Ciao Colombia...!

Dear Colombia! We will miss your stunning nature, your almojavanas, the amazing hospitality of your people and your Club Colombia...!

Yes amigos, this is the last post about Colombia!

The previous post, we left you in Popayan, a beautiful city full of colonial buildings. Today, we will visit 2 cities and... an impressive piece of art... Which we talk about in the third part of this post.

Bytheway, please remark how good we are on a marketing point of view. We announce now that you will discover something-beautiful-that-you-will-never-forget-in-your-entire-life and then we precise that you still have to read the whole post before being amazed (or you can scroll down, right).

Anyway, the beauty of the last point of this post is no joke, so open your eyes and be amazed...!

A night inside-outside, (too) close to the Panamerican

Let's start with our journey between Popayan and Pasto.

Well. That was hard work!! But it's not a surprise anymore and we are both happy to help our legs being perfect for bikini time - Arthur also, yes. Still, we have been very well rewarded... by sleeping IN a panaderia!! I know!!! You are jealous and you can be!

This particular night, part of Anaëlle's child dream has been accomplished... Let me tell you about her child fascinating story, when she dreamed that she had to built her new house from an immense cake. Of course, she had to eat parts of the cake to create the shapes of the different rooms. You wanna know more about it?? We know you die to know more about it!

Right. Ok. So, I guess we skip this (fascinating) story and keep on with Colombia...

So we were climbing up hill when Arthur saw these appealing chairs around a couple of tables, calling us for a coffee - at least! - and for some rest.

Talking about heroes, if Ulysses found a way to fight his attraction for  irresistible mermaids, we also encounter ours. But didn't even try to fight - and happily lost the battle! How can you resist fresh juices, coffees and cookies to your exhausted body!? So we stopped and decided to ask for a place to stay. No need anymore to point out that we have been warmly welcomed. I guess you got the point!

Still, this night has been quite different than the other ones, since we didn't sleep in the garden of the house but IN the shop of the house!

Perfect situation, as you can see, since we slept:

• Very close to the cookies and other breads :-)
• Behind the fences of the shop, therefore protected from any evil robber
• But still outside, since the shop area is in front of the house on a terrace, so wide open during the day, but closed with fences during the night

One disadvantage though: sleeping less than 4 meters from the panamerican (THE highway of South-America).... biiiiig mistake!! Let's put it that way: even with ear plugs and earphones yelling music, it was really hard to sleep. So hard that Anaëlle spent almost all night listening to music and watching movies on her phone... (editors note: Arthur slept perfectly).

But we don't care: we were safe, we had coffee and cookies! And we made a new friend... Please meet Mateo, the sexiest dog we ever met!!

We shared some fat with him. He wouldn't leave us alone after then...

After this no-night, we were back on wheels! And left (very early) to head on to Pasto.

 PASTO

This one is gonna be a quicky.

We didn't like Pasto. Essentially because we hated the way people drove over there. It is not aggressive: it's über-over-agressive!! And nothing really appealed us in the city.

Still, out from their car, most people are absolutely nice. That's how we've had the chance to meet Miguel Angel, from the the Colombian Red Cross. He invited us to visit his office before we left. We learned how they organize their time and, for Miguel Angel, how he works on securing the path for bikers. Yep! It's surely needed in Pasto!!

The day we left, he escorted us to the outskirts of the city. We really appreciated that :-) Thanks again!!

Apart from the fact that we had a hard time with Pasto, we still liked some areas, like this street, that we found pretty.

What was also cool was the price of the hostel. The cheapest we ever found on our path! 14 000 pesos per night for 2 - with warn water!! - which is about:

- 5,50 euros

- 7,20 dollars

Not bad! The size: like a nutshell.

The bathroom / kitchen / neighbor's (too) direct link 

Ok done! Let's reach the next step.

Lost in the mountains

We took one stop between Pasto and Ipiales. In a small village very high in the mountains.

We stayed in a very colorful hotel. Colorful in all kind of ways...

As you may know, Colombia is very religious. And they show their faith everywhere. At the entrance of a restaurant, on the walls of a bar or hostel, in the toilets, in their shops, when they welcome you at their place, to cheer you up when you leave their place... Some are not shy either to share their other interests... at the same level. Literally...

Told you our hostel was colorful!

From the terrace, we could enjoy the view of the mountains. And of the streets! We could therefore witness one effect of living close to the border: goods examination. This area, closer and closer from Ecuador, is loaded with military presence and police. And aside ensuring civilian security, they also spend quite some time checking the trucks, cars, buses and documents authenticity.

Diving in food!

When we left the following day, we already knew how hilly Colombia could be. Not sure why the road between Pasto and Ipiales felt the urge to remind it to us...

Still, it also reminded us that this region of the world is really stunning!

Meeting some Avatar trees again :-)

Here is were we planned to have a nice lunch. Quite deserved.

Ajouter une légende

So we unpacked our bread, tuna, spices, fru..??!...

That's also where we had another reminder: in this area of Colombia (the Andes) and this period, it's raining season!

Within 2 minutes, it was pouring! We biked an hour in the enormous showers and were soaked till the bones.

When the sun came back, it had a lot to dry :-)

A couple of kilometers before Ipiales, on the other side of the road...

IPIALES!!!

The arrival on Ipiales was unexpected. After crazy days biking up and down in the amazing environment the Cauca region can offer, we ended up high on a mountain shelf and bikes on flat for about an hour before entering Ipiales.

I am a very very naughty street!!

Then we reached Ipiales.

And after a full flat ride, we had to chose a hostel up from this kind of street =>

Arthur killed his breath climbing this one up. I killed my arms pushing my bike up. Not sure what was the better option!!

So we made it, out of breath and soaked, but not from the rain this time...





Most guides don't say anything nice about this city and that's a shame. Apart from the fact that drivers are cool ;-), the city has nice places, churches and cool cafes, restaurants and bars to enjoy. So we  decided to stay there a bit longer than expected.

One of the main places in Ipiales

From a touristic perspective, most guides mention only three things about Ipiales:

1. Its black and white carnival, celebrating racial diversity, from the 2nd to the 7th of January,
2. The fact that they eat guinea pig,
3. The proximity of the basilica from Las Lajas.

We were too late for the first fact, too early for the second one (but we will taste it) so we had to see the last point of interest, the basilica of Las Lajas...

A more-than-worth-loop: LAS LAJAS!!

We decided to leave Ipiales. And to reach the border, five kilometers from the city. But before, we apparently had to see Las Lajas. Ok ok... We'll go there. On our way, we had no clue about what it really was. But we agreed that it was worth the loop for at least one thing: the previous village, between Ipiales and Las Lajas.

First for the beauty of some houses...

... secondly for a very surprising discovery for European people: the cuyes! Which pronunciation is by the way very vulgar in French - but thankfully I am just writing it. These are the guinea pigs.

Really not on purpose

Well, we didn't taste it (yet) but hey, it will happen before we leave this country!

After this awkward moment, we continued our ride to Las Lajas.

Las Lajas. 5' drive from Ipiales, about 20' by bike. We went there just before crossing the border, just in case it was really worth it...

Wow...! To whoever hesitates to make the loop: put your brain in the trash and reach the place!!

If not for the beauty of the basilica, at least go there to see where they dared to build it... I mean, I never built a church and I'm not certain I will have time to do it within my life time,  but if I had to do it, I would for sure start with a flat terrain, far from the rainy season areas and... So in the end I would create a paper one on my kitchen table, 10 by 10 cm.

Now, have a look at the location of this church:

Yep... "And why did they chose to build such a monument in this narrow-issime canyon?" would you ask, dear curious reader. The story says that a deaf-mute little girl once saw the virgin on a slab at this location. From then, she was able to speak. This miracle lead the catholic community to build a church above the canyon. And the result is stunning...

Arrival: you just see the top of the church

From the path to reach the church, you can't see anything. So you look around, count the amount of tourists there (so annoying), remark a very nice bird, realize that you are hungry, pay a bit of attention to the countless ex-voto paving the way - when suddenly, a beautiful shape, all white and grey, appears after a curve...

The thing is, that you only see the top of a church - and since you saw an entire church from far when you arrived, you wonder where they hid the rest of it!

Ow, it's just there. In the canyon...!

Then you see the rest!

Oooo!! That's high.

View of the second bridge from the church front place

 Allez, last one, front the inside of the church.

Time to walk back to the bikes. You take a different path, that goes through the main street of the village, full of touristic shops but also full of charms. And you buy an arepa con queso since after all these intensive emotions, you need to recover. And anyway you were hungry (remember?).

 

At the border

Colombia

Ecuador

One stamp at the Colombian office, one other at the Ecuadorian one, and hop!

Ciao amigos! And we won't leave before saying good bye to the people we met there, who helped us through our trip. To all of you: a huge HUGE HUGE thank you!

Hasta luego!!

Yeah we earn money with graffities now...