into a chemist where Craig bought deodorant and I asked the girl if there were any bars nearby, she said that it was dangerous for us where we were and told us to go back over the bridge!!

Street vendor dressed as an Ecuadorian, but we're still in Colombia!

This was one of two bars that we managed to find in the Popayán!



The church

We left early the following day for Pasto, by bus - 7 hours. Pasto was much more fun!! I should say that generally we've been getting some attention in Colombia. Some people tend to stare at the 'gringos', but when we engage in conversation, and they realise that we can speak a little Spanish (¡no estoy seguro si es mejorando Carmen!), they can't get enough of us! Finally some reward after a LOT of time and effort made with the language. This trip would not have been the same without a reasonable grasp of Spanish - FANTASTIC!! So far we've not met any English speaking tourists, which surprises us both.