Popayan is an elegantly preserved town, second only to Cartagena as Colombia's most impressive colonial settlement. In the late 1500s, it was a key stopping point on the route between Quito and Cartagena as the Spanish plunderers looted the continent of much of its gold. Its Spanish colonial architecture, with chalk-white houses, magnificent museums set in old mansions, splendid churches and a central plaza made it a delightful place to spend a couple of days. It's hard to imagine that many of these buildings were flattened when a powerful earthquake ripped through the town in 1983 - rebuilding work took more than 20 years.

We got our culture dose through visiting 'Museo Guillermo Valencia', a late 18th-century building full of period furniture that once belonged to the Popayan-born poet who lived here . Seeing the late poet's clothes still hanging in the wardrobe was a bit spooky.

The culinary highlight of Popayan was a large and very rare bife de chorizo.

Onward bus to Ipiales, via Pasto, 8hours. In Ipiales, we dumped our rucksacks at the bus station and visited the very impressive 'El Santuario de las Lajas'. This neo-Gothic cathedral spans a gorge and contains the cliff face behind the altar. We caught a taxi across the border into Tulcan, Ecuador, before connecting with a bus to Otavalo, 3hours. A very long travel day!