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San Agustín was our last real destination in Colombia before we headed for Ecuador and the Otavalo Saturday market. We left San Agustín on Thursday and caught a bus to Popayán for an overnight stop. We went with a new bus company that our hostel owner had set up, which was billed as a better travel experience - it even had seat belts; what a treat. The company was so new that we were its only customers that day and the driver stopped for us to take pictures on the way. The trip took us 5 hours on a mostly unpaved very bumpy road and we passed many army checkpoints as the road isn't safe at night. On the way we saw signs saying protect the Tapirs so Katy was hoping to see one. When we asked the driver if he had ever seen one he replied "Si, muy rico" ("Yes, very tasty").
Although we were only staying in Popayán for one night we were hoping for good things as UNESCO declared it as their first city of gastronomy and we were told that there was even a food festival that evening. But unfortunately the food festival never got going, maybe they were saving themselves for Friday night, and we actually struggled to get any food above the normal quality we have found everywhere else. Katy had a nap in the afternoon and I went off to explore the town, which apart from some beautiful churches just seemed to be a relatively normal colonial town. Mike and Kate arrived later that day and were staying in the same hostel as us - it was great to see them again as we hadn't since the coast. We worked out our travel plans for the next day (with the help of Tijs and Jacqueline who had already made the trip) and went out for filling arepas for dinner.
The next morning we got up at 4:40am and caught the 5:30am bus out of town. The bus had wifi (a first for us) so were able to find out that Scotland had voted 'no' to independence. The bus took 8.5 hours to reach the border on a really windy road but we were treated to some phenomenal views of the Andes. At the border I went to change our last Colombian Pesos into Dollars; the guy told me the exchange rate and did the calculation on a small pocket calculator, I got the amount but once I had walked away I thought it wasn't right. Somehow the calculator had been reprogrammed to give a lower amount! I went back to the guy and after a bit of discussion he realised that I realised so a second calculator was produced and then an additional $5 - we all pretended it was a mistake. The final bus to Otavalo was slow but we made it and met up with Tijs and Jacqueline for some Mexican food before going straight to bed.
Simon
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Diane Malone Good Morning from Tacoma WA. were it is raining first for us in months so that makes it OK. Hope you like Otavalo as much as I did the sweaters and other items of clothing are outstanding with color. Should you be in Quito and come across the Working Boys Center my good friend Sister Cindy Sullivan is one incredible nun who helps make that center what it is to the poor there. Enjoy Ecuador and all its beauty. djm