Finally A Real Challenge!!!

Columbia! Not even remotely your average tourist destination, which is why we're both so extatic to be have the opportunity to travel northwards through it. The home of cocaine, corruption, Shakira and modern day guerrilla warfare, Columbia has only recently become safe enough for backbackers to travel through due to ubiquitous gang warfare and virtual civil war. In fact Columbian government is still only in control of around of 70% of the actual country, however most of the 30% is dense jungle with little actual population (including wanted military commanders and suspected national terrorists). The reputation of Columbia as a raw, energetic and ocassionally hairy travelling experience is something that has been backed up by everyone who I have crossed paths with along my route North. This was a destination high on my list and something that I was very much looking forward to. The time had come for my final country in South America before sailing to Panama.

We awoke early to a humdrum of noise, loud talking and banging in our shitty hostel (from the rude and ignorant staff), checking out as quick as possible barely stopping to air our grievances. We hopped in a taxi and were whisked to the border to pass through immigration. After being offered an excellent rate by a street exchange person we asked to change the $25 dollars in our kitty, before realising that the calculator was rigged to show a lower value than mathematically correct. When found out the cheeky entrepreneur slipped off into the shadows to wait for another unsuspecting tourist. In a moment of inspiration Emily disappeared off armed with my calculator and the $25 to find another conman touting in front of a policeman. The conman tried to pull the same scam before getting loudly caught out by Emily and ending up having to give a better exchange rate than anywhere else. After getting the policeman to check the validity of the notes she returned triumpantly. We continued to await our Columbian entry stamp, whilst watching the other conmen bandy round the touchéd tout, laughing about how he had been stung by a stupid Gringo.

After finding the terminal we commandeered a bus heading North to Popayan, which would take pretty much the entire day. After leaving the typically rundown border town we found ourselves in a landscape totally different from that of before. The land stretched out far beyond us, a patchwork quilt of farmland golds and greens everywhere, as the subtropical greenery clung to the sides of dominant mountains everywhere. As the driver threw us around winding mountainside roads like he was Lewis Hamilton, we clung to our armrests hoping that his skill as a driver matched that of the talented F1 driver.

Hour after hour of hairpin bends passed and my own ability in holding my food down came into question as the enthusiastic driver swerved left and right to avoid potholes, pedestrians and other vehicles. For a change the bus did actually have a toilet if I did feel ill, however my pride was at stake and after five and a half months of similar journeys without any throwing up, I didn't want to be starting now. Fortunately as I started reaching the point where being sick seemed an inevitability, the bus stopped for a 30 minute dinner break. Maybe I could make it after all.

We arrived in Popayan, after spending the last 30 minutes of our journey watching possibly the most gory film ever made, which I am sure the little girl 2 rows down will be having nightmares about for some time to come. Like most South American cities after dark it had an air of being a little dangerous, which, considering the fact we were now in Columbia, was probably accurate. We jumped in a taxi, found a cheap hostel and spent the evening eating poor italian food and drinking beers with our new friend Alex (from England).

The following day passed uneventfully in Popayan, which was pretty uninteresting due to it's near total destruction in the earthquake of March 1983, and subsequent rebuilding. An early night was then had as morning after we were to leave on a bus out to Tierradentro: home to well preserved pre-Columbian burial tombs and stone carvings of animals and gods. We would also be heading close to what was, in recent years, the front line between the Columbia Government and the F.A.R.C.