Travel day! Buga to Popayan, Colombia.

Yesterday was a travel day, and while some travel days go smoother than others...this was one of the worst. Not terrible, really...just not one of the better travel days we've had.

At least we woke up to some sunshine and blue sky.

The bus terminal in Buga was located just over 1 km from our downtown hostel, so we decided to walk it.

I know...most normal people would have paid the 3,000 pesos ($1.37 CAD) or so to take a taxi, but apparently we're not normal. Besides, our rolling backpacks are easy to drag along despite the uneven sidewalks, and before we knew it we were there.

We weren't surprised to find out that we were going to have to go from Buga to Cali first, in order to get the bus to Popayan.

Buses seem to leave every ten minutes or so, and sure enough we were soon seated. Cost from Buga to the Cali bus terminal was 7,000 pesos ($3.18 CAD) each.

Buga to Popayan is 197 kms (122 miles) so you'd figure maybe 4 hours if you include the fact that we have to switch buses in Cali.

Well if you guessed 4 hours, (as I did), you'd be wrong.

We left Buga at around 10:35am and pulled in to the Popayan terminal at about 4:45pm.

Just over 6 hours.

The trip to Cali was fine. Got into the Cali terminal and went searching for a bus line advertising Popayan. The first one I asked at said it would be 15,000 pesos each ($6.83 CAD) each, but they had a direct bus that was actually a nine person minivan that was 20,000 pesos ($9.10 CAD each). So I figured for the extra couple of dollars that we would take the direct bus. They gave us our tickets and led us to the van. Got our bags in the back, and we were the only ones there so we grabbed the back seat.

And then we waited. And waited.

Eventually, we got out just to stretch our legs. Finally, another passenger was brought out. We figured we would soon be going. Wrong again.

A couple more passengers arrived, and after waiting for an hour and twenty minutes, we finally got going.

My mistake for not asking when we'd be leaving in the first place. So far, our experience has been that once you're on the bus, you get going quite quickly.

Then, it took us an hour just to get out of Cali! From what we saw of the city, we're glad we didn't spend any time there.

And our driver was a moron. I don't usually have a problem with aggressive drivers who are smart, but this guy was an aggressive driver who had no consistency at all. There were several times I saw him upset other drivers with his dangerous moves. Now, you have to understand that drivers here are aggressive to begin with and sometimes it's better just to close your eyes...but this guy was not enjoyable to drive with.

Yesterday's bus ride.

By the time we arrived our legs were all cramped up and we had certainly had enough. No more minivan drives for us...we'll stick to normal buses in the future.

We're staying at the Hotel Alcala in Popayan. Five minute walk from downtown. One of the cheaper places, at only 35,000 pesos ($15.93 CAD) per night. But it seems clean and it was quiet last night. It'll be fine!

Went for dinner at a chicken place... 21,000 pesos ($9.56 CAD) for the two of us...drinks and tip included.

Then a quick walk around downtown.

It started raining, and we just made it back to the hotel when it poured buckets!

Not sure what's on the agenda today. I expect we'll just explore the town.

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