Ipiales and Popayán

I've now arrived in Popayán, at the start of what will probably be a four-week stay in Colombia. Contrary to what you might think if you've never been here, Colombia is no longer a country riven by murder, violence and kidnapping. The security situation has improved a lot here in recent years, and most of Colombia is now perfectly safe to visit, and in particular is considered to be safer than either Ecuador or Venezuela.

On the way to Popayán I made a stop in Ipiales, the first town on the Colombian side of the border, to see the Santuario de Las Lajas, which is quite an impressive neo-Gothic church built against the cliff face where a local man called Maria Mueces claimed to have seen an image of the Virgin Mary in 1754. It's built on a bridge spanning the gorge of the Guaitara River, as you can see below.

I then spent the night in Pasto, another couple of hours up the road, before leaving for Popayán on Saturday morning. Popayán is famous for its Spanish colonial architecture, much of which appears perfectly preserved, although in fact much of it has been rebuilt in recent years after an earthquake in 1983 destroyed much of the town. This morning I saw the sights of the city, most of which are churches, including the Cathedral, Iglesia La Ermita (Popayán's oldest church, dating from 1546), Iglesia de Santo Domingo, Iglesia de San Agustín and Iglesia de San Francisco.

I didn't really choose the best time to come to Popayán - yesterday was Sunday, so everything was closed, and today (Monday) is a public holiday in Colombia, so almost everything is closed. One museum, the Casa Museo Mosquera, was open though, so I went for a look around. It's the former home of General Mosquera, who was Colombia's president from 1845 to 1867. Below is a photo of the courtyard of the museum.

I also saw the early 18th century Puente de la Custodia, and wandered the streets, of which this is a typical example. Like Sucre in Bolivia, this is a very white city.

Tomorrow morning I'm planning to head off to San Agustín, which is the site of one of South America's most important archaeological remains. Depending on how things go, I may then go a bit off the beaten track and spend a few more days seeing Tierradentro and the Tatacoa Desert before returning to civilisation.