Popayán, San Agustin, and Mocoa

Before making it into Ecuador, we stopped in three small towns that other backpackers had highly recommended. Once again, we didnt have any plans of stopping until we spoke with some travelers who convinced us otherwise. The first stop, Popayán, was only two hours south of Cali and is usually a pass-through town since it doesn't have any major draw outside of its laid back atmosphere. We only spent two days there, however, we enjoyed this town since it had a genuine and non-touristy feel. We'll remember it for the whitewashed walls, great cafés, and the best empanadas we've tasted in a while. We'll also remember it for having some of the worst pizza we've ever had. They couldn't make a regular pepperoni pizza taste normal if they tried. It was our punishment for ordering American food outside the states.

Side street led us to this small square

Whitewashed walls and colonial architecture

Looking down the main street

180 degree view of the town

Common area at the top of the hostel

The mini empanadas that changed our lives

The second stop, San Agustin, started with an extremely bumpy five-hour drive through the mountains. Shanta was saved by her motion sickness pills, but we were still crammed in the back of the bus shoulder to shoulder in toddler-sized seats. San Agustin is an archaeology buff's dream in the middle of breathtaking scenery. The outskirts of the town are strewn with carved stone statues and tombs from the 1st to 8th century. While there is still a great deal of mystery surrounding the ancient indigenous people, it's widely agreed that they were one of the first complex societies in the Americas. We took a few days to explore the amazing statues and enjoyed our daily "menu del dia" from a restaurant in town. For $2.50, you get a soup, salad, entrée (rice, beans and beef/chicken/fish) and a fresh fruit drink. We explored the surrounding waterfalls and hiking trails the last day before taking off down the road.

The mountains on the way in

Looking upriver

Wish we went down this

Getting a tan with a view

Looking downriver

Good spot for swimming

This shows how narrow these roads are

...and how steep

Archaeology!

Ancient tomb

Interesting since no crocodiles were ever in the area

Tomb entrance

Tomb for a lesser important citizen

One of the smaller falls in the area

View from the top

Everyone wants to see the view

Quite a fall to the bottom

My lunch on the way out of San Agustin

We left our hostel planning on going straight to Pasto, a border town, but changed our agenda once we realized we'd arrive there well past dark. Mocoa is the midpoint between San Agustin and the border, but it isn't typically found in guide books. In the next few years, it will become a backpacker hotspot since the town is quickly building a reputation as a waterfall mecca. When we got off the bus, we ran into our friend Martin from San Agustin and opted to book a few nights at the same hostel together. The three of us took off the next morning to see Fin Del Mundo, a huge waterfall that drops hundreds of feet into the rocks below. While hiking to the waterfall, we passed by several smaller falls that people were jumping from. The drops were about 15 to 20 feet and we immediately joined in. This made the grueling hike worth it. Right before we made it to the end, I slipped on a rock and got a nice cut on my hip (which required a few stitches) but after a day or two it was water under the bridge.

Hanging out with the monkeys 

Eating the leftover food from the hostel

The bridge could use some help

Before the hike began

Pointing us towards a grueling hike up the mountain

After we reached the top, the way down was easy

First pool (jumping ledge was to the right)

Navigating the path to the ledge with Martin

First jump

 

Jumping off the second waterfall

Just before I slipped and took a tumble on the rocks

Taking the $1 taxi to town afterwards

After a few days in Mocoa, we took an early morning bus to the border, got our stamps, and hopped on a new bus to Quito.

After 7 weeks, it was time to say adios to Colombia!

African Music, Colombian Egg Nog, and Soccer in Cali

After a pitstop in Salento, it was off to the most populous city in western Colombia, Cali. Proclaiming itself as the salsa-dancing capitol of the world, it's a city rich with a vibrant nightlife and diehard soccer fans, all propelled by its deep African influences. We timed it so that we would arrive in Cali on Friday evening and stay until Tuesday. As hard as it was to leave the coffee region, we were excited to meet some new people and experience Cali's nightlife. The bus from Salento to Cali offered plenty to see as we descended from the high mountains and into some of the country's deepest valleys. We made it into the city by nightfall and easily made our way to the hostel, The Pelican Larry. Although it wasn't terribly hot, we still weren't used to the change in temperature after spending a few days high up in the mountains. We put our bags down, grabbed a beer, and started chatting with some other travelers. We soon realized that we had already met one of the travelers, Thomas, when we were hiking in Salento. This is starting to become a fun routine for us since so many backpackers are taking a similar route through the country. After a few drinks and some much needed food, we set out with a small group and began walking through Cali's vibrant streets lined with bar after bar. It had traits of Medellín with a mix of African flare.

We thought we were back in SF for a second

The next day, Thomas and our German friend Frieda convinced us to go to the Pacific Music Festival, a free concert celebrating the city's African roots. Packed shoulder to shoulder, the crowd swayed and moved to the music while vendors sold a traditional homemade African liquor, viche. Light brown and milky, it had a faint resemblance to egg-nog without any of the happy feelings of Christmas. It took each of us a while to get used to, but it did the trick.

The festival

Being 6'2" in Colombia helps with the views

With our friends Frieda and Thomas 

Viche in all its glory

We absorbed the scene and after the concert ended around 12, we met up with our crew from the first night and took our viche-filled veins back to the main drag of nightlife. At one bar, we ended up getting ripped off after the bartender said the $5 I paid for our beers went towards two Colombians' drinks. Claiming the obvious that they were not with our group didn't help. With limited Spanish vocabulary, I had trouble putting up an agrument. The third day, we woke up to a city ready to go to war with a rival soccer club. The game was at 3pm and festivities started well before mid-day. Our group of six had food and drinks at the hostel and we made sure that no one was accidentally wearing the rival team's colors, bright red. After arriving at the stadium, we snaked our way through the sea of green jerseys and managed to convince a police officer to take us through the side gate and straight to our seats. The atmosphere inside the stadium was pulsing with energy. Our English, Dutch, and German friends agreed it was a boring game on the field, but you wouldn't have noticed based on the crowd jumping, screaming, and chanting. Not knowing many of the rules of soccer and being red/green colorblind, I too found the players to be pretty unexciting. Towards the end of the game, we made our way into the thick of things in the home stands, the Colombian equivalent of the Raider's "black hole." With our ears ringing, we left a few minutes early to beat the crowd. The next morning, Shanta and I said goodbye to our weekend friends and continued south to close in on the Ecuadorian border.

Ticket prices (1 USD = 1950 Pesos)

The visiting team's bus

Our friend leading us into the game

Shanta and Frieda

Shanta/David duel

The crew representing 5 countries (also, unfortunate leg angle)

Almost more police than fans

The fans getting rowdy 

Next up, making our way to Ecuador.

The Land of Coffee, Trout & Jeeps

It's funny how often strangers can impact your life when traveling. Something as small as a suggestion can turn into an hour long conversation and next thing you know you've altered the (rough) itinerary. That's how we ended up in Salento.

Taxi jeeps in the town square

Since Salento is in the coffee region, we tried about every coffee shop in town, but quickly found a favorite.

This coffee maker is over 100 years old

The menu is simple. You can either get a small or large coffee with steamed milk. And it costs less than $1 USD per cup! Given our love for Colombian coffee, we decided to take the hour hike out of town to a small coffee farm that offers tours. We had taken a tour in Costa Rica and were curious how the two differed. Honestly, the biggest difference was that this one was significantly cheaper, only $3 USD per person, and this included the cup of coffee you received at the end!

This lab hiked the whole way with us

Flowers from the trail

Taking a quick break

Almost to the farm

Our tour guide

Lots of banana trees on the farm too

Drying out the beans

Enjoying a fresh cup 

After the tour, and our hike back into town, we were ready to try the local trout that the area is also known for.

Trucha and patacon

Patacon is basically a large plantain tostada. I had my fish with garlic sauce. Phill had his topped with sautéed tomatoes and onions. They were absolutely delicious! 

The next day we were ready to head out for a hike in Cocora Park. We took an early morning jeep taxi from the town square hoping to avoid the fog, but it never quite burned off. 

First view of the river

Saying hi to a few friends along the way

One of many makeshift wooden bridges

Settling down for lunch

Making our way back down

Favorite part of the hike

Our taxi jeep soon to be stuffed with people

Phill taking a pic while holding on to the back

On our last day in Salento, we walked up the 250 steps of Alto de la Cruz to see a panoramic view of the city.

More winded than I should be

Then we settled in another coffee shop (with wifi) to work on the blog. For dinner, we found a restaurant serving American cuisine. The owner is from Oregon so we knew it was legit. It had been over a month since we had anything that resembled food from home so we couldn't resist!

My first cup of mora juice

The main street

Phill's massive burger loaded with EVERYTHING

Sunset from the town square

If these pictures haven't convinced you to add Salento to your bucket list, I don't know what will!