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We arrived at the bus station (which was still barricaded) and managed to get on a bus to Pitalito leaving in 10 minutes. Our local friend was not so lucky as no buses where heading past Cali let alone Medellin.
Our bus was a small minibus with only our group of now 7 gringos and two locals. The journey started badly again as after only an hour we got stuck for another hour due to an accident but finally got going. The reason for the small bus became clear as we headed across the jungle on a road attractively named Trampolin del Diablo or Trampolin del muerte! Later googling revelaed this was the Colombian version of the Bolivian road of death.
Despite its fearsome reputation the journey was stunning - through cloud forest on a winding road crossing water from waterfalls and looking over vertiginous drops. Luckily our driver was excellent and we eventually arrived in Mocoa on the other side of the mountain range.
After a stop for lunch we headed onwards towards Pitalito stopping just outside to change into a small truck for the final crowded journey into San Agustin.
I was very relieved to arrive at the beatiful hostel I had booked and spend two nights in a place I had actually meant to get to.
The next day I went on a longish uphill walk to the Parque Archeologico - one of the pre-Colobian sites where they had found hundreds of statues thought to mark the tombs of the dead betweeen 1-900AD. The site was beautifully maintained and I strolled amongst the statues and admired the views across the valley around San Agustin.
I decided that I did not need to see any more archeological sites so contacted Malou and Lotta and found out they were getting a (paid) lift to Nieva the next day where we could then get a bus to Armenia and Salento. I arranged to go with them and enjoyed a night at the hostel watching Colombia v USA in the Copa del America eatting my first home cooked meal since Atacama.
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