Popayan to Pasto

The afternoon was pretty warm, but it became quite pleasant once the sun set.  At night, Popoyan boasted a lively market scene around the main square.  Street vendors sold mouth-watering food served on plant leaves. We ate in a more established place--in a restaurant very close the main square.  Musicians came and entertained the restaurant customers--two young men, one woman; the woman played on a glass bottle and kept her gaze low.  Though singing in Spanish, they did not look local.  I wondered if they were Argentinians: backpackers trying to make some money along the way.
Left the restaurant and walked around to find the dessert we had seen people eating; we did not find it.  Took a peek inside a college being operated in an old building with a large courtyard.  Walking towards the church on the hill, we saw students learning computer skills in a cramped classroom.  Suddenly it started looking very deserted.  We turned back towards our hotel.  By then the small hotel looked more occupied.  Back in the room, we ate bananas bought earlier and now mostly squished, granadillas, papaya, and mango; transferred water from bolsa to a five liter bottle.

There was a lot of noise in the morning, and that woke me up.  Our room window opened in the courtyard and other guests were up early.  In the dining room a middle-aged woman in high heals moved fast and served us breakfast: cafe con leche, pan, margarine, marmalade, jugo de naranja.

There was not much to do in Popayan so we left for Pasto.  At the terminal bought 20K ticket to our next destination.  We were told it would take five hours to reach Pasto.  Only five hours?  Then why stay in Pasto, why not go all the way to Ipiales?  But we had already made a hotel reservation in Pasto. The bus left at 10:20 and traveled on a long curvy road.  It got very hot in the bus--must have been in the upper 80s.  We went over a plateau, and then came hills again. Now the temperature started dropping. By the time we reached Pasto, it was reasonably cold, probably in the mid 60s.

Photo shows Las Lajas in Ipiales.