We needed a break. Liza needed to work. So we stayed in Popayan for quite a long time.
Popayan is meant to be one of the most important colonial cities in Colombia: only Cartagena is more beautiful, only Bogota is more important. Many politicians of the war of Independence lived here, many presidents are from the area. It is yet another Ciudad Blanca (Sucre in Bolivia and Arequipa in Peru are called the same)
However, the town did not impress me at all: colonial center is 3 blocks each way from the Cathedral, houses are white indeed, but streets feel narrow and polluted. The town, in my opinion, loses to Arequipa and especially Sucre. I loved wondering around streets there, in Popayan I want to quickly come back to the hostel and never leave it.
Our hostel, according to LP, is athmospheric. And it is indeed: it is attached to the Cathedral wall, we even have a window to the inside of the Church, we hear all the messes and singing twice a day. To reach roof terrace/TV room, one need to crawl under low roof.
View from the terrace
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We spent a day discovering the town, getting lost in its cuadras and looking for traditional Colombian food, which appeared to be Pollo con arroz. Always Pollo con arroz!
On Tuesday I went to the market in a nearby village of Silvia. Apparantely, local natives that live around this village come to the market on Tuesday. I thought LP made a mistake when I read that local men wear skirts, but it was me who was mistaken. They do wear ankle-long skirts that show off their skinny legs. They can even drive motorbike in these skirts. Looks very strange. The people of this tribe are not particulary good-looking: they have long noses and small face features. Men are very skinny, looking even skinnier in their skirts, women wear their hair loose, but the rest of their outfit resembles all the other people of the Andes. They also speak their own language, which for me sounds a bit like quechua - maybe not the words, but the accent.
Market people
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Other then men in the skirts in one of the most machistas countries in Latin America, the market does not present anything particulary interesting: crowded, quite dirty, dark. I've seen better.
Wednesday was a museum day. Well, I visited a whole one museum! It was a house of local politician and president of Colombia, friend of Bolivar-libertador. I did not know, but it was guided tour, so I spent 1.5 hours asking the guides question they did not know the answer to. Interesting facts that I found out:
1. War for independance was not to free people of the Andes from Spain, but to make rich land and mine owners richer: they did not want to pay taxes to the crown anymore
2. Pretty much all heroes of the war were rich mine owners and slave masters
3. Bolivar was 1.50 m tall and bold
4. There was gold in the Southern parts of Colombia close to Popayan.
Popayan is meant to be one of the most important colonial cities in Colombia: only Cartagena is more beautiful, only Bogota is more important. Many politicians of the war of Independence lived here, many presidents are from the area. It is yet another Ciudad Blanca (Sucre in Bolivia and Arequipa in Peru are called the same)
However, the town did not impress me at all: colonial center is 3 blocks each way from the Cathedral, houses are white indeed, but streets feel narrow and polluted. The town, in my opinion, loses to Arequipa and especially Sucre. I loved wondering around streets there, in Popayan I want to quickly come back to the hostel and never leave it.
Our hostel, according to LP, is athmospheric. And it is indeed: it is attached to the Cathedral wall, we even have a window to the inside of the Church, we hear all the messes and singing twice a day. To reach roof terrace/TV room, one need to crawl under low roof.
View from the terrace
We spent a day discovering the town, getting lost in its cuadras and looking for traditional Colombian food, which appeared to be Pollo con arroz. Always Pollo con arroz!
On Tuesday I went to the market in a nearby village of Silvia. Apparantely, local natives that live around this village come to the market on Tuesday. I thought LP made a mistake when I read that local men wear skirts, but it was me who was mistaken. They do wear ankle-long skirts that show off their skinny legs. They can even drive motorbike in these skirts. Looks very strange. The people of this tribe are not particulary good-looking: they have long noses and small face features. Men are very skinny, looking even skinnier in their skirts, women wear their hair loose, but the rest of their outfit resembles all the other people of the Andes. They also speak their own language, which for me sounds a bit like quechua - maybe not the words, but the accent.
Market people
Other then men in the skirts in one of the most machistas countries in Latin America, the market does not present anything particulary interesting: crowded, quite dirty, dark. I've seen better.
Wednesday was a museum day. Well, I visited a whole one museum! It was a house of local politician and president of Colombia, friend of Bolivar-libertador. I did not know, but it was guided tour, so I spent 1.5 hours asking the guides question they did not know the answer to. Interesting facts that I found out:
1. War for independance was not to free people of the Andes from Spain, but to make rich land and mine owners richer: they did not want to pay taxes to the crown anymore
2. Pretty much all heroes of the war were rich mine owners and slave masters
3. Bolivar was 1.50 m tall and bold
4. There was gold in the Southern parts of Colombia close to Popayan.
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