Ahoy! we're here in Popayan, South of Colombia, probably the second last place in Colombia before moving onto Ecuador! So far in Colombia, it has been fairly relaxing and quiet. Like Anthony said in the last postcard, we've done long hours of travels on the coach through Colombia. There isnt any railway services in Colombia, so we have had to endure long bumpy journies up and down the mountains, fearing the guerillas would block the road somwehere. (in fact, i, silently wished we would witness some guerillas activities!!) Anthony made sure we wouldnt be facing anything like this anywhere by reading carefully the Lonely Planet for information of areas with guerillas presence! Anthony showed me a paragraph he found on the website (yes, he has made quite loads of research, especially on Colombia, probably from the worries of his mother! :-) ) that i would like to underline here: • "we strongly advise against all travel to Choco, Putumayo, Meta, Narino, Casqueta and Norte de Santander departments, and the rural areas of Arauca, Sucre, Bolivar, Antioquia and Cauca departments. There is a high risk to personal safety in these areas. • The threat from terrorism, especially Colombian domestic groups, is high. You should be extremely vigilant, particularly in public places used by foreigners, such as hotels, bars, restaurants, nightclubs and shopping malls or avoid them all together. • There is a serious risk of kidnapping and crime" this above, sounds a bit erm, i mean, how can we avoid the hotels, restaurants, bars, etc! After reading this above from the news on the Internet, Anthony made sure we would be travelling on the main roads only, and not onto rural roads, which would have lead us to great Colombian monuments, history, statues, etc... back to the diary now! In Cali, we strolled around the town, visiting some churches, some monuments, and ended the day by relaxing in a park by the Rio Cali river. we stayed in Cali for a night, in a hostel run by a weird old woman and a gay guy! we met a Birmingham guy there, (presumly gay as well, by the way he talks!) who is travelling Colombia and Brazil only for 6 months!! (we're planning on travelling in 9 countries in 3 months only! not too sure if we'll manage that ambition anymore!) we went for a large pizza in town in the evening. we started to get used with the routine of a child or a man staring, some metres away, us eating our meal from the start to the end. we (especially me and Bree) almost never finish off our plates. the routine - a tramp coming to our table asking if he could have the leftovers on our plates, wrapping them cold foods into tissues papers, and walk away! the next day, we set off to Silvia, two hours away south, for the tuesdays fruits and vegetables market. It's special there, because the indians comes down (from wherever they live up the mountains) to buy foods from the market. we were amazed at the colourful and the way these indians dress themselves. They are probably the nicest, the intimidated people i've ever met on earth! we couldnt stop staring at them! it was quite difficult to take a picture of them as most of them didnt want us to take a picture of them, so we had to offer some money (we sometimes pretend to take a picture of something above their heads!) we strolled down towards a beautiful and peaceful river, with beautiful mountains all round, and relaxed for a while. There, Anthony dared me to jump over the rocks in the rivers and climb a huge rock, for 50,000 pesos (equivalent to about 15 quids) I, love to climb onto anything, accepted the dare! after successfully climbing up the rock with quite great difficulties, i was dead proud! (there's a picture for u to see, and i hope u, Andre Hedger, would be proud of me!!!) on the way down, i, without realising, cut my leg from a sharp rock! i got great attention from our dear nurse, Bree, with her first aid kit and got it bandaged! while waiting for the bus to Popayan, we couldnt stop laughing at the sight of a very drunken indian! he was just next to us, wobbling drunkingly! he looked soooo sweet!! Popayan, a small town, is one of the most beautiful colonial cities in Colombia. it has retained its old ways while most of other cities got modernized. in the evening, we went for a drink in a bar. There, we met the funniest waiter i have ever met!!! he wouldnt stop coming at our table, singing a salsa song, sitting down with us, waffling on about whatever we couldnt understand! it's pretty weird, as we three were chatting to each other in Sign Language, the waiter should notice we were deaf, but he carried on talking too fast and in spanish as well! (it isnt the first time it has happened. EVERYWHERE we go, at restaurants, or whatever, people treat us like hearing and spanish!! we would tell them we were deaf and speak english only, but they carried on waffling fast in spanish!! the next day, we strolled around the city in the rain, admiring the beautiful old houses, monuments, churches, etc... Tonight, we'll set off to Pasto, the last place before crossing the Ecuador border (another stamp in our passport! yay!). In the Lonely Planet book, it said that guerillas presence are pretty regular on the Popayan - Pasto road, in the evening, burning down buses and cars. which i must admit i'm looking forward to it, but a bit worried as well!! (i dont think Anthony has noticed that small paragraph from the Lonely Planet!) till then, take care u all! Embles xxxx PS: for the photos, we update them after every time we have finished a country, which's about once every week or two. PPS: for "confused", this postcard picture is not from Popayan, it's from Brazil, but we've put this to match as much as possible to Popayan.