Life in Popayan

We arrived safely in Popayan after a classic adventurous bus ride with cowboy-like drivers who stop everytime they see a person hoping to pick said person up. Needless to say it took a while to get to Popayan, but we weren't in a hurry.

[Mariana squirting the shaving cream stuff] We called Henry (the guy whose house our bikes were at) and he met us at the bus station. Our initial plan was to stay a couple of days and then get on the road heading south, but we quickly found out that this wasn't going to happen owning to a festival that goes on for days in the region. There must be some significance in the festival, but as far as we could tell, the reason for this thing is for everyone to

1. Throw water on each other if water is handy.
2. Throw flour (like the kind used to make bread) all over this wet or dry person.
3. Spray high powered shaving cream like stuff on person
4. Cover this person with colored facial cream
5. Drink

[megan getting into the groove] It seemed like a bad idea to ride for 200 miles through small villages with countless people throwing water balloons and 1 kilo bags of flour at you.
So rather than ride our bikes, we went out with the Muñoz-Gomez family to indulge in some good old fashioned fun.

[dancing the night away in Henry's house] I will say that it takes quite some time to wash the flour/ water combo out of your hair and clothes but it was well worth it. We drank, played, and danced to salsa.
During this time, we managed to get the bikes in working order: replaced Megan's rear brake, replaced her rear tube which has had a slow leak since Costa Rica, reshaped her boxes after her crash and did some general lube stuff.

We also went out to a waterfall with Henry and the family (Mariana and Enilce) and rappelled off of it, and then went to some hot springs and soaked for a few hours.

[changing the tire by the nativity scene- the only shade we could find] One thing that kept surprising us during our time in Popayan was the absolute generosity of this amazing family. They bent over backwards to make us feel welcome and part of their family. They insisted we sleep in their room while the three of them slept together in Mariana's room. Enilce would cook delicious Colombian meals for us whenever possible. Mariana spent a lot of time talking very slow spanish with us and keeping us entertained. Henry managed to create time between his busy schedule at the Fire Station to get us the tools we needed to work on the bikes and to give us a proper Colombian experience. We now have another family in Colombia and absolutely expect to come back and be part of this amazing culture.

[using the fire fighter's hydraulic press to reform megan's boxes] For anyone afraid to travel to Colombia, I can not stress enough how warm the people in Colombia are. I am sure that anyone who has travelled here will back me up in saying that Colombian culture takes the deed of looking after travelers to the extreme. The people have a mix of curiosity and generosity that makes being here an absolute delight.