La Niña Linda

I know that I should have got it together a bit earlier this morning but if you were faced with the choice of walking or lying in a hammock, overlooking a beautiful valley, watching the hummingbirds hoover around the welcoming open mouths of colourful flowers, what would you have done?

I have never seen hummingbirds in the wild before and an intriguing sight they are too. The butterflies around them were twice their size. Fantastic.

I am in San Agustin today. I left Popayan yesterday morning on a bus. Well, I say bus but it was more like a bucking broncho. The roads between Popayan and San Agustin don´t really know the meaning of the word ´sealed´. But we made it in just over five hours which was not bad. I had made the mistake of buying a bottle of water at the bus terminal and drinking freely from it before getting on the bus.

Big mistake but the time bomb was set and sure enough, two hours into the journey and things weren´t even as comfortable as they had been.

Four hours in and we bucked our way off the road and stopped at a cafe... I leapt out of the bus and by the time I had made it around the back of the bus all the male passengers were relieving themselves anywhere they could. It was reassuring to know that I hadn´t been the only one suffering in silence. I, however, used the bathroom.

I am staying in Casa Francois which is fantastic. It is owned and seeminly built by a crazy French guy. I was the only one there last night so I stayed in the dorm. But dorm is not really word enough to describe the place. It is a hexagonal building made of bamboo overlooking the valley with bottles pressed into the walls to let light in. In the place are three double beds but only one hammock swinging on the balcony. Lucky there was only me then!

Today, when I finally dragged mysefl away from Casa Francois and the hammock, I went to the Parque Archeologica. San Agustin is famous for its pre-Columbine statues which litter the valley and surrounding hills. They were carved by a people which had long since disappeared by the time the conquisadores appeared to claim the land for Spain.

The statues are an intriguing bunch of men, women, shagging monkeys and general weirdness, all perched in absolutely gorgeous landscapes. Man, do I have some great photos for you once I make it to somewhere the internet isn´t powered by hamsters running round in their wheels.

I am on an all day jeep tour tomorrow... then moving on on Friday. See you then!