Negros y Blancos

Saturday, 09 January 2010 15:22

On the way to Cali, I stopped for lunch at the restaurant Villa Lilia. The owner had been living in Houston, TX for the past 15 years, but was home to visit family for the holidays. His English was great so we talked a lot about living in Colombia, as well as the trip I was taking in South America. After about an hour, Kevin rolled up. He had stayed in Medellin when I went to Salento, and was heading to Cali, too.

After another hour or two, we finally decided to make the last 45 minute push to Cali and forego the offers to swim in the hotel pool or spend the night.

In Cali, we stopped at the Casa Blanca Hostel, a well known hangout for people riding motos in South America. Kevin had some last minute chores to attend to, while I updated my website and lazed around the hostel. After a few days, it was time to head south to the city of Popayan.

It turns out that Popayan celebrates Negros y Blancos (Blacks and Whites), too. The Carnival has been going in force since the mid-20s in the city of Pasto and is a major celebration in Southern Colombia. From what I understand, the Black slaves of the time were given freedom for one day in which they partied in the streets and covered their faces with white powder. The next day, the white masters would parade down the street with their faces painted black.

Today, in Popayan, it looked like the whole city was out in force with white powder, white foam in a spray can, and black and red paint. Any and everyone who entered el Centro was a target for foam, paint, or the powder. Kevin and I tried to make it back to the hotel after having lunch, but we both got a bit of the powder and foam. Once at the hotel, I changed into some clothes what could be easily washed and took off for el Centro to try and take some pictures of the chaos.

In the morning, we decided to make the border of Ecuador, if possible. Leaving at around 9:00 a.m., we knew it might not be possible because we had been told the road between Pasto and the border was a very slow, mountainous road.

About noon, the beast started wobbling in the corners and it was soon apparent that I had a flat. Stopping to fix it was a challenge because the road was still in the mountains, and there wasn’t a good place to pull over. A few wobbly turns later, we found a shade tree and plenty of room to repair the tire.

After punching a new hole in the tire (I pushed the cleaning tool through what I thought was the hole), and applying plugs to both holes, the tire held air and we were off.

Next stop was Santuario de las Lajas, a cathedral built from 1916 to 1949 on a bridge spanning a gorge. I had thought of taking the time to walk to the church, but after getting as close as possible with the motos, we would still need another hour to walk in. So we opted for a quick stop at the scenic overlook.

Then it was off to lunch

The border crossing was not difficult at all. It took about 20 minutes to get checked out of Colombia and then it was a short ride over a bridge to Ecuador. In Ecuador, we waited in line for about an hour to get our entry permits and then it took another hour to get the bikes checked in. By this time, the sun was down, so I got my second "riding in the night" experience. Luckily, the city of Tulcan is about a 3 miles from the border. The first hotel we stopped at told us that it was $80 per night! Another hour of riding around and Kevin pointed out a hotel sign which had indoor parking, a restaurant, and only cost $35 with 24 ounce beers for $2, and $2 per gallon gas.

We are in Ecuador