Maybe the Best Day of the Trip

Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017--Cali to Popayan

I set the alarm for 5:30, but I got up at 5:15.  I was at the bus station at 6:00 and got a ticket for the 6:15 bus.  Then it was a 3 1/2 hour trip to get to Popayan on a bus where they allowed people to stand.  Fortunately, I had a seat.

My goal was to get here before 10:15, because Gustavo, the owner of the apartment I am renting here, had to leave with his family at 10:30 and would not be back until 14:30.  I arrived at 9:55 and checked in.

Gustavo had written that Popayan would be having its annual gastronomic festival here today and tomorrow.  So I headed downtown to check it out.  The main square and the streets for a block in all directions from it were blocked off for the festivals.  There were tents with booths, there was a stage, and there was the central plaza which was filled with people.  Traffic was so bad in town that many people must have come from out of town to enjoy the weekend.

The festival had stall after stall selling interesting foods:  Gutted pigs which had been stuffed with a rice mixture and cooked and then had been cleaned out, the meat shredded, and then it mixed and all stuffed back into the pig.   Racks of ribs that were cooking over charcoal.  Pots of seafood dishes in sauces--shrimps,
fish, etc.  Fried pork skins served with slices of pork and sauces.  Exotic juices.  Ice creams.  Pastries.  Etc.  It was fun seeing everything.  I probably should have tried the stuffed pig, but by the time I got ready to eat, the crowds were so big that it was impossible to get a place to sit at the long tables they had set out.  So I bought a sandwich made with pork and sat in the park to eat it.  Later, I also had a coconut ice cream bar and a glass of tamarindo juice.

Back at the room for a while in the afternoon, I researched places to say in Tena, Ecuador, for a third time and eventually settled on a choice, although it isn't ideal.  The better places are in the country and require a car.  I decided on a small hotel (about 9 rooms) that is in the city and has a high rating by many previous guests even though it is basic and costs only $15 a night.  But it is nice to have that out of the way, since it will be going there in only a week.

I returned to the square just before dark to enjoy being among the crowds.  I milled around hoping the music would begin on the stage, but I was tired from having gotten up so early.  I decided to head back home.

Almost immediately, I got a message on my phone from Gustavo asking if I wanted to come to his place next door and visit.  His wife and children were with her parents tonight and he was home alone.  We had discussed earlier that he is a math teacher, and he had said he hoped we could visit later.  I went over, and we sat and visited for about 3 hours.  It was such a good visit with a wide range of topics being discussed.  He is a very nice young man (35 years old) who has a degree in civil engineering.  But it was hard to find a job, especially here in Popayan, in his field, so he has become a 6th grade mathematics teacher. 

This was the first good conversation I have had in weeks.  And we both seemed to enjoy talking about a wide variety of topics which interested us both.  I went to the store and bought us a beer, and he had some leftover food from his mother-in-law, so we ate and drank and visited until we were both too tired to go any longer.  And the visit allowed me to get answers to various questions I had about Colombia from the experiences I have had up to now.

The food festival combined with the nice evening of visiting with Gustavo made it a great day.  As the title for this entry implies, it is probably the best day of the trip!