Pasto

Pasto. Population 400K, elevation 2551m. A nice enough town, Pasto is the usual jumping-off point for people travelling through to Ecuador. I say “usual” because while it’s only a 2-hr drive to the border, it’s still 2 days away for us. We get to enjoy Colombia for a few more days!

The route from Popayan has begun to reveal the true nature of the Andes. We have transitioned from the semi-tropical mid-elevations (1000 to 2500 m) of Colombia, to the drier (cactus dry) and higher elevations (2000 to 4000 m) of Ecuador. The mountains have grown dramatically and become more spectacular and awe inspiring. We are feeling smaller and smaller as the terrain dwarfs all signs of humanity. The road ahead is starting to look like a goat trail snaking through the mountains. We even hit our first tunnel carved out of the middle of nowhere. And, of course, bigger mountains means bigger climbs. That previous 500-m daily vertical goalpost we set for ourselves has now been pushed to 1000+ m. Looking at the elevation profiles for what is to come, even that means multi-day climbs.

Yesterday was one of those days. The final approach into Pasto started with a 1000-m warm-up climb, followed by a 700-m descent, and a nice little finishing climb of 2000 m. Our original plan was to split up the second climb and find a place to stay somewhere in the middle. After completing the warm-up climb and descent, and about 400 m into the second climb, with nowhere to stay (or even eat) in sight, Amy’s batteries were bottoming out. Things were not looking cheery, and unbeknownst to Amy, I was starting to fear we might be spending the night on the side of the mountain somewhere. But as usual, things worked themselves out, and an opportunity we could not pass up revealed itself. An empty truck with a very generous Colombian driver stopped and offered us a ride. No doubt tipped off to our situation by the sight of Amy curled up and passed out on a piece of concrete beside the road, and me circling the perimeter looking for signs of life in the distance. Et voila, 1 hour later we were sitting pretty in the Hotel Koala in Pasto’s el centro. What a difference an hour makes. That last 40 kms would have taken us 2 days.

 

Pasto, as mentioned, is a decent place and nice stopover for us – a Colombian city, not a gringo in sight. Lots of great little cafes, huge colonial-era churches on every second corner, and, surprisingly good pizza (very rare so far). We’re also in volcano country. But unfortunately Volcan Galeras, the 4267-m active volcano serving as the city’s backdrop is covered in cloud and invisble on this blustery fall-like day (Amy’s down jacket has appeared from the depths of her panniers). Only 8 km from el centro, and Columbia’s most active volcano, Galeras poses a serious risk to the town. In 1993, 9 volcano scientists were killed while hiking within the crater as it erupted. Since then there have been numerous eruptions and multiple evacuations. Hopefully it won’t pick today or tomorrow to go off again.

 

So today is a rest day to check out the local sights, eat more street food (Amy’s new street food fav: fresh hand-made potato chips), and hang out in the palatial Koala Inn – a very hostel-like old colonial building complete with ridiculously high ceilings, a spacious interior courtyard lounge, 10-foot French doors, and creaky wooden floors and stairs. This morning, Louis (manager) treated us to his famous “best pancakes in town” breakfast. Amy’s favourite breakfast by a long shot thus far (tons of fruit, and topped with fresh local honey), we would have to say he could change his ad to “best pancake breakfast in Colombia”.  Well, OK, so far the only pancake breakfast we have encountered in Colombia, but it was a good one!

Tomorrow we continue the push. The 82-km route to Ipiales (the real border town) starts with a 600-m warm-up climb, followed by a 1500-m descent, then a finishing climb of 1100 m. Our plan is to find a well-placed town along the way to split that up into 2 days. We’ll see how it goes. With any luck, the next post could be from Ecuador. Hasta luego.

 

The first tunnel on the road to Ecuador (that little white thing in the middle of the photo)