Another 10 hour overnight bus ride brings me to Cali, Colombia's third largest city. The weather here is hot thanks to the lower elevation and the people here are famous for their outgoing and friendly manner. My friends from Bogota gave me the phone number for their friend Eliana so I could have yet another tour guide. I just keep getting passed along to friends of friends and it's just more proof that Colombians are by far the friendliest I've met while traveling.

Cali is a nice city but doesn't seem as interesting for tourists as some of the other places I've been. I did go to the zoo with a couple of other backpackers from Holland but after 2 days, I headed north to Armenia to explore the small towns nearby. Solento and Calarca were two old colonial towns that made great day trips. From there, I went to Popayan, another historic colonial city where all the buildings in the city's center are painted white... every one! I did see an off white and another that was cream, but other than that they are all white. Popayan is back on the gringo trail so I've met quite a few people here in the hostel and several more Colombians while out at a local bar. With the locals and other gringos I met here, Popayan turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected and the weekend was great.

The bus ride to Pasto through the Andes mountains was nothing less than spectacular. On this stretch of road, however, using buses in the daytime is the rule. This is guerilla territory and sometimes they stop trucks and buses and burn them for fun while robbing the passengers. Unfortuntely, I have to cross the border quickly and the fun I had in Popayan means no time for photos or exploring Pasto.

I'm off to Ecuador..........