Riding from Cali to Pasto was supposed to be an easy ride with an anticipated travel time of six or seven hours. With all the rain I had encountered I did not even look at the sky any more for signs of weather conditions. I just went ahead and put on my rain gear.
To satisfy my hunger I stopped at a very interesting colonial town named Popayan. I do not know the town’s history. It had a beautiful square and a church. I parked the GS next to the church and took a few photos when I caught the smell of some very good food. It was coming from an Italian restaurant located at a nearby corner. I decided to eat there and they did a good job of taking care of my hunger. After a great lunch I walked back to the GS only to find a crowd of people watching over my GS. The crowd was very interested in my GS – how fast it travels, how far I had traveled, and how much further I would be traveling.
The City of Pasto is located in the southern part of Colombia. Pasto did not have much to offer compared to the other major Colombian cities I had visited. This was the area that I had been cautioned about earlier and warned to be extra careful because of the rebel group called the FARC which is known to be very active in this area.
By now it had become the norm in Colombia to have vistas that were unbelievable. It was difficult to take it all in at one time. I rode from the tropical area around Cali to mountainous country heading south. The rain in the area had created very dramatic clouds that hovered just above the landscape.
Pasto sits at an elevation of just over 10,000 feet. When I arrived it was raining hard and I was more than ready to get off the GS for the day. I stopped at the best possible roadside hotel that had good parking for the GS and, hopefully had hot water. I was ready for a long, hot shower.
The view of canyons before Pasto, Colombia