Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
This morning we had the luxury of a sleep in. The plan, sleep in until 7.30am, as breakfast finishes at 9am and there were 3 of us needing to negotiate shower times. However, sleep ins are just not something that we are allowed or privy to on this tour. At 6.00am one of the hotel staff started walking up the stairs, in her high heel shoes. All we could hear was the loud clip clop of her heels on the tiled floor. She continued her way up to the 3rd floor, and I could very clearly hear her walking on the roof above us. Next thing we hear the sound of tables and chairs being dragged along the floor above our room. Needless to say, little sleep occurred from this point on. Especially when the breakfast crowds started.
We soon all got up, one by one. As one got ready, the other got their bags packed for roll out again later on today.
Donna and I went to breakfast, and started to eat what had been placed in front if us, eggs and a stale bread roll!! Mmmmm appetising!! But beggars cant be choosy. Soon after Bruce joined us. We all finished our breakfast without complaint and just chatted for a while, eventually deciding to go and walk around the town again this morning.
We set off, and walked up to the main square. Again it was busy, and filled with many people. As we had seen most of the town yesterday, we decided to walk beyond the square into unchartered territory. We had been shown a monastery located up on a hill just past the main square yesterday during our orientation walk, and I thought that it would be nice to get some photos of it today. We walked past the square, and headed towards the monastery building, however the closer we got the worse the view got. Until it got to the point where you couldn't even see the building anymore. In the end we decided to forget about it... it wasn't that important to see anyway.
We just headed back to the square. Bruce mentioned something about going to the museum, however the silence that followed that question was deafening. It looked like Bruce would need to tackle that one on his own!!
Instead, we ended up getting coffees and sitting in the main square. We had found a few of the other girls from our tour group, so we sat on a concrete garden bed, in the shade of some beautiful large trees. Here we talked and people watched, sipping away on our beautiful cups of coffee.
We were approached by a couple of the locals, all very interested in who we were and where we were from. We then had our free health checks completed. Three beautiful nursing students approached us, and asked if they could do our observations. Knowing what it's like being a nursing student, I offered my services straight up. With a glass thermometer under my arm, I happily watched my student thoroughly checked my blood pressure, take my heart rate, and she even used the same sneaky methods of checking respiration rates, as what we were taught in Uni. Nice to see consistency in sneaky nursing practices throughout the world!!! I was so embarrassed though, when I forgot that I actually had a glass thermometer under my arm. I moved my arm and nearly died a thousand deaths as I watched as it plummeted to the ground and shattered in front of my eyes. The student was so sweet, saying that it was ok, however I felt so bad. I couldn't say sorry enough times!!
Given a full bill of clean health, we continued to sit and watched as a band set up and did a one song performance. As soon as they finished the song, they started packing up and left, and we started to think that as buskers they suck. Martina and Laurien, our Spanish speaking beauties had a discussion with them and found out that they were actually advertising the fact that they were performing a concert here in Popayan tomorrow night. They were interested by who we were and where we were from, and they ended up having a photo with us, although I think it was more to show everyone that they had a wide international supporter group.
We soon decided that it was time to part ways, and Donna and I ended up heading to a little shop to buy a few snacks for our bus trip this afternoon. We then headed back to the hotel to prepare for our departure.
When we arrived, Andres was there moving the goal posts of time again. We were originally meant to be leaving at 12.40pm, however we were now leaving at 12.15, which only gave us 45mins before we had to leave. This wasn't a big concern for us, as we were pretty much ready to leave, however Lisa on the other hand was still out running. When she returned, she still needed to have a shower and pack her bags.... This is going to be tight for her.
Eventually she arrived back with 20mins to spare. Not happy with the time change, she did manage to pull the impossible out of nowhere, and she made it down to the lobby by 12.15. Such a super woman!!
Next job, we walked back down the narrow footpath, past all of the road works to the end of the road our hotel was located on. Here we waited as Andres flagged down taxis to take us back to the bus terminal. One by one, we all filed into taxis, with Lisa, Andres and I catching the last taxi from the side of the road. Again we made our way through the chaotic streets of Popayan, until we reached the entry way of the bus terminal.
We soon realised that the Second and third taxis dispatched had arrived safely, with all of us waiting on the curb out the front of the terminal. However the occupants of the first cab were still missing in action. I started to get worried. Where were they, they had left ages before us, and we were the third and final cab to leave. I started to get images of them being dropped off at the wrong place, and with us not having any way of contacting them to work out where they were, or that they may have been kidnapped!!! Will the next time I see them be on the news, holding their passports up, reading out a plea for ransom?!?! I hope not.
Then someone yelled out, there they are. We saw them walking up the street. Long story short, their taxi driver had let them out further down the hill, and after waiting a while where they had been set down, thought it best that they walk up the street to see if they could find us!! Which they did.
We only had a short amount of time before we needed to board our bus. It was just enough time to go and use the bathroom, or to get a quick snack or bottle of coke.
We wheeled our bags out to the bus waiting area, and were soon lead to a largish white minivan, our transport to our next destination on our Colombian adventure, a town called San Agustin.
We left at 1pm for our 5 hour journey. The driver quickly negotiated the traffic, and we soon made our way out of crazy traffic town, and we were on the open roads. This is when our driver kicked this minibus into over drive, and we took off like a bat out of hell. If you were in Colombia and you heard thunder clapping up above, I'm sorry to tell you that you have been mistaken my friend. The noise you actually heard was our minibus breaking the speed sound barrier!!!
The bitumen road soon made way for an unmade dirt road and we were going so fast we were literally flying over the multiple potholes that lay in our way. Unmade roads were no barrier for our driver, who continued to use the steep and windy roads as a formula one practice circuit, only exception, it was in a minibus.
The roads were so windy, that after about an hour, we had to stop the bus, as Laurien was feeling so car sick. She ended up moving seats, from the back into the front seat, between the driver and his co-pilot. Once Laurien could see the road in front of her she was fine and her nausea settled down. Our tour leader Andres was also feeling the strain of travelling around windy roads at the speed of light. He ended up sleeping up until our first bathroom break, about 1.5hrs in.
Once we had used the bathrooms and stretched our legs, we all made our way back to the speed machine. On the road again, it didn't take us long to get back up to full throttle. A light rain began to fall, however this didn't deter speed racer, no it just inspired him to get there faster. As the potholes filled with water, it created huge puddles. This became a target to dodge, rather than travel over, so the ride just became a lot more swervier. I had to stop writing my blog, as I felt the wave of nausea come over me. I soon became fixated on watching the road in front of me, just to starve off the feelings of car sickness.
However, it became too much for Andres, who had to get the minivan to stop, so he could have a power chuck. I offered Andres the use of one of my chuck bags, which he refused. However Anthea who was sitting next to him was more than happy to hold on to, just in case!! As we set off again, speed demon actually slowed down a little, and I started to think that there is nothing like the threat of someone vomiting in your van to slow a demon down. However, the urge to gain speed and get to this destination in record time was obviously more important. As again, demon hammered this van to capacity.
It was not long after, that we arrived at a T intersection and the bus came to a complete stop. I thought that we were going to be told that we had in fact broken the land speed record, however this was not the case. Instead it was here that we were told by Andres that this is where we were getting out and catching another bus.
So in the middle of the road, we all piled out, and grabbed our big bags out of the back of the minivan. We then wheeled our bags across to a second minivan. I was one of the 4 people who were hand selected, to travel in a smaller car for the remainder of our journey..... Ok so maybe not hand selected, rather I was one of the closest to the smaller car.
So we set off in the small car, and I looked up to see a sign that advised that San Agustin was only 5km away. Brilliant!! We travelled through the small town of San Agustin, and straight through the other side. We continued out of town for about 5 mins, until we drove into a long u shaped drive way. Argh, home for the next 2 nights.
The hostel looked like a huge country house, with the most stunning tropical garden. There were a few dogs happily running around the property, and some gorgeous birds flying around the trees and flowers.
I looked at my watch, it was only 5 o'clock, which meant that demon had turned a 5 hour bus trip into a 4 hour one.
We made our way into our rooms, again we were in a triple room. Lisa ended up taking the upstairs loft, whilst Donna and I shared the bottom floor.
We didn't spend long in our rooms though, as we were all eager to explore the gardens. The verandahs were all decorated in antiques, including old type writers, old radios, old bikes and all of the door mats and rugs were made out of hashem sacks. There were hammocks hanging from the veranda roof, which were very quickly occupied by people.
We soon made our way into the common area, which also housed the very large kitchen. As Andres started a fire, Donna, Laurien, Martina and I, all started to play a board game. We sat and played this board game, enjoying a nice hot cup of fresh coca tea.
Soon after we finished our game (which I was lucky enough to win), we all ordered what we wanted for dinner. We sat and talked as the hostel host family prepared our delicious, huge home cooked meal. I was so full afterwards that all I wanted to do was go to bed and go to sleep.
Heading back to my room, I realised just how cold it was up here in the Colombian mountains. I was thinking that it was going to be a cold old night in bed tonight. I climbed into bed, leaving my socks on. However, I soon discovered that the bed was so comfortable, with nice thick blankets on the bed. After 5 minutes I was throwing my socks out from under my covers, as I became so nice and toastie in bed. I slept like a log!!!
- comments
kathy roman Wow! What an adventure! It makes our trip pretty dull!!! I take it this part of your journey is like a back packing trip? Is it what you thought it would be? You have had some amazing adventures!! Missing you!