Heading back north

The bus ride from San Augistin to Popayan was slow and bumpy. It sure was beautiful though. It was total wildernes through the most diverse forest I have seen. There were many different odd looking trees in mountainous terrain. It was rebel territory. There were no houses driveways or even paths visible. The night before a bus was robbed on this route. The bandits were found dead in a nearby town square the next morning. I didn´t know any of this until I was on the bus.

Popayan is one of the most beautiful cities I have visited. There are many majestic buildings that are all white. The people dress well and there seems to be a lot of money here. Colombia by far has the most beautiful cities and towns of any country I have visited. Having beautiful cities seems far more important here than feeding the poor.

We only spent a couple of days in Cali, sugar city. Cali is a little dangerous I am told. It has a bit of a bad ass look. I wish I could have snapped a picture of a security guard siting on a chair in an empty street in the middle of the night with a shotgun on his lap. He was hunched like he was sleeping but it was hard to tell because he had sunglasses on.

Police, army, and security guards get a lot of respect in Colombia. I haven´t seen anything like it anywhere else. If I have to ask directions, I go to someone with a gun. One thing I like about them is that if they don´t know something, the will say that they don´t know. Most Colombians will give you an answer no matter if they know or not. I think the police get respect because they are so helpful. I´ve seen them help people with car trouble, clearing fallen trees from the road and just being good guys. They don´t carry the judge and jury attitude that I see from the police in Canada. Sometimes when I ask directions, they are happy to walk me a block or two in the right direction and talk a little. Even when I get searched for weapons (usually at check points on the highway) it is usually followed by a thank you and a common Colombian phrase,¨moi a marvle¨

Sugar is huge in Cali. The fields seem to go on for ever. I saw many semi trucks pulling four full sized trailers full of sugar cane. Quite the contrast to the horses used in San Augustin for the same purpose.

Now, we are in Medillin. Medillin looks more like a north american city with it´s modern tall builings, it´s metro that is 20m high in places and complex intersections and elevated roads. What makes it better than north american cities is the vast market area. There are lots of streets only open to pedestrians and they are full. It is absolutely mind boggling the number of stores. Most are in 3 or 4 story buildings and are very small you don´t actually go in the stores, you stand in the halls and tell them what you want. There is also a mall in the area that looks like a majestic church, probably 10 stories high.
The design of the upscale malls in Colombia is really something. Each one is unique. One I was in yesterday had a tree that was probably 30 meters high yet it was still under a roof. The tree had to be there before the mall because trees like that need hundreds of years to grow.

Next we are of to Cartagena. It is like a Spanish Quebec city only much older. From there I will fly to Panama.