Crossing into Colombia

It took me a while to cross, it always does. Another border I'd have to face alone. Boarders itself are not scary... It's trusting that the cab driver at either end will actually drive you to where you want to go, that's the actual concern.

So I got up early and took the bus to the border. It did indeed take 5 hours to get there. To my luck, there was some Argentinian guys in the bus and I tagged along with them.

Border crossing at Tulcan was smooth and we took a cab to Ipiales, where I stayed for the night at the second nastiest place I've ever stayed at.

The next morning I took a "collectivo" to see the church (Las Lajas), which was impressive, but under construction. 

I went back up the nasty hill and got into a collectivo just in time to catch the 7 hour bus to Popayan that left at 9am.

I arrived in Popayan late and because it was a holiday it was dead. My hostel was quiet and in the room there was a funky old man smell... Perhaps because the two other travelers were men and about 700years old! 

I got some food at the bakery and went to bed.

The next morning I woke up early to check out the town and it's famous humiliating bridge. It took me about 30minutes to do so. The bridge's construction is nice... But it's not well taken care of, it has a lot of graffiti, so I was quite disappointed when I got there... I didn't bother taking a picture.

I decided to leave Popayan and go to 

San Agustin... and for the first time in a while I wasn't lied to! 

Bus company "Sotracanca" not only brought me to San Agustin, which everyone swears there's no direct bus.. but they also brought me straight to my hostel! The trip was 4 hours, on Colombia's classical winding roads, except this one wasn't paved for most of it. The gravol I took didn't help, I still felt naeseated for the entire trip!

Colombia's landscape is impressive. The mountains are beautiful, but also filled with coffee plantations that supply the world. 

Colombia has been great so far! There hasn't been a moment where I felt unsafe. In comparison to Ecuador, Colombia has been a breeze... Especially in bus stations. The don't throw themselves at you as soon as you exit the taxi... The yell politely from their cubicle! :)

San Agustin makes me want to stay a few days, but I really need to get going. Next stop is Colombia's salsa capital: Cali! 

Yeah baby! I decided to stay there till I can salsa! Ok, maybe about 4 days... It'll be the weekend, what a coincidence! I swear!