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Friday, 28th of August:
We got a simple breakfast in the hostel (scrambled eggs, nice bread and coffee) for 6,000 pesos (€2).
At 11am, we checked out and We walked the 1.5km from the hostel to the terminal and got a bus from Buga to Cali (19,000 pesos - €6).
The bus journey took about 3 hours and we arrived in the hostel at about 2pm taking a taxi from the terminal for 10,000 pesos (€3).
We checked into El Viajero hostel (same chain as Cartagena one) in the chic San Antonio district of Cali.
We made it in time for a city tour with a local guide who took us around the city in her car for 30,000 pesos (€10). We visited the impressive Cristo Rey statue perched on a hill above the city.
We then walked around the main squares and saw the city's principal buildings. It was evening time on a Friday and the city was alive with activity. It was clear to see an edge to Cali over and above the other Colombian cities.
We got some food and made it back to the hostel for a salsa show at 9pm. Cali is famous for salsa and is known as the salsa capital of the world (somewhat self-proclaimed perhaps). It has its own style of the dance which is a lot more flamboyant than the classical style.
I took an early night and woke early for our planned trip to San Cipriano. Resham (the British Tory candidate) would come along with us.
We got a taxi to the terminal and found a bus to Zaracossa (17,000 pesos). Three hours later and we jumped off and crossed the rather precarious rope bridge to reach the infamous brujtas. These are motorbikes attached to a rarely railway line which whizz you through the jungle to the town of San Cipriano. The bikes cost 10,000 pesos for a return trip.
We encountered a train on the way and had to walk around and were soon collected by brujtas on the other side.
I decided to do the river tubing after a bit of lunch. 5,000 pesos rental and 5,000 deposit. I hiked 45 minutes along the river and jumped in and enjoyed coasting along the river for 2 hours!
I arrived back at 4 to John and Resham and we departed in pouring rain on our return trip. After the brujita back, Resham blagged our way onto a near-full bus ahead of a waiting crowd which we were glad of. Zacorra is a tiny stop on the route between the large port town of Buenaventura and Cali and most buses were near full and not stopping for us!
We arrived back at about half 7 and grabbed some food. With it being Saturday night, we decided to go out to witness the Cali salsa culture in person.
We went to a pretty poor club with others from the hostels called Mi Cafe Tierra. It was fun watching the locals necking shots of spirits and salsaing away!
Sunday was a designated chill and sports day. I watched the draw between Dublin and Mayo and the end of Man u's loss to Swansea.
Went to Crepes and Waffles with Paul and Resham. Paul is a San Fran native and an interesting guy who used to work for Google.
We checked out early Monday morning and set out for the Terminal again. We got a bus to Ipiales for 35,000 pesos (€12) after a little bargaining which departed at 8.30am.
We arrived in Ipiales at 8.30pn after some stops in Popayan and Pasto en route.
We checked into the Metropole Hotel across the road from the terminal. A room with twin beds was 40,000 pesos (20k each - €6.50).
The bed was quite dirty and Ipiales was unexpectedly freezing. After grabbing a much needed bite, we hit the hay. Sleep was difficult due to huge noise being made by some guests at 3am returning from a night out who proceeded to play salsa music for an hour before calling it a night.
We woke up at 7, got breakfast and met an English and Aussie guy in reception. We shared a taxi with them to the fantastic Santuario Los Lajas. An impressive church built in a river valley. The taxi was 10,000 pesos between the 4 of us for the 20 minute trip.
We then got a shuttle from Ipiales to Rumichaca for 1,700 pesos.
We exited Colombia in no time and made the short walk across the bridge to Ecuador. A coach had just got in ahead of us but customs were well organized and we made it through after about 30 minutes.
Ecuador - 1 September 2015:
We got another collectivo to Tulcan from the border for .75c.
At Tulcan, we jumped on what would be our last bus of many on the Cali to Quito journey. $6 for the 6 hour journey to Quito.
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