Popayan and San Agustin

The long wait in Cartagena spoiled our expectations for Colombia. We cancelled our plans to visit Santa Marta, Bogota, and Cali, and stopped in Medellin only for one night after our trip from Cartagena.

From Medellin we went to Pereira, Northeast from Cali, and then South to Popayan. This will put us a few hours away from the border with Ecuador.

The road from Medellin to Pereira is all mountainous and tiresome, but equally nice. It was well worth the trip because Pereira is a great place to stay.

All of Colombia countryside was populated along our route, with agriculture and livestock reaching to the top of the mountains. Pereira seems to be a wealthy place located at the north of a flat valley used primarily for sugar cane production.

We decided to bypass Cali just to avoid another big city, and continued all the way to Popayan. Our feelings about Popayan are mixed and certainly influenced by the horrible night we had at the hotel. We didn't notice, but it is located right next to a night club so the noise kept us awake the entire night, so now I am in no good mood towards Popayan.

 

During the day we went for a walk to the city center, where all the houses are painted in white. The main plaza has huge trees and is surrounded by churches and convents (all white). We were surprised by the silence during a Friday evening: no music, no laughs, and subdued conversations. It was almost unreal considering that it is in the middle of noisy Colombia, but life became normal once we stepped away from the plaza. Overall Popayan is a sad place, resembling more a cemetery than a normal Colombian city.

Our logical conclusion was that people refrain from making noise during the day but discharge during the night at our hotel window.

There are two ways to go from Popayan to San Agustin, and in both cases we had to cross the Central Mountain Range towards the East from Popayan. The shorter one was destroyed by the guerrilla some years ago and now is in reconstuction. The longer one implies a long detour and is about 14 hours long. We took the shorter road and it was a great mistake because it is almost impassable. We drove during 6 hours to cover less than 50 miles, bumping over rocks and mud to cross the Central Mountain range. However, we had our reward when we arrived to the San Agustin archeological site. The original inhabitants made some interesting sculptures some 3000 years ago, and apparently are comparable to those found in Easter Island.

To return to Popayan we decided to take the longer road, driving north to Ibague, West to Armenia, and then South again to Popayan. However, that is easier said than done. Crossing the Central Mountain Range was again a nightmare, this time because of the heavy traffic, therefore we decided to spend the night ar Armenia and continue tomorrow morning on our way South to Popayan and, with luck, to Pasto, near the Ecuatorian border.

 

We had some excitement once we reached the top of the mountains, when I noticed that the car brakes were not working. After a moment of panic I was able to control the car and continue very carefully down to Armenia. Tomorrow morning, after fixing the brakes, we should be back on the road.

 

Climbing the Central Mountain Range, East from Popayan.

 

A view from the top of the mountains.

 

This is from the archeological site near San Agustin. The dead people was put in a big hole, on top of which there was a statue covered with stones, as in this picture. The stone at the top resembles a table, thefore each archelogical site is now called "a mesita" ( a small table).

 

this statue was made to honor some pregnant lady.

 

 

 

The sites were looted before a serious effort could be made to save the statues. Still, the are plenty of examples to look at.

 

 

this one is called "the triangular face"

 

 

Not only people but animals were also represented.

 

 

A lady with a small girl. n fact, the ear rings of the lady and the girl's hair look quite modern!