It's official: we are finally south of the equator! As much as we loved Salento, we decided it was time to start heading south toward the border. We spent two nights in the small town of Popayán, called Colombia's "white city" due to it's white-washed colonial architecture, before heading to Pasto and then finally the border town of Ipiales. Part of the road from Pasto to Ipiales was one of our favorite roads yet, with beautiful vistas and plenty of windy turns.
While in Ipiales, we visited Las Lajas Sanctuary, a church built into the side of a deep valley. After carrying the drone around for a month and a half, Brian and I decided it was finally time to put it to good use:
We woke up at 5:00 the next morning to get an early start at the border hoping to avoid the long lines we had heard about. Between stamping out of Colombia, stamping into Ecuador, and registering our bikes in Ecuador, the whole process took about 3 hours. The vast majority of people making the crossing were economic refugees from Venezuela who are hoping to find better opportunities in Colombia and beyond. Two hours south of the border, we decided to rest our tired and very decaffeinated bodies in a small mountain lodge overlooking Otavalo (note: don't attempt a border crossing without caffeine). Once again, Brian got some pretty epic drone footage:
Today, we officially crossed the equator and arrived in Quito. We are hoping to do some more climbing, but the Day of the Dead holiday may make it a bit tricky. Either way, Brian's brother, Allen, will be joining us next week and we will be off to the Galapagos Islands!
Cheers,
Erin and Brian
What a great addition a drone can be. Beautiful country and amazing scenery. Your photographs convey the majesty of the area very well. I forgot to mention how interesting it is to learn those palm trees you took pictures of grow to 200 feet high. That is amazing. Thanks for including that information.