Popayan is a city located in the south part of Colombia in the department of Cauca, 10 hours by bus from Equator and 2 hours from Cali. The amount of inhabitants is around 250.000 people.
The city is very beautiful and relatively quiet compared to the bigger cities. Unfortunately, the city is located in an area with a lot of guerrilla activities (dec. 2000) and just next to the department of Putomayo, where you also encounter a lot of violence. A pity, as the neighbouring areas of Popayan is really beautiful nature. Around in the city you find graffiti saying things like “Fuera gringos de Colombia” or “No al pago de la deuda externo”, which mean “Americans out of Colombia” and “Do not pay the foreign debt”. It is obviously that the guerrillas have some of their supporters in the city.
The city is famous for its constructions, especially the churches, but also the white houses with the balconies, which you find in the centre of the city.
A good thing to do here is to ride a bike, which for me was really cool, as it was something that I really missed, when living in Medellin, where it is difficult because of the traffic. It is as if Popayan amount other “pueblos” (town) represents the other side of Colombia in contrast to Medellin, Bogota and Cali, which are bigger cities.
I went to Popayan to spend the Christmas of year 2000 with a friend, whose name is Pedro.
The Spanish spoken here, is more like singing, especially when questioning, but it is not difficult to understand as in the Caribbean Coast.
Popayan is a good alternative to the bigger cities as it is totally different. Though, there is not that much to do, but that is a part of it, I guess.
The city do not have that many places to enjoy the night but you find the best two night clubs next to each other a bit from the centre of the city, called Millenium and Black Box. Millenium is a traditional Colombian night club where they play from trance to salsa. The place is considered a upper class club and the entrance is 10.000 pesos (5 USD), where you can consume for the amount of the entrance fee. The other club is more pure trance from 1 am till 4 am.
The good thing, about the clubs, is that they closes at 4 am, which is relatively late for Colombian nightclubs. In Bogota they closes at 1 am and in Medellin at 2 am |
