Popayan is known for its whitewashed colonial buildings. They are very pretty and serve as the model of colonialism in Colombia. Other than that there wasn't a whole lot to do there other than wander around and see the few historic sites it has to offer. We stayed in a hostel that was attached to a guy's home. His name is Sebastian and he is quite a helpful and chatty fellow. He helped us out with buses to San Agustin and Tierra Adentro. That is mainly why tourists come to Popayan...to catch the bus.We also heard all about his self appointed task of rebuilding his Lada's( Russian car) engine in preparation for his journey to the United States. It had the distinguishing feature of being a right hand drive and was one of only 2 Ladas to be found in Colombia. Coincidentally, we spotted the other one in Cali....broken down in the middle of the road....it wasn't a right hand drive though. Unfortunately, his hostel reeked of solvent...and our clean clothes...which were cleaned in the same garage. The day we spent there we went to the local natural history museum. It was similar to the one we saw in Ecuador, but the taxidermy was much improved and it had an additional geological section included. Also they did have some animals from other continents displayed like a polar bear from the Arctic and a moose from New Zealand....Who knew there were moose in NZ? They also had a stuffed anaconda wrapped around a wild pig AND the most gigantic grey wolf I have ever seen. On our way there we got persuaded to buy some kind of cream, that is supposed to prevent your hair falling out, by some guy passing by in the street. It later melted and we threw it out...but its all good because Brad's hair has been on the come back all on its own anyways...the cream would only prevent him from getting balder according to the guy.Ah well. We also went to check out some old bridges the priests used to use to go and see the poor people on the other side....I really don't know if the poor people were allowed to cross though....the information at the site didn't mention it.It wouldn't surprise me if they weren't though....In Peru I went to a church where the indigenous people were thought to be too lowly to be permitted inside the church...the priests would come out onto a balcony built onto the outside of the church and look down on their parish gathered outside. The next day we caught a bus to San Agustin........
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