After three weeks in Colombia it was time for us to make our way to Ecuador and begin our journey south. Standing in our way was a number of long bus journeys, we were not looking forward to the prospect of doing these back to back so we opted for two small stops along the way. The first of these we decided would be in the small colonial town of Popayan.

We had been told to take a bus from Bogota’s bus terminal and that there were many services to Popayan each day. Upon arrival, even with numerous companies advertising buses direct to Popayan we were told over and over again this was not possible, the reasons for this still remain unknown. We therefore had to take the bus to Cali – a city two hours north of Popayan – and a connecting minibus from Cali to our final destination. The initial bus was a nightmare. Bendy, windy roads paired with a driver who thought he was the Colombian Lewis Hamilton made for an extremely uncomfortable journey where sleep became impossible as you were constantly flung from one side of your seat to the other. We arrived in Cali and luckily caught the 5am bus to Popayan within half an hour of said arrival, only for them to drive around the city for over and hour looking for random people on the street to fill up the bus. Exhausted and feeling somewhat in need of a shower we hailed a taxi to our hotel and fell into a deep sleep around 8.30am.

Awakening at around 11am we showered and set out to explore. Popayan as mentioned is a small colonial town, complete with whitewashed buildings along most of, if not all, it’s streets. There is a relatively small town square, with the usual Cathedral its main centre piece, along with other churches, a few museums and also a nice river bank where you can spend some time relaxing and catching some sun. Stomachs growling we stumbled across a busy restaurant serving everything from steak to pasta dishes and decided it must be good due to the sheer number of people dining here. Jonny ordered a chautebriand steak and Hayley went for chicken, both came with boiled potatoes (which felt like a luxury after so much rice and beans) and salad. Without saying a word to each other we practically inhaled our first proper meal for over 24 hours and were extremely pleased with out choices. We explored the town a little more and after a few hours had covered every square inch.

That evening, still full from our enormous lunch we walked to the supermarket and picked up snacks for tomorrow’s dreaded bus and spent the night with a take away pizza watching films on the iPad in our room. It’s a great home comfort to be able to download or stream films and have some down time relaxing in front of one. Popayan was a good place to break up our journey south but one day is plenty enough.

Morning came and we headed to the bus station again. Ipiales is only 5 hours from Popayan and again we had been told buses ran there every half an hour making our journey seem simple. For reasons again still unknown, every company we asked – even one named ‘Transipiales’ told us no when we requested a bus to the town. Confused, frustrated and even more annoyed we settled for a bus to Pasto – two hours north of Ipiales – and again had to catch a minivan from there. Why the south of Colombia’s bus system was this way we have no idea but northern Colombia wins hands down on that front.

We finally arrived in Ipiales – a place we would not recommend unless an absolute necessity, as it was for us – at around 9pm and in the pitch black. We had decided to catch the earliest bus possible in the morning to the border so we opted for a hotel near the bus station. After visiting several that were all full Hayley somehow enlisted the help of around 12 policemen. She set off to check some nearby hotels leaving Jonny with the bags on the street corner and he watched as they surrounded her. First one or two and then every police officer nearby seemed to swarm around her, much like flies around s**t. She revelled in the attention and made sure Jonny was aware how clearly lucky he is. The police were extremely helpful, found us a hotel after checking many, and even offering to go and get us some food and bring it back to the hotel. One guy even gave us his personal phone number incase of emergencies (or maybe if Hayley had a change of heart on our relationship) before bidding us farewell. That night we could only find a small ‘café’ open in the bus terminal for food and forced down some rubbery questionable beef and rice before retiring to our small, dingy room to attempt some rest.

Ipiales, if you do stop here, has one great draw to it. That is ‘Las Lajas Sanctuary’. This basillica hich is located a 15 minute collectivo ride away. We headed here early morning and after the short stroll downhill into the valley were rewarded with an amazing site. The church is located in the bottom of a valley with a bridge joining each side. It stretches high above the river bed and looks completely out of place. It is nonetheless, the most beautiful and impressive Cathedral we have ever seen.

It is said to be on the site where a small girl was once spoken to by the Virgin Mary and pilgrimages started to the area not long after the event. We spent time wandering beneath the impressive structure and walking out to a nearby waterfall to get a better view. We were also lucky enough to witness a service taking place and the inside of the church was packed with people. Our time here was limited as Ecuador called but we had time for some great pictures before leaving.

On return to Ipiales we caught a collectivo to the border and were quickly through immigration, over the bridge and had our passports stamped for entrance into Ecuador. First stop – Quito..

Thanks for reading! Until next time

Jonny & Hayley 🙂