So here I am, unharmed but still quite shaken, getting on board the US school bus type vehicle and infinitely relieved to get moving. The bus creeps up the muddy track that hardly deserves the name road, not even dirt road. Many a heavy vehicle has buried its tracks deep into the soft, muddy surface of the "road". Normal cars stand no chance, even our bus slips a couple of times. The cloud forest is shrouded in, well, clouds and mist and finally beyond 3200 m.a.s.l. we reach the barren páramo with the awkward frailejones plants. Unfortunately we don´t stop anywhere near them and once again I´m not able to take pictures.
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| Unfortunately not my picture - Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKqX83wlAbNlzNRDUrQy17CzZRaox_MyrJlD1iH8T7jdrb2ATGorZeOLYgTXp589_cbCKiABLVuYdilnSd5oFQiPz_MHJWTZGApjnEm_n9H8ewv1oT-DGBNUzQS0F1fYSZXxC4NhLYeZxH/s1600/frailejones.jpg |
We start the slow descent towards Popayán - at an altitude of aprox. 1750 m - on much better roads. And after roughly 5 1/2 hours we reach the terminal and I jump into the next cab. Five minutes later I´m at the hostel und in my room. Which is by the way the same room I was in two years ago. Home sweet home! But I´m hungry - only had two tiny packets of salted peanuts all day! I go and find a supermarket and then stop at an Italian restaurant, aptly called "El Italiano". I opt for Pizza, because I think I could have the rest for dinner. It takes forever to get my pizza. It´s very cheesy and has a funny taste. But I´m hungry and so I wolf down 2/3 and have a doggy bag for the rest. Then it´s back home and catching up on some much-needed sleep. Despite the traffic noise I fall asleep almost at once.
When I wake up some four hours later I feel kind of strange, still stuffed from lunch that I can´t stand the mere thought of eating ever again. I work on my blogs, do some whatsapping and talk to Fran and Joselo on the phone. Cold sweat begins to appear all over my body, I feel sick and begin to shiver violently, which makes running to the toilet difficult. I check my temperature - 39,7°C (103,5°F). Just what I thought. That´s got to be food poisoning... I get into bed and crash out. At night I wake up and hear nothing but people whistle - memories of last night creep up and I walk to the window and scan the dark and deserted streets but don´t see anything peculiar. Finally tiredness wins over fear and I go to bed again.
There´s not much to say about the next day. I feel terrible but my health slowly improves over the course of the day and in the afternoon I even replace water with Pepsi and have some cookies and salted plantain chips. I don´t leave the room all day and sleep or doze a lot. All I see the view from my window:
The next morning I wake up around 10 am - that´s a first! I feel a lot better, my stomach has settled and the fever is down. I head for the shower and then slowly get ready to hit the town. I walk to Parque Caldas, the heart of the colonial centre of the city. The city really deserves its title "la ciudad blanca", the white city. Despite the clouds it´s so bright that I need to wear sunglasses. I go to the bank to try and pay money into a savings account for a night in the Tayrona National Park and with the kind help of some of the staff I succeed in doing so. I start feeling a bit awkward - no wonder, I haven´t had a bite to eat. So I walk down the street to the supermarket and buy mango juice and fat-reduced fruit yoghurt. Breakfast time on the plaza. And the good thing is - nothing happens. So I take in the views and enjoy this elegant city square and the life on it.
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| Guambiano Indian |
After breakfast I get more courageous and have a nice cappuccino in a shady colonial patio. Again, nothing... My stomach doesn´t complain.
I continue my stroll around the centre and enjoy the life around me and the warmth of the sun, but I can feel that I am running out of energy.
So I walk back to the hostel and relax a bit before I decide to walk down to the bus terminal to check on schedules and options for my trip tomorrow. I want to buy my ticket in advance and thus stay in bed a bit longer tomorrow, but alas, no company sells tickets in advance... Bad luck. Time to grab a bite - empanada de pollo, chicken pasty. But my stomach complains for the first time today and I hurry back to the hostel - just in case... I spend the rest of the day writing blogs, packing my bag and reading before I switch off the light.
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