we had 2 different coffee drinks only 88 to go

popayan is finally alive. we arrived here on friday afternoon, pretty well worn out from a 6 hour ride from pasto. the sun was punishing during our ride, and the air coming in the windows of our tiny, was too hot to provide any relief. the views were pretty spectacular, but the road was full of turns that made getting comfortable enough to sleep a pretty much futile pursuit.

3 silvanos

there was not too much going on in town on saturday, and our hostel was empty except for the owner/manager, a very nice, shy colombian woman, and her two dogs. we were greeted at the door by siko, who probably weighs about 100 pounds and looks like a breeding experiment between a pitbul and a lion. a few more travellers checked in on sunday, and we have been wandering around town with two fellows from england and one woman from belgium. they let us know that it was a holiday weekend, which explained the lack of pulse in the town.

bob ans sico

today (tuesday, august 22), we took a bus to silvia, an hour and a half from popayan, to check out the indigenous market there. every tuesday, people from surrounding villages pour into silvia to eat, drink, hang out in the central plaza, stock up on anything from soap to shoes, and sell fruits and vegetables. martin, one of the englishmen in our impromptu tour group, noted that we were checking out the marketgoers with some intensity, and they were looking at us just as critically and curiously.

when we returned to popayan, we found the city humming. what were barren streets for the past two days were suddenly plump with foot and auto traffic: students chatting and weaving down the sidewalk, taxis, jeeps, and scooters jockeying for position, and vendors selling fruit, ice cream, and magazines on most corners. we got off our bus and walked into the center where we grabbed a coffee and some pastry at a shop just down from the main plaza. one of the most enjoyable differences here in colombia is the absence of nescafe instant coffee. the coffee isn´t always great, but it is possible to find decent espresso and the stuff that comes with breakfast actually tastes like coffee.

Martin at Golf

after dinner we went to a couple of bars. the first spot was playing loud music and music videos from a couple of ¨best of¨ dvds. the hits included crap from a bunch of bands from the 70´s and 80´s. it was worth enduring the music, though, to see the 1918 citroen truck the owner had in the back. he was really easygoing and let us come back to see his antique and take pics. the second place was cool, and we could talk to each other over the chill electro-tango tracks. we had a game of rummy and tall glasses of beer. no citroen in the back of this bar; just a fledgling minigolf course. they closed before we had time to shoot a round, but the three kids working there were real excited to find out that daniela is from mexico--they dug up all the mexican slang they could remember from watching mexican shows on tv. that has been a constant each time daniela mentions that she´s from mexico: someone inevitably mentions that they love the ¨novelas¨, or mexican soap operas that get aired all over latinoamerica. the mexican film industry is also a big purveyor of spanish language movies, and movies dubbed into spanish are often dubbed by mexican actors. so everyone knows a few words of mexican slang and can recognize the accent pretty quickly.

popayan

after finally seeing popayan with its heart pumping a bit, our group split up and headed different ways. dan, daniela, and i headed to tierradentro, 4 1/2 hours to the south, to visit the ancient tombs there.

housing

Casa Turisitca

Carrera 5 no. 2-07

tel# (092)824-4853

10,000pesos a person

3,000 pesos for a nice breakfast

Going out

Coffie Golf

calle 3 #5-63

Is a great place to go they have not only a wondeful staff but games and a mini gold corse out back. Its a nice place to go chill