Police mania in Popayan

From Otavalo we headed to the border with Columbia and planned to go straight through to Popayan - a journey which on paper looked like a breeze, however in reality turned out to be rather painful. We were bombarded by money changers and taxi drivers at the border, and of course we were ripped off, despite trying our best to be cautious. Our taxi driver (if you can call him that in his clapped out car blasting riggaton music!) tried persuading us that our bags would be safe locked up in his cab while we went through customs - we of course insisted that we needed to take them with us as we wanted to see them again!



The bus ride from the Columbian border to the city of Pasto was stunning, we weaved through the mountains with the most beautiful valley views, that extended for miles. Unfortunately for Tom he was feeling rather ill (too much dodgy pork in Otavalo!) so we decided to stay in Pasto for a night rather than make the trip all the way to Popayan. And we were glad that we did, as Tom spent the night on a toilet with no seat, (yep the Columbian's don't seem to be too keen on toilet seats!) and the journey to Popayan the next day took a horrendous 7.5hrs along the windiest, bumpiest unsealed roads. We were surprised by the number of Police and Military, (complete with enormous machine guns) that controlled the hills. At one stage we were all bag searched, some guys even had to take off their shoes to be inspected for drugs. Despite cocaine being Columbia's biggest export, it is highly illegal and there are harsh penalties for carrying any on your person.







We stayed in a hostel on Popayan's main plaza, which had stunning views and was located next to the cathedral, so we started each morning drinking tea and listening to the church choir (very zen!). The city has a colonial style and is beautifully lit up at night with different coloured lights, however what was rather disconcerting or concerting?! were the number of armed police on every corner of the city. Today it is still recommended that you do not travel south of Popayan overnight for fear of robberies, kidnappings etc. Whilst most of Columbia is safe to travel through, you certainly do get the feeling that the situation is not completely stable and that rebels/guerillas/paramilitaries could encroach on the cities at any time.







One of the highlights during our stay in Popayan was a trip to the thermal springs just outside of the city. We took a couple of motor taxis along crazily bumpy, bone shaking, teeth chattering roads and were told that we'd have the springs to ourselves. Well, we were in for a surprise as the place was over-run with school kids. We caused a bit of a stir as the kids literally surrounded us from all angles firing questions in a mixture of Spanish and English. This was a great introduction to the warmth and friendliness of the Columbian people that we'd heard so much about.