Popayan

After 2 nights in Popayan in a modern hostel right on the edge of the old colonial district, we are heading east to Parque Nacional Purace. We had considered going to the town of San Agustin (5-6 hours away by bumpy unpaved road) but when we heard of the opportunity to climb a volcano just 1.5 hours outside of Popayan, we decided we will do that instead! We have spent a bit of time talking to the hostel owners about the climb and we feel excited to be doing something that deviates slightly from the standard Lonely Planet trail (meaning there is only a small box at the bottom of a page describing this adventure as opposed to a multi page description about the alternative).
Popayan has been a great relaxing time spent wandering by the beautiful white washed buildings, reading our books all over town (in the plaza, on a hill where we could watch the sunset, in the hostel), and sleeping very soundly even in a 7 person bunk bed dorm situation. I feel very rested and I think I am getting into the travel rhythm now. We have eaten some really amazing vegetarian food in a restaurant that opens only from 12-1pm everyday to serve 4 courses of just one menu per day so it is a surprise each time but most include some kind of fried banana, plantain or starchy root thing as well as una sopita (a bowl of soup) to begin the meal. This meal costs just about $2.25.
Anyway, we are off to the bus station to hop on a bus to the Parque Nacional and specifically to the town of Pilimbala, basically just a park entrance station where we will be camping!

We have a little camera card reader now so we can start posting photos!

Love,
Anika