The crossing into Colombia from Ecuador was one of if not the easiest border crossings we had done. We managed to get into the town of Ipiales very easily, and we headed to an ATM immediately to get out loads of bumwad from the bank of Toyland. We had been used to dollars for so long it was a little weird to go back to using large sums of pesos – literally thousands of them to the dollar.
We had seen a very pretty church located on the banks of the local river on the internet and so decided to take a closer look. The Las Lajas church is actually 10 km from town, and so it is a little way to go from the town. The region is almost at 3000 meters, and we had excellent weather conditions the whole time we were there. The church itself is a little ways down a steep hill, so unfortunately we had to drag our backpacks all the way down there (there are no cars allowed down there), and subsequently all the way back up. This was difficult and not recommended.
We reached the church, a Gothic Revivalist basilica one. It sat at the bottom of a narrow gorge with high vertical cliffs and was on one side of a very ornate bridge crossing the shallow river below. The church was built, as many are in these regions, on a myth. An indigenous woman and her baby were traveling in the area, when they were caught at this spot in a a deluge. Apparently the kid heard some voice saying someone was calling her, and upon relaying this story to the local priest, everyone bought the priest’s explanation that the Virgin Mary had saved them, and the place has become a pilgrimage spot ever since.
The site has a pretty waterfall opposite the church making the area look very nice. The trees, water and architecture reminded me of something you might see in England, and most of the locals there were holiday makers or sightseers. The building inside had beautiful stained glass windows, and one wall was completely hewn out of the rock.
Underneath the museum were some walking paths, but with the backpacks, we decided to stick to the museum. There were some models in the museum of the church itself, and also some pre-Colombian ceramics. The church’s vault seemed a strange place to keep ancient artifacts from the Pasto people, but nevertheless, there they were! The Pastos were the name for the people of this region at the time of the Spanish conquest – and they left behind some awesome bowls.
We lugged the bags back up the hill and grabbed a taxi back into town, from where we got another bus to the next town along, called Pasto (named after the people). Pasto is a middle-sized city for the Northern Andes known for its ‘Carnival of Blacks and Whites,’ which celebrates the spirit of racial diversity in the country. (This carnival is similar to another fiesta aimed at escaping sentiments of racial discrimination, occurring yearly in the Northern town of Popayán.)
We managed to find a really crappy hotel near the bus station. From our window we could see the fairly underwhelming view of the Galeras volcano, or so we thought. Further research since we stayed there has proven us wrong – probably because it was so cloudy all of the time around Pasto. In actual fact, the volcano would have been interesting to see, as it has often blown in the last century, and is frequently seen smoldering away.
We decided to head out into town and check out the Gold Museum which was located at the central bank. The place was full of school kids, but we managed to get around and see everything. The first exhibits were all related to the pre-Incan societies of Colombia, where they lived, and how they traded.
The cultures covered were the Capuli, the Tumaco and the Pastos, and there were some excellent ceramics from each culture. The Capuli lived in what is now in Northern Ecuador and Southern Colombia from around 800 CE to 1500 CE. The pottery is distinctive in that it is dark black on a red background.
The museum also had some expensive Tumaco metalwork too, including some amazing gold and silver pieces which were beautiful filigree pieces. The Tumaco people used to live in South Western coastal Colombia from 600 BCE to 400 CE. They were very similar to other Andean cultures we had learned about, right down to their skull deformations.
As we left we saw a group of students being given archaeology bags, inside of which had different things for them to do. For example, bones to reconstruct, or equipment to learn how to use. It was strange they were doing it in the middle of the museum floor, but it was interesting to see their lesson nevertheless.
We made our way, by taxi, to the Museo de Artes y Tradiciones Populares, which is basically an old colonial era house that has been converted into a showcase of local artisan crafts. Not your typical tourist tat shop either, but a museum that actually showcases the old ways of craftsman and their trades. There was a small entrance fee, and we were led around the house viewing the first printing presses that were used in the region, a ceramic and wood workshop and also a Panama hat craftworks. We learnt how they used to use molds to build metal bells, and also about Leopoldo Lopez Alvarez, who was a doctor, writer and humanist who contributed much to Colombian society in the 20th Century.
One of the more fascinating exhibits was about Mopa-Mopa, which is an artistic technique named after the Mopa-Mopa tree. From the buds of the tree, which are boiled, a resin is extracted which is colorized and becomes a kind of gum. This gum is carefully stretched by the artists to produce a very thin plastic-like sheet which is then used to decorate furniture and models and the like. This technique was described in the Spanish conquistadors’ chronicles, and persists even until today. Nowadays though, it is hard to come by, and the indigenous in the jungle where the Mopa-Mopa grows, jealously guard the tree from exploitation.
That afternoon we left town by bus and made our way to Laguna de la Cocha. This heavily touristy area is basically a huge lake about 20 km from Pasto itself. The entrance is frequented by boatmen, who get progressively cheaper the longer you stand around looking unimpressed by their inflated prices. We managed to get a better price than we saw online, and so traveled by boat to the island in the middle of the lake.
The lake is at 2900 meters and so the area is covered in cloud forest. The lake was surrounded by Moorhen and Tortoro reeds and colorful houses, and we had great weather and so really enjoyed our trip there. The island had a quick registration, and a small entrance fee, and then a nice half hour walk through a cloud forest covered in Bromeliads. The view at the other end was very pretty across the lake.
We enjoyed a nice lunch at a restaurant back at the dock before heading back to Pasto, and the next day we headed out to another lagoon, this one located in a volcano. Laguna Verde Volcan Azufral is a beautiful green lake, and the only way to reach the volcano is to go through the town of Tuquerres. We got a bus there and a taxi to the volcano from the town. As it was the weekend there were lots of young Colombian couples visiting, but the trail was long enough for us to enjoy the views in relative peace and quiet.
The altitude was 4000 meters but the walk was very enjoyable – and the lake at the end was totally worth the effort. The lake was a lovely green, and the smell of sulfur was heavy in the air. We saw white sulfur at the water’s edge, and we even saw fumaroles in the water and on top of a lava dome that rose about 20 meters up from the crater floor.
The walk was hard, and the 5 hours we had given the taxi driver were no over-estimation. We saw lots of nice views, the lake, volcanoes and even some pretty birds flying around.
Pasto, the regions capital, had worried us with the stories of guerrilla-held territory and armed bandits robbing buses, but as we avoided night time travel, and the fact that there were so many policemen everywhere, we felt safe and sound the whole time (with the exception of the horrible driving, which was some of the worst we had experienced).
We enjoyed Pasto, but would recommend getting a hotel in town rather than one of the cheaper and mucky sex hotels near the bus station. Next time, maybe we will visit again.
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