We were a little sad to be leaving Providencia, but packed our bags and headed to the airport - Cali was our next destination, or so we thought...
Our flight was scheduled to be a bit of a long haul - Providencia - San Andres - Bogota - Cali - but none of the flights were over two hours and we were due to be in Cali early evening. It was not to be. We got away from Providencia on time only to arrive in San Andres and be told (after boarding the plane and being told to get off again) that there was a fault with the runway. A five hour stop over soon became an eight hour stop over before finally re-boarding and taking off, destination Bogota, or so we thought ...
The plane landed in Barranquilla on the north coast. This was not supposed to happen. We all got off and an Australian girl we had met enquired of the ground staff what was happening. Apparently the airline had discovered mid-flight that the pilot did not have enough miles on his licence to get us to Bogota. This explanation was delivered in a surprising nonchalent manner for what would seem to be a pretty big oversight but hey, welcome to South America. After a free burger and another three hour wait, we had long missed our connection from Bogota to Cali. Fortunately, the airline staff were very accommodating however and upon us explaining that we needed (i.e. wanted, but wanted them to believe it was essential) to be in Popayan for the Easter celebrations the day after, we were booked on a connecting flight from Bogota to Popayan for the following afternoon and put up in a hotel in Bogota for the night. We got to the hotel at 1:00 am having left our hotel in Providencia at 6:30 am the previous day but were at least back on track (and had a comfortable bed and hot shower).
The only thing we knew about Popayan in advance was that it had the largest and oldest Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations in South America. We were however pleasantly surprised to find that Popayan itself was an immensely attractive town with white washed buildings in colonial style architecture (and, of course, full of friendly Colombians). Whilst we were in Popayan for three nights, it is fair to say that we did not do that much. We explored the cafes and tried a few restaurants, wandered the streets and spent time sitting in the central square. We did however make a point of visiting each of the churches and checking out the various parade 'floats' stored in each church. Unlike modern parade floats, the Popayan floats were each designed to be carried by eight men and consisted of platforms with ornate and richly adorned displays depicting various elements of the story of Easter. Each church is responsible for one parade during Semana Santa and each parade tells the story of the relevant feast day.
We attended the Good Friday parade which was the largest parade of the week. The parade apparently stretches 23km and it lasted about three hours. It was an awesome and fascinating display of the devotion of the local people who, even if not in the parade, lined the sides of the streets for the length of the parade holding candles. The parade included the entire heirarchy of the Colombian Catholic church, an orchestra on wheels and rather oddly a large contingent of fully armed soldiers. A truly unique experience.
Rather amusingly, the day after the parade, as preparations were being made for the Easter Sunday parade (there was no parade on the Saturday) we saw Jesus making his way through the main square - albeit mounted on a parade float.
From Popayan, we made our way to Pasto - a trip memorable for the breath-taking scenery not the destination - and then on to Ipiales.
In Ipiales, I made a side trip to the locally famous Sanctuario de Las Lajas, a cathedral built over a deep gorge housing the dubiously miraculous Virgin of Las Lajas. Whilst I have my doubts about the divine origins of the cliff face painting of Mary, the cathedral was certainly worth a visit both for the architecture of the building itself and its magnificent setting.
Next stop, Ecuador.
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