Hotel de Silvia

... at rapid fire. It was hilarious... Christina and I could really only get that people in the area are bad and things get stolen often; they were able to lighten the situation.

On that note, we bought some groceries quickly and headed off out of town, for a more relaxed atmosphere in the country. We decided to head back for Cali. Later that day we met a family who invited us to stay on their property for the evening. They owned a small organic farm on which they grew ...

On Tuesday we rushed up the mountain (as fast as Wesley could rush!) to a small town named Silvia. They have a wonderfully colorful market on Tuesdays and we didnīt want to miss it! We arrived in the afternoon and luckily the party was still on! There were Indigenous and Military everywhere... quite an interesting pairing. The Indigenous men and woman in their bright blue skirts, women with black bowler hats on, and the ...

... as El Tablon however, we had descended quite a way and so therefore had to ascend once more. So we gritted our teeth, and focused on our ascent and arrived soaked in sweat. Alto de San Andres was very similar to Segovia and El Duande so we were happy to see just a couple of the tombs. We were very happy with ourselves for reaching Alto de San Andres around 11am and feeling confident about our ambitious target until the attendant told us that our next site ...

... im slightly annoyed I couldnt have stayed there a few days just to relax, but I have to meet Allan in Lima in a month and abit, so I have to really get a move on as I have Ecuador and the northern part of Peru to get through. So cant really afford to waste days sitting around plazas having coffees and chilling out like I have been for 5 months!
I found a Juan Valdez coffee shop. Anyone ...

We rose around 7am, the sun shining through our window. Today was market day in Silvia.

We packed our bags and walked into town. The market was in an undercover area next to the main plaza. As yesterday, many people were dressed in the traditional style for this area. The market had several different sections, one area selling craft ware and modern clothes, one area selling grain, one area selling fruits and vegetables, one area selling breads ...

Happy Birthday Niamh.

We got up early and packed our bags. Our plan was to go to Sylvia today, stay over, catch the market in the morning and then try to shortcut across to Toturu where we could catch the 11am Collectivo to Tierradentro, or San Andreas. We would stay one night and return to Popayan.

We culled our bags so we had just the minimum for two nights, left some bags at the hostel and made our way to the bus terminal. Christie got us tickets on a Collectivo to ...

... down a taxi or Collectivo. As luck would have it a taxi had pulled up outside the petrol station to off load some passengers. We benefitted with a return trip to Popayan for $5mil pesos. We stopped off at EXITO, a huge supermarket next to the bus terminal, where we bought Niamh a birthday cake, and we also bought a replacement soccer ball, replacing the one we lost in Cartgena.

Back at the hostel we were ...

... I wouldn’t dispute who would come off better, a motorbike or a freight train.

We walked quickly backup the 500 metre road to where we would catch the Collectivo back to Cali. There we changed and grabbed some Empanadas from the hut that was there alongside the road. There were about a dozen locals chatting nearby, I was hoping they weren’t going to be taking the same bus, simply because it was likely that we wouldn’t get on as well.

Hailing a ...

Off for a big walk uphill today. All started lovely with signs to follow and everything ( trust me this is a rarity) and we hit the first tomb in no time, canīt visit it without paying the entrance fee and the museum however which is 1.5km down the hill or random at the site but he doesnīt have change but would radio the office to give us change later we decide not to worry about the tomb as we will probably see lots later.

We head up hill ...

So I go back to Popayan and check 'la lista,' nothing there for me. So I need to kill some more time, but I don’t want to do it watching the mailman. So I take another short trip to Silvia, not so far away and up in the hills. This is cheese country and I eat plenty of it. I should mention that Colombian food ...