In my last entry I said, I was hoping for more excitement to come... well, I hadn't quite imagined it this way.
Early in the morning my guest father brought me to the bus for the ecuadorian-columbian border.
As usual, I put my big back pack in the luggage room underneath the bus and took my small backpack with me. After about an hour, there was a police control and everybody had to get off the bus. I asked the driver, if I had time to use the bathroom and he said "sure". When I got back from the toilet, my bus was gone.- With my big backpack in it!!
Since the police was still there, I told them what had happened. They got into the car with me, and together we started chasing after the bus. At this point I felt relatively confident, since after all, I was with the POLICE and they knew the busnumber, as they had just checked it before. Well, you shouldn't compare them with our police in germany.
When we still hadn't caught up to the bus after about 20 minutes, they explained to me, that they couldn't continue on any further, as this was now no longer their "area of responsibility". So they wrote me a note with the number of the bus and dropped me off by the side of the road! That's when I started panicking!
I stopped the next bus going in the direction I had to go and explained to the driver what had happend. And I was in luck.- The driver put up a chase a la "Speed" and after about half an hour we actually managed to catch up to the bus! We cut in front of it, forcing it to stop, and together with the driver I stormed the bus and got my bag back, yelling at the driver "hijo de puta"!
The rest of the trip to and across the border was without further incidents (otherwise I probably would have had a heartattack!!) and I arrived at my first stop in Columbia, Pasto, at about 5 p.m.
The next day, I took a bus to Popayan, a nice little town about 6 hours north of Pasto, and on the trip there I got a first impression of why people say, "Columbia is the most beautiful country in South America"...
In Popayan I checked into a hostel where I soon met another german girl. Together we decided to take a trip to St. Augustin, an archaeological site another six hours from Popayan in the middle of nowhere, as there was not much to do in Popayan.
The road there was the worst one I've been on so far- the "Highway to Hell"! Six hours of unpaved road up and down the mountains, jumping in the seat about 20 cm high every couple of seconds- our backs and heads hurt even the next day! But bravely we went on a four hour hike, looking at a good portion of the stone sculptures here in the area. It was a nice day and in the evening we enjoyed a great dinner at our swiss-run hostal with other german (or swiss-german) speaking people! Funny, I'm in the middle of nowhere in Columbia and everybody speaks german!
Well, after two nights here it is now time to return to Popayan, as we have no more clean clothes and also no more money! There I will meet up with Ingrid, the french girl from the rafting trip in Tena, and together we will continue on to Cali (after the "backpack-episode" I'm kind of sick of traveling in buses on my own...). Anne is leaving for Ecuador, so unfortunately I won't be able to continue traveling with her. Gotta go, bus is leaving for the "highway to hell"... fuck!!!
Early in the morning my guest father brought me to the bus for the ecuadorian-columbian border.
As usual, I put my big back pack in the luggage room underneath the bus and took my small backpack with me. After about an hour, there was a police control and everybody had to get off the bus. I asked the driver, if I had time to use the bathroom and he said "sure". When I got back from the toilet, my bus was gone.- With my big backpack in it!!
Since the police was still there, I told them what had happened. They got into the car with me, and together we started chasing after the bus. At this point I felt relatively confident, since after all, I was with the POLICE and they knew the busnumber, as they had just checked it before. Well, you shouldn't compare them with our police in germany.
When we still hadn't caught up to the bus after about 20 minutes, they explained to me, that they couldn't continue on any further, as this was now no longer their "area of responsibility". So they wrote me a note with the number of the bus and dropped me off by the side of the road! That's when I started panicking!
I stopped the next bus going in the direction I had to go and explained to the driver what had happend. And I was in luck.- The driver put up a chase a la "Speed" and after about half an hour we actually managed to catch up to the bus! We cut in front of it, forcing it to stop, and together with the driver I stormed the bus and got my bag back, yelling at the driver "hijo de puta"!
The rest of the trip to and across the border was without further incidents (otherwise I probably would have had a heartattack!!) and I arrived at my first stop in Columbia, Pasto, at about 5 p.m.
The next day, I took a bus to Popayan, a nice little town about 6 hours north of Pasto, and on the trip there I got a first impression of why people say, "Columbia is the most beautiful country in South America"...
In Popayan I checked into a hostel where I soon met another german girl. Together we decided to take a trip to St. Augustin, an archaeological site another six hours from Popayan in the middle of nowhere, as there was not much to do in Popayan.
The road there was the worst one I've been on so far- the "Highway to Hell"! Six hours of unpaved road up and down the mountains, jumping in the seat about 20 cm high every couple of seconds- our backs and heads hurt even the next day! But bravely we went on a four hour hike, looking at a good portion of the stone sculptures here in the area. It was a nice day and in the evening we enjoyed a great dinner at our swiss-run hostal with other german (or swiss-german) speaking people! Funny, I'm in the middle of nowhere in Columbia and everybody speaks german!
Well, after two nights here it is now time to return to Popayan, as we have no more clean clothes and also no more money! There I will meet up with Ingrid, the french girl from the rafting trip in Tena, and together we will continue on to Cali (after the "backpack-episode" I'm kind of sick of traveling in buses on my own...). Anne is leaving for Ecuador, so unfortunately I won't be able to continue traveling with her. Gotta go, bus is leaving for the "highway to hell"... fuck!!!
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