Till next time Colombia!

Hello all,

So we finished our trip in colombia in the university town of Popayan. Its a really lovely town that has kept its colonial architecture despite being completely flattened by an earthquake in 1983. Dermot was working so I indulged myself by buying and trying all the different wierd and wonderful things they sell from stalls on the streets, including hand made slushies and fruits i have never seen before. I love the machines they create to make them, its like being in a  Jean Pierre Juenet film. I also love the way in this part of colombia you are everybody's amor, heart, sister, daughter and neighbour - "claro mi corazon" (of course my heart) "a lá orden" (at your service) "con mucho gusto" (with great pleasure).

Popayan also turned out to be a unesco city of gastronomy, which we were a bit surprised by - I've heard fellow backpackers referring to the country as ´the land of the bland´. But it really lived up to it and we had what was probably the best steak we´ve ever had - twice!

Wedecided to celebrateour last days in colombia in style; I got one of the amazing pedicures all the colombian women love - and dermot got a massage from a sexually deviant manwhodidnt have the first idea of what he was doing!

So we both really liked colombia - it was in many ways not what we were expecting - extremely americanised. But the people and the amazing scenery blew us a way. We felt very safe and welcomed every where we went. Though admittedly we have only seen colombia from the tourist, middle class perspective.

On our penultimate evening in Popayan we saw the army setting up a tent in the square. Lots of people were crowded round, and when we asked one of the soldiers what was happening we couldnt quite work out his answer. We assumed it must be for conscription or anti farc propaganda or something and went home. Next day I returned to discover that it was a tent for an arts and crafts jumble sale to raise money for charity!

At any rate, I have no doubt that as the bad reputation of colombia dies down, tourism will rocket there. I just hope that it is controlled to allow the benefits to reach the people who really need it.


When we arrived in Quito we found this news story on Colombia - its worth a read.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18791301

So its ´hasta luego' Colombia, 'Hola' ecuador!