Colombia - Popayan and Cali

So that was it with Ecuador for now. It was beautiful there. I will definitely come back - especially because of the Galapagos Islands, which I skipped this time. The border to Colombia was quite confusing. There are only a few places to cross. We were at the main crossing in Tulcan/Ipiales. It was busy there, especially because many Venezuelans are stuck there. Most of them want to go further into Ecuador. Therefore, there were refugee organizations, Red Cross, border guards, police, and many more. In addition, there was the normal daily business with Ecuadorians, Colombians, and tourists like us. The whole process took about two hours. We shared a taxi to the terminal in Ipiales with a Mexican. Funny enough, we had exactly $4.80 to pay. That was also the last of our coins. And the Mexican also got rid of his coin load. That was quite a coincidence. From then on, we continued with Colombian pesos. The exchange rate is also excellent. One euro is about 3600 pesos. For a piece of coffee and cake, you pay about 10,000 pesos. Most of the time, you only get 50,000-peso bills from the ATM, so the struggle with change continues as usual. I still have to get used to the currency. There are also new and old bills. So two different types of each. We take a night bus and head directly to Popayan.

Popayan

Popayan - the white city - is a quiet town with a charming colonial core. It's already the 3rd Sunday of Advent - 30 degrees and sun will be the new standard - and traditionally, there seems to be a religious military parade. It's also Beautify Your City Day, and everyone is busy covering graffiti and other scribbles with white paint. We stroll through the old town and go up the lookout hill. And in the afternoon, we continue with the next long bus tour to Cali.

Cali

The salsa capital of the country and the whole continent. Cali is already very hot. Slowly but surely, we are leaving the Andes behind. We focus mainly on the classic tourist program. Fancy cafes and restaurants, a walking tour, a visit to the brightly lit family hill. And last but not least, an actual salsa taster course. After all, Cali is the place where the fastest salsa is danced. And it was amazing. At the beginning, we learned some basic steps and quickly moved on to a kind of 25-second flash choreography that you dance at the upcoming Fiestas de Cali. It took us about 10 minutes to learn the first 4 seconds of this sequence. We bravely danced along until second 20, but then we left the floor and enjoyed the show from the bar. And we concluded that half of the people in the place were more like professionals than beginners. The next morning, we continued to the famous Coffee Triangle - the Zona Cafetera.