HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: 3 hours in the truck
BUMMER OF THE DAY: 3 hours in the truck
WORD OF THE DAY: Italian
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 120km
We were told that it wouldn’t be far to travel today, but we have been told that quite a few times now, so it’s with a little skepticism we board the truck for the third last time EVER. It is just starting to dawn in me this time next week I will be I will be on Easter Island on my second last night before finally leaving the South American continent after being here for nearly 6 months.
I was in the room on my own last night as Heather had departed yesterday and it was nice to have some space to myself and spread out all my crap. In saying that I am happy with the crap I do have left and depending on what I buy at the Otavalo Markets, I think I am going to be fine with my one bag to check-in in 5 days! OMG 5 days!!!!!
A 9am departure was a luxury and before we had even got out of the street Rosita (not Gray) hit a branch on an over-hanging tree and happen to snap it from the tree with it landing on a car directly below. It was actually bigger than the normal branch that it warranted Gray to get out of the truck to check if there was any damage……and the punches just keep in rolling!!! Luckily there was no damage to the car and we were able to drive off guilt free that no harm was done. What a start to the day!!! It’s our last full day in Colombia today as we cross the border to Ecuador tomorrow after lunch. I have reall6y enjoyed Colombia, even with all the bad luck that we have had, that’s travel and shit happens. But the people are friendly, they wave (big plus for me), its beautiful, it has beaches, it has mountains, it has shopping, no one got robbed, accosted and only some of the girls were offered some recreational drugs in Taganga, other than that we had no issues what so ever in Colombia. We did use common sense, didn’t stray too far from hotels at night etc…. but its smart travelling and we all survived.
It took us a while to get out of Cali and the highlight was the passing of a street fruit and veggie market. The traffic was shocking so we got to really see people go about their daily business as we were stuck in traffic. We got the usual stares and people in cars next to us wanting to speak to us, but as my Spanish is non-existent I have to refer them to Danielle 4 windows back as her Spanish is quite good. I wish I could speak Spanish and all plans of learning from home went unheeded and it makes me even more determined to learn Amharic so I am not left in the position when I move. The fruit and veg market was amazing. There were bikes, taxis, 4WD, pull carts, push carts, motor taxis all loaded to the hilt with purchases. Colored umbrella’s shaded the sellers with their massive avocados, these things were twice the size of your fist, the grapes are the size of cherry tomatoes, there was lettuce, massive mango’s, oranges by the sackful, onions potatoes, tomatoes, bananas by the bunch and pineapples in their original form and already chopped to eat. It was a hive of activity, colour and smells.
It was a rainy day the further we travelled and it is funny to see how the motorbikes cover themselves to keep dry. The main pieces they all wear are the poncho raincoats. I saw one guy had plastic bags over his shoes, I’m guessing they aren’t waterproof. Kids were on the back of the bikes sheltering under the ponchos and other riding with umbrellas in their hands. I am still getting a lot of waves and I think the Colombians have been the best wavers of all the South American countries. It probably has something to do with not seeing many tourist trucks like ours coming through, so we are a novelty and to get a gringo to return a wave is probably pretty funny for them. I am more than happy to oblige and keep up the Tucan Ambassador-ship.
You could imagine our surprise when we saw the ‘Welcome to Popayan’ sign at 12.15am!!! WTF. I was just starting to get comfy on the truck. We’re here already??? I have to say that I think this takes the prize for the shortest travel day of the whole 151 days. 3 hours!! A walk in the park. We were staying in the old town and after stopping out the front of the Dann Monastery Hotel (we are staying at the sister property in Quito) while Mark went to check on the hotels and returned 10 minutes later to tell us that Rosita was too big to get in and we just had to walk a block to the hotel. I was okay with this as I had just packed an overnight bag for the one night stay, so I didn’t have to lug my big backpack. I am not just a pretty face you know!
Popayán is the capital of the Colombian department of Cauca. It is located in southwestern Colombia between Colombia's Western Mountain Range and Central Mountain Range. It has a population of 258,653 people and is located 1760 meters above sea level. This town is well-known because of its beautiful colonial architecture and its contributions to Colombian cultural and political life. It is also known as the "white city" due to the color of the most of colonial houses and places in the city downtown, where several churches are located, such as San Francisco, San José, Belén, Santo Domingo, San Agustín, and the Cathedral Basílica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, known locally as "La Catedral". The city's cathedral was home to the Crown of the Andes, a 16th century Marianist devotional object featuring emeralds taken from the captured Inca Emperor Atahualpa before its sale to finance local health care institutions. Much of the city's original splendor was destroyed on 31 March 1983, when an earthquake toppled many buildings. Though many of them were rebuilt and repaired, the heart of the city still bears ruins and empty lots since the disaster. Popayán has been home to seventeen Colombian presidents, as well as noted poets, painters, and composers. The University of Cauca (est. 1827), one of Colombia's oldest and most distinguished institutions of higher education, is located here; that is why Popayan is also known as the "University City."
In 2005, Popayán was declared by the UNESCO as the first city of gastronomy because of its variety and meaning to the intangible patrimony of Colombian culture. The culinary history of the Cauca department was chosen because of their maintaining of traditional methods of food preparation which has been passed over through different generations orally. Popayán is the only place in Latin America to have been declared a City of Gastronomy by UNESCO, in tribute to its significant tradition of regional cooking. Typical dishes of the city are a legacy of both Spanish and indigenous cultural interaction, integrating components of local origin with fruits brought from Spain. On 2009 September 28, UNESCO also declared the processions of the Easter Week processions as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Patrimony of Humanity. Popayán was a very important town during the colonial period because of its location between Lima, Quito and Cartagena. Even after the discovery of the Pacific Ocean, Popayán remained a transfer point of gold and riches going to Cartagena on its way to Spain. Popayán also served as a colonial mine, producing various denominations of the Escudo gold coins and silver Reales from 1760 through 1819; it continued producing coinage for the new Republic of Colombia after 1826.
As a result of its colonial importance, Popayán is one of the most traditional Colombian towns and is very rich in Colonial architecture. Although in 1983 an earthquake destroyed part of the city, there are still several colonial bridges, museums and churches in the town. Popayán has been destroyed by several earthquakes. The most recent and destructive lasted eighteen seconds and occurred on 31 March 1983. The reconstruction of the colonial city took more than 10 years and today it is still possible to see some lots that have not been reconstructed. The first earthquake seismic design code was established in Colombia as a consequence of this earthquake.
Popayán's Historic Downtown is considered one of the most beautiful and best preserved in Colombia and Latin America. Popayán has preserved its colonial architecture for more than four centuries, a reason why national Colombian and foreign visitors are seduced by its historic downtown. The cobblestone streets were almost all paved in 1937, however, there are a few projects which are currently being implemented to recover the old city's original look and this was where we were staying for the night. It was still spitting rain a little bit as we arrived at out hotel. The hotel had another large group in, so the boys got moved to the hotel next door and we stayed where we were. After a 25 minute turn around, we walked the 2 blocks to the city center and then branched off to enjoy a leisurely lunch. Steph, Marina, Shaz and I found a cute little Italian Restaurant where we got a starter salad, I ordered spaghetti carbonara, we also got garlic bread, French fries and to finish off we got a small custard and meringue for desert and it was all included in the pastas price of 10AUD. It was an amazing meal and while we were waiting for the main course I made a phone call to Zeme. It’s been a week and I said I would try and call once a week and I also needed to use the last of my mobile credit, so we got a good 8 minutes, it was a bad line, but what I could make out is that he has applied or has seen the Australian Consulate people about his visa for July. Fingers crossed he doesn’t have any issues as I would be totally devastated if he didn’t come to Oz for the 10 days as planned. We filled all the forms in while I was in Addis (I was allowed) so all should be in order for the submission. Please, please Travel Gods you have to weigh in on this one for me as we know you really haven’t been around for the last 3 weeks that is for sure.
Sharon and I took a walk around the small town after lunch and we saw a few of the main sights including:
Caldas Park. This park, common passageway of students, executives, and all citizens, and cultural reunion place, it was born at the same time as Popayán in 1537, when the track in grid generated around religious, governmental, and founders buildings. Initially it was used as a marketplace. In 1538 it was placed a trap in the center of the park, where Jorge Robledo y Álvaro Oyón were beheaded. This trap lasted until 1766 when it was replaced by a faucet of water, which lasted until 1805 when a stone pile was put in its place, but it was removed too in 1910 after the inauguration of the monument to Sabio Caldas, a piece of the French sculptor Raoul Verlet, which has remained since that time in the same place. There exists a replica located in the Plazoleta de las Nieves in Bogotá. At the same time there were planted leafy trees which currently round up the monument and embellish this place. In May 2007 a proposal of architect Lorenzo Castro was made to remodel Caldas Park by expanding the pedestrian zone around the park, and in April 2009 the first phase of the work in the park began, in preparation for the celebration of Easter, a touristic time for Popayán.
Clock Tower. It is the main symbol of the city, and it was called “the nose of Popayan” by Master Guillermo Valencia. It is a construction placed next to the Cathedral church, built between 1673 and 1682, with 96 thousand bricks. The clock, made in England, was placed in 1737. Its mechanism operated by the action of two lead weights which were changed by Antonio Nariño in the Colombia independence dispute in 1814, when metal was required to manufacture ammunition. After the earthquake of 1983, the clock was restored and put back in operation by the same English company that manufactured it, but it stopped working a long time ago.
San Francisco Church. According to the architect, critic and historian Germain Téllez, the facade of this temple is the best example of baroque style throughout Colombia. In its tower is placed a famous bell donated by Don Pedro Agustín de Valencia. This temple is remarkable because of its altars decorations and its naves and apse proportions. In the San Francisco's square, it stands the monument to the local hero Camilo Torres, whose replica is located in the square of the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé in Bogotá.
Santo Domingo Church. Fray Jeronimo Escobar founded the convent of the Augustinians in the late seventeenth century, whose temple was destroyed in the earthquake in 1736. Then, it was reconstructed thanks to contributions from notable people of the city, but it was necessary to restore it again after the earthquake of 1983. In particular it stands out its altar carved in wood and covered in gold, its expository baroque made in silver and a beautiful image of the Lady of Sorrows.
Catedral Basílica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción Church
Originally it was a straw hut, but in 1609 it was opened a second cathedral of mud and masonry. The current construction was consecrated in 1906 by Archbishop Manuel Antonio Arboleda, who brings it a magnificent European pipe organ. Its style is the neoclassical, and much of the building was restored because of the earthquake of 1983, including the great dome of 40 meters high, whose restoration was made according to guidelines of the original structure designed by the local artist Adolfo Dueñas.
It was a nice afternoon and it is the first one we have had for a very long time where we have had time to actually do something in daylight hours and it made a great change. We were back to the hotel just after 5pm where we relaxed and watched some TV. The Wi-Fi was intermittent in the rooms but we only had to sit in the hacienda courtyard out the front of our room to get connection, which we did when we needed. We found the crime channel and watched back to back CSI Miami, New York and Las Vegas through till 8pm and decided we better get something to eat, even though we weren’t that hungry after such a big lunch, we were leaving in the morning at 6.15am, and wouldn’t be getting breakfast. So we took a stroll back into town armed with our cameras and took some night shots of the Bell Tower, Santo Domingo Church and the park all lit up at night. There wasn’t a lot of traffic on the roads, but there were a few people out and about and it certainly felt safe enough to walk around. On the way back we found a small areapa place that did all sorts of flavors, so Shaz got 2 Hawaiians, and I got 2 chicken and bacon ones, one for dinner and one for brekkie and they were heated on a BBQ grill with the toppings and cheese put in the in the middle and slapped together like a sandwich. We took them back to the hotel and it was just the right size for dinner and we now had something in the morning for breakfast.
Sharon and I have been scratching like mad all day from the blood sucking flying buggers. My skirt was rubbing make them all itch. We didn’t have any itch cream so we resorted to applying aloe vera and it seemed to help them calm down, but man scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch – ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
So that was how we spent our last full day and our last night in Colombia. I enjoyed the country immensely and I think it would definitely be one that I would come back to again and spend some more time on the coast.
No comments:
Post a Comment