Juliette, Alex and I all left for Popayan at 9am and arrived at the fire station just as the bus to Armenia showed up... with 3 seats left. We then arrived in Armenia just as the bus to Popayan was leaving. More excellent timing. The bus was a minibus and despite the ticket lady telling us it would stop every 20 minutes for the bathroom, over an hour into the ride I had to ask the bus driver to stop. It was a lucky move since we then got stuck in traffic for over an hour - the culprit for which turned out to be a lorry tanker that had crossed the median, rolled and evidently exploded, since there was only a shell left.

At Cali we got off the bus to buy some lunch... an empañada that turned out to be tuna instead of meat, not a totally unpleasant surprise, but a surprise nonetheless. Also a fruit salad that took a painfully long time to acquire. We needn´t haven´t rushed though - our bus driver had decided to stay in Cali for 15-20 mins (and we all know that in Colombian time that will be more), so we decided to change buses to one leaving sooner. This bus didn´t leave for another 20 minutes so i got off and waited outside to avoid melting in the heat. I then encountered a really old man who took my hand and stroked it for a very long time, it was only after that I realised he wanted my help to sit down on the bench!

Exactly three hours later we arrived in Popayan bus terminal and commenced walking in the wrong direction. Once we reached the police outpost to the city we thought it wise to turn around and readdress the map. Eventually arriving at Trail Hostel, we left our bags and went for dinner at a 24 hour steakhouse. We both ordered a bife de chorizo and when the waiter brought the sizzling plates he handed me a bib. We then settled down to eat a steak the size of my forearm (plus 3 types of carbs) and surprised ourselves (and others in the restaurant) by finishing the lot.

Day 64 - First job of the day was to replace my camera. Well, actually first job of the day is always breakfast, and we had our final proper Colombian breakfast of huevos revueltos and coffee that is essentially just hot milk. For the camera we first went to find the three camera shops that the hostel guy suggested. We found none. One nice old man in (another) fridge shop suggested we´d have better luck in the mall just out of town, so we took a taxi there. At 9:30am the only shop that was open was the big supermarket called Jumbo, which happened to sell cameras... just not mine. I wanted the same one that was taken from me (or better). We sat and had a proper coffee and pondered my options while a group of old men grew on the table behind us. The mall camera shop was even more useless as it had about 3 cameras for sale. We thought it time to regroup so back at the hostel we got online and searched for distributors. Aha, Exito, the supermarket sells my camera and there´s one next to the bus station. On the way there we met a British girl from up north who looked like she´d been dressed in Brazil and told us that she had tried for 1.5 hours to get the correct bus to the market in Silvia from the bus station, but in the end gave up. Terrible. Then we met a nice Colombian man who asked us for any foreign coins to give to his son (sounds dodgy but it wasn´t).

No Panasonic Lumix ZS15 in Exito. However, apparently there´s a Carrefour nearby that is also a distributor. Another taxi ride (lucky they´re cheap) and finally we arrived... at the same mall we were in earlier that morning. It turns out that in some places in Colombia, Carrefour is also called Jumbo. Damn. So without getting out of the taxi we went back to the centro and thought we´d have one last try to find the first camera shops and got redirected into an underground labyrinth of electronic shops. All had cameras, none had mine. One friendly vendor tried to convince me that my camera being stolen was a perfect opportunity to try a new type of camera. He ended by calling me a ´difficult woman´, which was pretty funny and totally fair.

Ok lunchtime. We headed to a restaurant recommended in the LP and had a Detroit moment when a guy stopped us in the street and asked us where we were heading. We told him and he took us a few metres down the road to an open door, and shouted ´Diego´ (exactly like the lady in the Tunja bus station). A nice, english-speaking guy came to the door and explained that we were wandering into a dangerous area. Thanks LP. Turns out Diego works in our hostel on Fridays.

So off to another restaurant to find that it is now a college. In the end we found a parilla for comida corriente. We´re now fairly certain that my camera does not exist in Popayan. Time to settle for a lesser replacement. After lunch Alex and I walked to the unusual bridges near the centro and then split up: I was heading back to Exito to buy a camera, and Alex returned to her favourite part of town... full of papelarias. In Exito a nice englsih-speaking student stood and chatted to me the entire time I was trying the lesser Lumix (Popayan apparently has one of the best Universities in Colombia). After a most ridiculous day of chasing around Popayan, I finally bought a camera.

Met Alex back at the hostel but decided to head out and take my new purchase for a spin while she stayed and dyed her hair. I walked towards the mirador and as I was about to ascent I thought twice and went an asked a sweet lady with her sweet cart whether it was dangerous. She said that the police were not there until later, but pointed me towards a safer route up. Nice view. On the way back I bought a pina colada homemade ice cream from a lady in the plaza - it was stuffed with pineapple.

Later on Alex and I went to get some snacks for tomorrow´s bus and found a family-run panaderia where we were served by the cutest little boy. For dinner we had hoped on getting an empanada, but apparently they´re an afternoon thing so instead we ended up in a Mexican restaurant. Afterwards we went to bar Sotareño and the LP finally came through for us... the coolest bar with bamboo walls and bovine taxidermy, plus the greatest old barman who played his own playlist straight from his vinyl collection.