To Pasto
17 September 2005 (Saturday) – Popayan to Pasto, Colombia
The guidebook had advised to travel by day for this part of the journey through South Colombia for safety reasons. Well, why not? Coz the view from Popayan to Pasto was apparently gorgeous. In fact, I was told to sit on the right side, which I did.
The journey traversed through part of the Pan-American highway, rounding and winding up and down the mountains, passing some really dramatic-looking gorges and valleys.
About halfway through, it got very hot in the microbus. OK, I know it was mid-day, but the fauna around had also changed to various forms of cacti, almost desert-like. Perhaps it was due to the way the mountains were facing or whatever. But, by 3pm, the air that blew in through the windows were pretty cool again.
Although hot at times, it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip as I craned my neck around, lapping up the gorgeous views.
We reached Pasto by evening. Pasto is a town with an altitude rather like Bogotá, nearly 2600m, sitting on a plateau and surrounded by green mountains all around. The town looked very busy now, especially near my hotel, and I enjoyed a nice evening stroll around the Plaza de Nariño, basking under the full moon and observing the locals walking around with roses, ah… celebrating ‘Dia de Amor y Amistad’.
Tags: 06) Colombia Connection, Pasto
swesn