Popayán

ABOUT POPAYÁN:
Nicknamed the White City, Popayán is a beautiful colonial town full of white-washed houses and grand churches encircled by rolling green hills. Although the capital of the Cauca region of southern Colombia, Popayán somehow retains its relaxed, small-town feel. The cool and sunny climate of the lower Andes makes Popayán a very comfortable place to stay, and as the main university town of the region, there's a young, sociable feel to the city. The leafy parks marked with elegant church towers provide a sociable and relaxed location where you could easily spend an afternoon, while an evenings entertainment could be chatting with the friendly locals in a classy cafe bar or salsa club. While staying in the town some lovely walks offer excellent views of the historic centre, several worthwhile museums and galleries and many good cafes, bars and restaurants to make the most of. There are some excellent treks in the surrounding mountains, including an option to trek to the summit of the nearby Puracé volcano.

25/08/2018
Today continues the theme of this Dragoman tour of a long day driving to a town to get there in the late afternoon, have dinner, sleep, and wake up early to enjoy a full day in Popayán. We arrived just before sunset, Jen wasn’t feeling well, but Nathan and I wanted to do our Insanity workout. We went to two nearby parks, the first one was pitch black and looked very dodgy, the other belonged to the university, which was already locked for the night. We eventually found a small stretch of grass next to a roundabout in front of some shops and a strong smell of weed in the air. It is easily the weirdest place I have exercised! Nathan, Jen, and I then went to a nearby Italian restaurant, where I had a nice hearty spaghetti bolagnaise.

26/08/2018
All of us went to bed quite early, as this morning six of us were up for breakfast at 7:30 (scrambled eggs again!) as we were to leave at 8:00 by jeeps to hike up Sotorá Volcano and then mountain bike back down and to the hostel. After over an hour drive we arrived at our starting point (4,200 meters), where it was already 1° and 100 km/h. We decided that we would still attempt the hike to the top of the volcano. We were only three minutes in and we had to wait for 3 minutes for Hui to catchup. She was woefully underprepared for this, we were all in hiking boots, Gortex jackets etc., while she was wearing jeans, trainers etc. Our local guide had been trying to get us

to turn around for a little while, but we were all too stubborn and wanted to reach the top. We battled against the wind and cold for c45 minutes and made it to an altitude of 4,404 meters, where we decided that with the below freezing wind chill and gale force winds it was too dangerous to continue and we turned around and walked back to the starting point. This hike was the coldest I have ever been in my life, and I think I may have even got a little frostbite in my fingers!

We had some nice coco leaf tea, which defrosted me but only very slightly! We jumped on the mountain bikes and began cycling down, while my hands were still freezing and it was very bumpy, it was quite painful to start with! It wasn’t until we got down to a lower altitude, where it was both warmer, and we had a smooth bitumen road, that the cycle became quite enjoyable! We naturally split up into groups, and I cycled back with Nathan and Fraizer.

Once back at the hostel, I had a well deserved warm shower, and we went out for dinner. We found a local place, and I ordered a strip steak for only 18,000 Pesos ($6) and what came out was absolutely massive! Great value for money! I then had a few cervezas with Nathan, Jen, and an Irish girl (peg) who had been staying at the hostel for over two months.