10.6. - 17.6. - Mancora - Quito - Pasto - Popayan - Tierradentro

10.6. - Mancora
The breakfast was good, although we were surrounded by the numerous dogs living in our hostel, all waiting to get something of our food. Still, we managed to eat everything ourselves. :) The owners of the hostel take care of some former street dogs, so there are many around. One of them is really enormous, like a calf. After breakfast we went to the beach, this time we got a big jug of lemonade to get a space under an umbrella. Later I rented a surf board and tried again. It was not as convenient as in Punta del Diablo, as here it is necessary to paddle out quite a bit. The other problem was, that there are a lot of people and as most of them are beginners or just a bit better it is quite a chaos. I managed to catch only three waves and two rides ended in a collision right after take off. I was exhausted and cold because of the strong wind and had to take a break. As Radka also felt like some more shade, we went back to the hostel and I had some time catching up with the blog. When we later went back to the beach we had a snack and a juice under one of the umbrellas and after that I got the board for another try. Paddling out I was already really exhausted again and there were still a lot of people and chaos plus quite some people who were able to catch any wave. It was quite frustrating and I gave up soon. The surf school guys where I rented the board shared a beer with me and then we returned to the hostel. Later we had ceviche, a Peruvian specialty, which is raw fish with lemon. Unfortunately, for me, it came with a lot of onion and, unfortunately, for Radka, it came with a lot of cilantro. Still it was good! The other dish we had was a sea food and rice dish which was also really nice. We had a beer in the hostel and went to bed.

11.6. - Mancora
After breakfast we bought bus tickets directly to Quito, as the border crossing is said to be a bit tricky to do individually. Then we went to a pharmacy to get some cream to treat my pretty nasty sunburn I got. Then we went for a last time for a swim and some body surfing into the sea. Nearby we noticed a dead sea lion that had just been washed onto the beach, next to a dead dolphin. We went back to the hostel where we could stay until our bus at 15:30. We went to have some lunch, a good soup and not so exciting fried fish. We checked out and went to catch our Cifa bus which was supposed to be a good company. In fact the bus was good but I had to ask why there were two different prices listed for the journey and why we had to pay the more expensive one. They told us that the other bus we would change to was more comfortable cama bus also from Cifa. After 2h we reached the border. We had to queue a bit to get our exit stamps and then had a stop in the city. After that the bus took us to the other border post and dropped us there. We got our Ecuadorian stamps and a lady put us in taxis and we went to a different bus terminal. She told us that it is not Cifa but Occidental a better company. There she bought the tickets for us and left us. Soon after we knew why she was gone so fast. The bus was one of the worst in the whole journey and far from even being a semi-cama bus. Well we were a bit pissed but what can you do. I felt a bit like returning and slapping each of the four people in the Cifa agency who all told us lies about the journey. Well, as we do not have so much time I kind o buried the plan. We had the seats in the first row and my knees had very tight contact with the wall separating us from the driver's cabin. Every time someone was entering or leaving the bus Radka had to lean over me so that people could pass. On top of that a small child was sitting behind us and constantly screaming with immense power and endurance. We got to see 2 movies to get a bit of distraction and not a lot of sleep.

12.6. - Quito
We arrived in Quito at around 8 and as they use US-Dollar since 2000 we already had money with us. Unfortunately, it was only 50 Dollar bills and noone would change these into smaller bills. 50s and 100s are usually never accepted and 20s only sometimes. We were walking around for quite a while until we found a small bank that helped us after some negotiation. Then we were finally able to take a taxi. We checked into the Secret Garden hostel which was recommended. We had to wait until 12 for our room to be cleaned and had breakfast meanwhile. In the room we got some rest before we went into the old town. First we climbed the neo-gothic basilica, which is a odd mixture of nice stone work and steel and concrete construction. Then we went to the main square where some strange guys had a camera in a cardboard shoe box with a hole and were looking at people with it. Then we also went to the cathedral, la merced and another church. Very nice ones with a lot of gold. Outside it was raining, which was the first rain we experienced since Punta Arenas. Later we were looking for a place to have dinner. After checking out some places that were more expensive than back home, we went to a local fast food place. The pictures of the food looked much better than it turned out to be. Plus, the food was served on polystyrene with plastic cutlery. After that we had some happy hour cocktails on the very nice roof top terrace of our hostel and also some beer sitting around a nice camp fire. It was fun with the people up there. There was a fun Swiss guy, who had a funny discussion with a British guy about how good different places are to live at. We also got to know Galen a nice guy from Boulder. Unfortunately, everything there shuts down at 11 pm sharp. We did not feel like big party so we went to bed.

13.6. - Quito
After breakfast we took a taxi to the Teleferico, a gondola going up a hill next to Quito. It is said to go up to 4100m but either Quito is higher than in the books or this place is lower. At least my watch did not agree at all, neither did my feeling. We walked along a path but decided to skip the hike to a nearby mountain top. Instead I found another nice mirador from where one can see the old town. The famous and nice volcano Cotopaxi was unfortunately covered in clouds. To go down it again took ages, as the gondola was going so slow as in Austria it would move just inside the station. At the bottom we refused the expensive taxi offers and looked for a bus together with a couple from Costa Rica. Soon we found one and it was a 45min ride to Mitad del Mundo, the equator monument. There I went up the monument and through the ethnological museum inside and then together with Radka to the other museums around, a geodetic and an insect museum. Then we had a burger before continuing to Inti Nan, the museum and site of the actual equator 200m north of the big monument. There we had a guided tour where they told us about habits of the native people living in the area and we also got some demonstrations of how water goes down a sink on the northern and southern hemisphere. We also got to do some fun experiments and both obtained the certificate for being able to balance an egg on a nail on the equator. Then we went home by bus where we saw Cotopaxi in the distance. We went back to the hostel and had a small pizza in a pizza place across the street. It was the best pizza we had so far on our journey. We also had some beer there and later also some on the terrace.

14.6. - Quito
After breakfast we took a bus to the Centro Cultural to see the Museo Banco Central. We had a juice and went in. The exhibition was very nice and had a lot of nice precolumbian pottery. After that we continued to the Guayasamin (the national artist) museum. Guayasamin has a very distinct style and we liked the paintings a lot. There were also precolumbian and colonial collections through which we got a fast forward tour by a Russian woman. Then we walked on to the Capilla del Hombre, the last big project of the artist. It is a chapel for all kinds of religion and dedicated to all the indigenous people and other slaves who had to die during the colonization. It is really nice and we both liked the architecture. There was also a replica of a estela from Copan there. Under a tree overlooking the complex and the city the artist is buried. A really nice place up there. We walked back down for a bit and then took a taxi to the main square of the new town. There we had a pretty expensive cocktail which was one of the worst we had so far. After that we went to eat cuy (guinea pig) to a recommended restaurant, Mama Clorinfda. It was good but actually tasted quite similar to chicken. As we got the whole cuy we are pretty sure it actually was cuy. Then we went to a place where they had the offer, 3 big beer for 4 USD. The place was completely full and noone had anything but beer there. After that we took a taxi home and had another beer on the terrace where we again talked to Galen for a while before they shut down at 11 again.

15.6. - Quito – Las Lajas - Pasto
We had breakfast, paid and took a taxi to one of the bus terminals in the north. After 30 min we arrived there and soon got a bus which would take us to the border in 5h. After 3h 4 guys entered the bus, one older and three rather young guys. The conductor told them that there are seats available in the back but they did not react and kept standing in the corridor looking around what people had put under their seats. One of the guys was standing next to us and was staring at us for quite a while. They made us very nervous and also other people looked worried. It was two very long hours until they finally took a seat and soon after we arrived at the border. Fortunately, nothing had happened. At the border we had to queue in a not very fair queuing system and wait for almost an hour to get our exit stamps. After crossing the bridge the formalities on the Colombian side were finished in a few minutes. We took a taxi to the terminal in Ipiales and left our bags there. We took a collectivo to Las Lajas to see the nicely located church there, where many worshipers come every day. We arrived back at the terminal at 6pm and took a 2h bus to Pasto, the next big city to the north. The landscape was very nice, but unfortunately, it got dark quite soon. In Pasto we checked into the Koala Inn, which was more expensive than we thought, but this was true for most things by now in Columbia. We went to eat dinner in La Merced but it was expensive and quite bad. Radka had a tomato soup which could have been used as a sauce in a burger and my small pizza was far from any quality you would get in any place in Austria. After that we were looking for water but ended up buying one in the restaurant as everything else was closed. After that we went to bed.

16.6. - Pasto - Popayan
The breakfast was one of the best we had so far. A pancake with a mixture of nicely arranged different kinds of fruit. Delicious! After that we had a nice and interesting conversation with the hostel owner, who is an inline skater, about Colombian food, attitude to sport and the government. Then we took a taxi to the bus terminal and soon got a bus to Popayan. We managed to change our seats as one one side of the bus the spacing was a lot shorter than on the other. Still it was far tighter than in any bus further south. We had a lunch break where we had a nice soup and then continued. Next to us was a funny guy who was on his way to a soccer match and dressed up for the occasion. Everything on him was green and white and out of the window he was holding the scarf of the team for hours. He was also drinking quite a lot which kept him motivated. There were quite some construction sites where we had to wait and once also an accident. When it was our turn to pass, a car tried to overtake us on the right and collided with the bus. The driver of the car insisted it was the fault of the bus driver and did not move his car out of the way. Thus all traffic was completely blocked. Our driver tried to convince him to move and in fact it was just a small dint, but it did not work. The other passengers of our bus got impatient and after arguing for a while started to move the guys car manually. That worked and he left and the journey could finally continue. We arrived in Popayan more than 1h late took a taxi to the hostal Caracol. I talked to an English girl there, who was writing her thesis there and had just lost most of it because of some problems with her computer. Then we went downtown to the main square. A really nice, really white town. However, almost everything was just rebuilt in 1983 after a big earthquake destroyed almost everything. We had dinner in a bakery place Pan Tolima. I had pinchos, some grilled stuff, quite nice, especially the platano with cheese, and Radka had a not so nice lasagne. Then we went to another place to have a beer. Later we had another one in the hostel.

17.6. - Popayan - Tierradentro
We went to have breakfast in the bakery place where they also have great espresso. Then we went back to the hostel and sorted out some photos for the blog. We also had an interesting conversation with the English girl and a Belgian girl about the guerilla fighters and the circumstances in the area. Then we went to the terminal to catch the 10:30 bus to San Andres, next to Tierradentro, an important archeological site. The bus was again very tight and a band with all their instruments also squeezed in. The road was very bad and sometimes it was raining and we were plowing through deep mud. Somehow the bus managed to get through everything. The landscapes were again very nice and tropical with tree ferns (Baumfarn) bananas and coffee all around. Again we had a lunch break and a nice soup. After a bit more than 5h and only 100km, we arrived in San Andres and checked into the La Portada hostal. The owner is a very nice woman and the room was also nice and quite ok price. We went to the local church and on to El Tablon one of the archeological sites as there was still light. Back at the hostel we had a beer and caught up writing the blog. Then we shared a delicious dinner as we were not so hungry, but had to order another one as it was so good. At some point a guy came on the terrace and laid down in a corner to sleep. The owner was quite surprised when we showed her, but then had a look at the guy and just said that he lives quite far away. So it seems he needed a break. Then I continued writing the blog and went to bed quite a bit after Radka.