Well rested and ready to experience Colombia, we headed to see our first place of interest. A church built over a large ravine on the outskirts of Ipiales. It was magnificent, surrounded by a rushing river and waterfalls cascading out from the tops of the ravine. There were farms everywhere you could imagine and I wondered how they harvest these areas by hand on the sides of cliffs.
After the church, we'd head back to town and hopped on a bus to Macoa. The small bus whipped around the curvey road and induced nausea in all on board. Most of the ride I thought we would plunge into the tropical forest thousands of feet below. When we arrived five hours later, somewhat safe, we exited the bus to a swarm of people yelling at us in Spanish. We quickly grabbed our bags and nearly ran to the closest hotel and stayed there till morning, not wanting to tempt fate.
Macoa was our lowest elevation town and the air was thick with moisture and heat. The town had been almost decemated just the year before after a landslide rushed through town when heavy flooding dislodged troves of nearby mud. We saw no evidence of this incredible disaster that killed at least 300. After a quick walk around town and a trip to the market, we jumped on another nausiating bus to Pitalito. From there we would head to the town of San Augustin, in the bed of a small truck. We got there late afternoon but fell in love with the city almost immediately. We ventured to the market where we learned it was the town bingo night, hundreds of people were crammed, with their motorbikes, into the town square to hear the numbers. We stayed in after dark, noticing some dark characters hanging around the park near our hostel. The next morning, we woke up and hiked up to the UNESCO world heritage site just out of town. We hiked through the jungle as we came upon tombs and statues carved from volcanic rock around 2000 years ago. The statues were incredibly detailed and each one was unique, combining animalistic and human attributes. The heat got to us and we dragged ourselves back into town for some fruit from the market and water. The rest of the day we spent relaxing and catching up on all the stories from the previous week.
Although I spent another two weeks in South America, I got behind on my writing so this is it for South America. Until next time! Follow my adventures in Nepal!