Popayan

My bus luck continued in that I was whisked to a waiting bus and, besides numerous opportunites to do so, I did not die.  I drew a single seat near the back, which makes bouncing over the speed bumps a lot more fun.  Our driver was of the cheerful maniac variety, passing on blind turns with a nonchalant sort of glee.  I believe that he derived a certain pleasure from taunting death in a moderate way and then getting away with it.  

We climbed out of the sugar cane fields and then back up into the mountains.  It was just another bus day, with vendors on the road, toll booths, crazy traffic on hairpin turns.  Just another day.

Road vendors.

I arrived in Popayan, a fine example of a Colombian Colonial town, minus the tourists.  Except for just enough tourists to fill up the few hostels in town.  I ended up in an old colonial house with an ancient senora for a host, a senora that does not speak a word of English.  Starving, I dropped my bags, had a cold shower, and hit the streets for some food.  And this time, I may have screwed up.  There was this sandwich stand, with these nice folks, yes?  Everything looked good, yes?  So I ordered up a sandwich and hung out while the senora cooked it.  Everything seemed fine, clean, all the things one looks for.  

Preparing my sammy.

Brascada Bocadillo!  What coud go wrong?

Looks good, yes?  And it was until i got to the middle and realized the the chicken fillet in this massive sammy was under-cooked.  Way under cooked.  Bummer.  I had already eaten a good bit of it, so I just pulled it out, performing a sort of pollo-dectomy, and finished the thing.  The evening has progressed and I feel fine, but this one might bite back.  Tomorrow will tell.  And that, Chicos y Chicas, is why we never ever leave home without the gastro antibiotics.  Hopefully I won't need them.  

I spent the early eveing enjoying the skaters in the square.  Popayan is a University town, so there are lots of young folks running around.  There were some really good skaters being watched over by a Policia hombre who was no older than they were.  An excellent coconut bun made the evening complete.  

My brother landed this cleanly, in case you were wondering.