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Today I had to be up early again as a group of the students had promised to walk me to a famous church here in Ipiales. We were to meet at 7:30am and I arrived on time but unfortunately no one else did - arghh Spanish Time. At 8am we started the 8km walk out to La Vayus, the walk was quite long and we didn't arrive until nearly 10am - the time when the students were supposed to be back at class. It was a steep walk down the hill and into the Valley where the church was purched against the cliff and over the water. It was quite a sight to see and impressive to say the least. The church had 3 levels - a museum down in the basement a small church on the second floor (the original church) and the new and spectacular church on the top floor. The students and I went and sat in the church for a while and admired the architecture. After this we took some group photos with the church as a back drop and then made our way over to the cascada (waterfall) where we took some more photos. Next we headed up the far side of the cliff where there was a huge Angel monument overlooking the whole valley- we relaxed here a while before making our way back down into the gorge to the church and a resteraunt for a late breakfast. The students ate everything from fried chicken to chunks of cheese - a much deserved reward we had walked a long way and we were all feeling it. After this we slowly made our way back up to the top and found a taxi that would take us back to the city. From here I thanked the students and then made my way back to Alvaro's house to have my last lunch with him and the family. What a feast it was with 4 different salads, steamed corn and Sopa. Alvaro's wife was really sweet when I left and said I was like a son to her and I am always welcome in her home. I went back to the institute took some photos with the students then headed to the boarder to cross into Ecuador. I took a bus as far as I could go and then walked across the boarder. I did something really dumb and walked straight through Colombian immigration without getting departure stamp as security guard told me I didn't need - after waiting two hours at Ecuadorian boarder the immigration officer who could not speak English was asking where is stamp - oh s***. Just as I began to laugh this beautiful American girl smiled at me and said surely they are not going to make you go back - at that moment all was ok I had the attention of this girl :) Amazingly they got a woman who could speak English and she told me of the mistake and I would have to go back to Colombian boarder and when I got stamp I could que jump the now 2000 people in line. I ran back to the Colombian boarder got my stamp had a bit of a laugh at the stupidness of the situation and went back to Ecuadorian boarder where to my disbelief with a nice smile they let me through and I got my stamp. I was really in shock it could have been a lot more drawn out and timely. Next to get to Tulcan - the boarder town of Ecuador, I jumped in a collectivo and for 70 cents got to the bus terminal where I jumped on the first bus to Otavalo. It was soon dark and there was some beautiful scenery on the road to Otavalo - after about 3 hours we stopped at a small town and were told to get on another bus headed to Otavalo which would be 10 minutes down the road. This bus took another hour and luckily the guy collecting money said that the stop we just passed was Otavalo - so I jumped up - stopped the bus and off I got. I headed into what I thought was the town but after wondering around lost I found I was in the wrong town. About an hour later I had made it into the city of Otavalo and found the hostel where I would be staying for free in return for some painting of murals. I met the owner Paul and his girlfriend also fellow Couchsurfers, had a chat which was difficult as Paul speaks very little english and then I went and got some dinner. The hostel is really nice but not many people staying at this time of year.
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