Cali & Popayan, Colombia
After 6 fun filled nights in Bogota I headed on the night bus to Cali, near the Pacific Coast of Colombia. Having read about the extreme cold on the long distance buses I was dressed for the journey with jeans, a sweater, a light jacket, a beanie hat, gloves and a light travel blanket – and still I was freakin’ freezing. Like many of the buses in Latin America the air-conditioning does not have the capacity to regulate temperature so it is either always on at max or off. When on, at night and in the mountains the temperature can quickly plummet into the low 50s and this night was as cold as I had seen it. In addition, the 2 lane highway between Bogota’ and Cali is very mountainous, with constant banking turns and changes in elevation. In order to increase safety the government requires buses to install a passenger compartment speedometer so those on board can see the current speed and the drivers will be encouraged to stay within safety limits; unfortunately most drivers disable these boxes while on the highways so they do little good. They must get paid the same for driving no matter how much time the trip takes them and thus they are incentivized to drive like a bat outta hell to get to their destination faster and thus effectively increase their hourly pay. The problem with this of course is that at night, on mountainous roads with sharp curves, cliff drop-offs with very limited guard rails and fog fast driving is exceptionally dangerous. Add to this the passing techniques of Colombians to pass on blind curves and rises and it makes for a harrowing journey. I have taken many buses in my travels with enthusiastic drivers but in 2008 the last time I had taken a bus where I felt imminently in peril my bus ended up rolling over in the mountains of Kenya in the middle of the night. As this was the first harrowing trip I had taken since then I had the same sinking feeling as the bus tipped back and forth in the turns as I did just prior to that crash and thus between the cold and the fear of death I did not sleep so well.
Cali is a much smaller city than Bogota’. There are only a few hostels listed there so I selected the only one which had the option of private rooms. Unfortunately the private rooms were in a separate building that was removed from the main hostel and also otherwise filled with couples who were friendly but content to stay fairly private and secluded. This left me a bit at a loss since there were no single travelers for me to group with. Normally that is not a problem since I will just wander the main tourist areas until I find others to meet up with. But in Cali I wandered the streets of the main tourist areas for hours both nights and there were zero tourists out and about there and I was only attracting the wrong type of attention from the shadier and seedier locals so I ended up heading home by 11PM or so both nights. I had planned to go out on one of the Chivas party buses (complete with open sides, salsa dance floor and bar) but again this was not a good solo activity so I had to pass. I had also planned to take some salsa lessons since Cali is the salsa capitol but I was too much of a wuss to go it alone without someone else familiar to feel silly with.
On my third day in Cali I decided to take a day trip to the Spanish Colonial city of Popayan in search of that unique architecture that I love so much (probably because it reminds me of my father’s homeland in Puerto Rico). I got up and left by 7AM on a 3 ½ hour bus to Popayan, towards the Ecuadorian border. After arriving in Popayan I walked the 20 minutes to the center and found a very quiet but very charming colonial/college town with a very middle class feel and with locals that had very European, light skinned features (quite the contrast to the largely dark or black skinned inhabitants of Cali and much of the Colombian Pacific Coast). The people were very friendly and I enjoyed walking around town despite there being virtually no other gringo tourists in evidence.
After a few hours of sightseeing I stopped for lunch and to let the rain pass and had an amazing meal. Popayan has a strangely unique designation as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy for the unique and amazing cuisine there. I have never heard of this description but I can attest that the lunch was quite enjoyable. Finally after 5 hours there between sightseeing and lunch I had pretty much exhausted my activities and I headed back to the bus terminal to catch a bus back to Cali in hopes of arriving before dark (on a Friday night). I did arrive back in time but after wandering the streets looking for some other travelers I settled on dinner and was back in my room by 11PM or so, at which time I decided to move on to Medellin where there would be a huge amount of travelers to socialize with and I headed out super early on the 5AM bus the next morning for Medellin and new adventures.