April 15, 2017
to Popayan: to the White City for Easter
"You've been reading my mind" Rachel says as she rides up to the roadside stand where Patrick has stopped and ordered two juices, "With all these oranges and signs for 'jugos naturales' I was thinking we should stop for one."
Rosas was not at the highest point. So we started out with a switchback climb further up where there were two more hotels, restaurants and a gas station before the 6 km downhill. Then starts the main climb of the day, about 500 meters altitude gain. The cloud cover and the cooler temps due to the altitude make this climb a nice one. We have nice views over green valleys and see coffee plantations. As we climb we hear music playing, one past an artisans workshop playing classical, then a tienda playing a reggae type music, then another house playing Colombian music. Finally it registers that hearing music seems strange because we having cycling through areas where there were no houses.
After reaching the high point we start a section of "undulating" hills all the way to Popayan. Undulating is a mild description, a steep down, a steep up over and over. We meet a group of Colombians from Popayan out for a ride on their mountain bikes. We do not speak Spanish good enough to have a real conversation, but with a little Spanglish back and forth we are able to communicate.
We reach the city and one of the cyclists points us in the right direction. With this being Easter weekend we had made reservations for two nights at a hostel near the center. We arrive at noon, but have to wait for the room to be vacated and cleaned. The hostel has a nice backpackers feel, but it is right between two busy roads and is noisy. The Wifi is terrible, intermittent and in the reception area, not in the rooms. But there is an (electric) warm shower, the first in a couple of days. Afterwards we walk to a small Italian restaurant that does a roaring business serving set lunches. We demolish one of their excellent pizzas.
Popayan is known as the "white city" because the old colonial center is a grid of whitewashed buildings and churches. We walk around for a while, visit a couple of the churches and find the supermarket to do our shopping.
In the evening, streets are blocked off for the Easter procession. We wander the streets, eat mini-empanadas in a small shop where a man is playing traditional music on a harp, and wait for the procession to start at the main plaza. A friendly Colombian guy and his wife strikes up a conversation with us "to practice his English". They buy us a sweet crisp street food dessert thing that is very nice. We are amazed how many police officers and emergency first-responders are on the streets. It makes us feel safe to walk the streets after dark, but we almost get in trouble when we pass a check-point and a lady-officer searches Rachel's handlebar bag. She wants to confiscate our Swiss-army knife and bread knife. (a joke since fruit and snack sellers have knives everywhere). Rachel grabs the knives back before they disappear in somebodies pockets, and we choose a different check-point to slip back into the center.
We go back to the main plaza where the procession begins with the band playing the "sound of silence". Those carrying the statues are regular townspeople and escorted by the officials dressed in white robes and red sashes at the waist, different from the black robes on Good Friday. We wait until the last statue is carried out of the church then head back to the hostel.
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Today's ride: 41 km (25 miles)
Total: 30,458 km (18,914 miles)
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