From Ipiales I went on a 2 hour bus ride to my next destination: Pasto! The way there was very windy but so beautiful! Mountains and...

Pasto

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From Ipiales I went on a 2 hour bus ride to my next destination: Pasto!
The way there was very windy but so beautiful! Mountains and mountains and mountains, all very green and very beautiful! In a way it was even more beautiful than Ecuador! Most of the time I was able to see a river that at the bottom of the valley! It felt like a mix of beautiful Georgia and Rwanda!


Once I arrived in pasto  I started walking and looking for a Hostel and ended up at Casa Hospedaje La Bohemia. I walked up the stairs and the owner, Anthony, let me in and said there was no one at the Hostel the first night but then the following day a family of 13 had rented all the rooms except one.


My first day in Pasto I walked around the town, went to their plazas, and visited the many many many churches around!


One of the many churches!





The second day I decided to go to Laguna de La Cocha, a 45 min colectivo away. At the stop I met a lovely couple in their 60’s from Romania. The ride to la Cocha was beautiful although a little sickening due to all the curves.

We arrived to the Main Street and figured out that it was pretty much a tourist trap kind of place. The town was really cute with a canal and many wooden houses with flower pots and of course many many boats to take the tourists on a trip around the lake.



So cute!



The boat tour was 40,000COP ($15) for up to seven people so I was determined to find some people to go to with. I walked a little and found the Romanian couple talking to another guy from the bus about a boat tour, we needed at least 6 people to make it cheap so I went around and got another couple.

The boat took us to the island in the lagoon and the guy asked “are you going to the sendero?” And then he added “it’s 5,000 each extra but i could take you to another ‘mirador’ for 10,000COP each” mmm... definitely not going with him for an extra 10kCOP each! He said he would give us 20 mins for the island.



We walked into the island and there was NOTHING! only one small church so we decided to go up to the mirador making sure we came back within the 20 mins that we were given.

The path was really nice with big tall trees and one could hear the birds, it would have been an amazing path if I wasn’t almost running it to make it back on time so the boat guy wouldn’t get mad. The signage along the path was very good with drawings and explanation of the birds and the trees along the path.

"The forest has its own music. Silence here is a million sounds."



At the end of the path was a viewpoint where we got to take some photos and then turn around.


We made it back within the 20 minutes and the boat guy was mad at us because we went up the path to the “mirador”; he demanded that we paid him 60,000COP instead of the 40,000COP we agreed on. I started arguing with him that we spent the 20 minutes that we were given, he argued that we went to the path therefore we had to pay him more, I argued that some people didn’t go up and what if we had decided to spend the 20 minutes praying at the church?!? I told him no sense to pay more, he said that we owed him 50,000COP then, I told “No, No, No, y No, usted nos dio 20 minutos y a los 20 minutos llegamos” (you gave us 20 mins and after 20 mins we were back!) He tried to convince us to take us to the other viewpoint, we said no. The conversation ended by him saying “Espero que usted nunca vuelva a venir por acá” (I hope you never come back! ðŸ˜‚) and of course I didn’t stay quiet, I answered “Si vuelvo a venir, no me vuelvo a subir a su lancha!) (if I come back I won’t get on your boat!) The people in the boat felt uncomfortable, some even argued that it was just a little more money that we should give it to him, I felt that giving him the money would only feed this bad behavior of exploiting tourist, absolutely NOT more money!
I collected everybody’s money and gave it to the guy once everybody had gotten off the boat.

After that we were fed up with La Cocha and decided to take the bus back. In the bus I met a French guy who the same thing happened and ended up paying 60,000COP for the boat when it was supposed to be 40,000COP! So annoying!

Back in town I visited “El Museo del Oro”, a small but cute museum in the center of pasto.






From there I went to “Casa del arte y de la cultura” where a friend of the Hostel’s owner had an exposition of costumes from the traditional “Carnaval de blancos y negros” that happens every January in Pasto.
The costumes were truly amazing with beautiful colors and decorations.




I love all the colours and details!




Photographs of Carnaval:



On the second floor they had some interesting paintings:
Headless people!


From there I went back to the Hostel and cooked some dinner and had the pleasure of meeting the ketarkus family!

The following day I woke up early and headed to the bus station to go to Popayán. I sat in the bus waiting for my 8:30am departure with a nervous stomachache and a feeling that I shouldn’t go just yet. By 8:24am I decided to get off the bus and head back to the Hostel.

Once back I had a cup of agua aromática with Monica, the owner, and then spent the morning playing with a little pony with some of the girls and helping the kids play uno. One of the kids got so many cards in his hands that I hurried to the kitchen, grabbed an egg carton and made him a card holding device. 

Close to lunch time the family was going to the park so I decided to join them. To be honest walking the narrow sidewalks of pasto and crossing the streets was a little bit of a challenge!! Drivers are insane, they don’t stop when they have to and once I even had to hit a car to stop! Why is it that when they see a big line of kids crossing they think it’s ok to just keep going? The driver got mad and started cursing me! Crazy!

We made it back to the hostel no problem and at night I helped the dad make some yummy pasta sauce from scratch for the whole gang!

That night before going to bed I asked mom if I could take a picture with everybody, they said yes ðŸ˜Š:



One of the kids was super cute and begged me not to go and to go visit him at home! Sadly I had to keep going. Next stop: Popayan!


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About Post Author

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!

2 comments:

  1. UnknownJune 6, 2018 at 8:43 AM

    Very detailed, great photos! Thanks for taking me through Colombia, can't wait to read the next part.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AndreaJune 8, 2018 at 8:53 PM

      Thanks for reading! Totally loved Colombia <3

      Delete

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Hi! It's me... Andrea!

In this blog you can live vicariously through my journey around the world!

Please feel free to share tips or places to go!
Contact me: andreaheartstraveling@gmail.com