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The bus ride from Salento to Popayan was another long 7 hours, but I got a lot done on my phone that I needed to get done. I don't remember much of the scenery, it was moslty moutains and just as beautiful as the bus ride to Salento, though the one to Salento was definitely the best with all the coffee plants and lucsious greenery.

Popayan is a small white religious indigenous village. I arrived to my hostel which was this older colonial boutique type hotel and thankfully had my own bathroom and a window. I decided to quickly go watch the sunset at the mordor statue of the founder of the village (located on the top of this mountain cliff). It was an amazing view, very steep hike up. Many people were there to watch the sunset as well, it was a Tuesday evening. Afterwards I went to the restaurant that the hotel receptionist recommended and it was packed when I got there because it closes early at 7 so I got there at 6:30. Saw tourists and locals there and ordered the most Colombian dish I could find including empanadas and a Lulo drink (fruit that only grows in Colombia and Ecuador). I went to the market to get some water and wine and went back to my hotel by 8pm I was exhausted from the 7 hour bus ride, I hadn't gotten much sleep before Salento and was still catching up. I woke up to get breakfast by 9am and then went to the walking tour at 10am which I ran into some of the people I saw at the restaurant the night before (1 from the UK, another from Luxemburg, and a couple from Switzerland). And then an American! He was a 33 year old from Jersey/Philly and was very much a traveler-had been traveling for a year and a half. We all grabbed coffee after the tour and I was going to meet up with them for sunset but ended up going to the Natural History Museum (which was not what I had expected becuase I had thought it would be real animals but it wasn't) and then went back to my hotel and had to lay down. Didn't realize how tired I was but it was probably from the two long bus trips (and possibly altitude). I did some yoga and research and went to dinner at this restaurant the receptionist recommended and then had Jeff (the American) meet up with me there for a drink. We talked about random solo traveling stories and he gave me some pointers on the rest of Ecuador. I had to get up in the morning to take the bus to Ipiales (last stop in Colombia).

I arrived at the bus terminal right before 10am thinking I could make the 10am bus but there wasn't one until 11 so I grabbed coffee and sat and waited until 11:30 (of course it was late). We didn't leave until 11:45am and I knew it was going to take atleast 8 hours. Well, instead of it taking 8 hours, it took about 10. Thankfully the bus was really nice with air conditioning, comfortable seats, and a bathroom. There was a family and many couples and single people and we didn't stop that often thankfully, but it was mostly the construction that backed us up. We did stop and get more people at the end which took longer. Once we finally got to Ipiales (I studied Spanish most of the time and didn't have data), it was like 11pm. I was nervous about my hotel but since it was a hotel, I didn't think too much of it, but got a taxi (who brought me to an ATM for 5 extra pesos becuase I didn't have enough). He definitely over charged but it was late and I needed to get to bed. I gave him 35 pesos and him and his son (who helped us find the hotel), walked me to the hotel and thankfully there was a bell because it was locked. The lady came and got me and brought me to my room and I was so happy that I was in a room because for a second I was geting nevous that the hotel was closed or something. I had to get up early again to cross the border so I went to bed and woke up had breakfast and quickly left in a taxi which was 20 pesos to the bus terminal.