Most dangerous drive of my life.

Bus Journey Pasto - Mocoa - Pitalita - San Augustin , Colombia
Tuesday 11 April, 2010

San Augustin
11 April - 13 April, 2010.

I´m a bit behind on my blog writing. I haven´t yet written about my final days in Ecuador, or my first days in Colombia. But I want to tell you about the bus journey I took on Tuesday.
   Firstly, it was a big day. 3 separate trips and about 12 hours in total. Going the way I went isn´t the most common way of getting to San Augustin, but I didn´t really want to come up to Popayan and then go to San Augustin and have to come back again to Popayan on the same road.
   The first part of the journey took 7 hours. It was mostly a narrow road that followed around the side of steep, deep ravines. If we approached a car or truck from the other direction one of us had to back up. The road was also wet, and all of it was dirt.
   A old cow farmer sat beside me for most of the journey. In the first part of the journey he kept questioning me about my family... my mum, my dad, my brother. "Isn´t your mum worried about you?" "Well, no", I answered, "I don´t think so". Then I realised he possibly thought I was way younger than I am, since his questioning was really suited to a much younger person. So I told him that I am 35 (actually I'm not yet, but it just slipped out). "Oh", he said, he thought I was 25.
   Well then, the conversation continued. "Aren´t you worried?" "Well, no", I answered, "why worry?, que sera, sera" (whatever will be, will be). And then at every turn he started detailing how many vehicles had gone over the edge, and how many were killed and where there had been landslides! Ironically, I still didn't worry. Que sera, sera.
   Really, I can´t see the point in worrying about it. I'm not driving the bus, so there isn´t a thing I can do.
   There were other dangers in this journey (I didn´t realise it before I went this way). In the first part of the journey police removed everyone from the bus in two locations. They took all our ID´s away and registered them in a computer, and all the men were "padded down" to make sure they weren´t concealing anything. (Apparently the women don´t get checked unless there is a woman officer available to do it). This is because we were, apparently, bordering on some warring (guerilla) territory. Twice I saw camoflagued men wielding big machine guns in pathways in the countryside, kind of like the depictions of men guarding drug crops in the movies. The Lonely Planet South America (2006?) says that Colombia controls 80% of the worlds cocaine market. It was an interesting day.

San Augustin was a lovely place. I only stayed 2 nights, I think it was enough. Lots of people stay longer, but that might be more to do with local drug availability.

San Augustin is famous for it's 'statues', which I took a horse riding trip to see (almost everyone does I think), but I really liked the Colombian landscapes better than the statues.

The horse riding group.

One of the many statues we got to see. They were used to guard tombs, this one still does.

Waiting at the cross roads for a bus to take me to my next stop (Popayan), I appreciated the local method of milk delivery. The white drum on the fuel tank is full of milk. The shirtless man is buying the milk. More milk, or maybe cream, was taken from a drum on the back of the bike.

Notes:
Buses: Bus ticket prices in Colombia are negotiable. This is a first for me.
Pasto to Mocoa: asked $11, paid $10. Mocoa to Pitalita: asked $7.50, paid $5. to San Augustin: asked $2.50, paid $2.
Accomodation in San Augustin: Casa de Japones, asked $6, paid $5. Great breakfast $2.50. it was ok, but not to my style.