Pasto (Colombia) - photos 1

Pasto in Colombia:

To reach Central America, there were 2 options: a/fly from Quito to Panama City and b/crossing via Colombia. We went for the second option because the flight to Panama City was quite expensive and because Colombia was very attractive for us as we have been told by other travelers that the country is beautiful and safer than a few years ago. Indeed, the Colombian government had made a lots of efforts to eradicate the drug problems and obviously in the aim to attract tourists.
Crossing the border between Ecuador and Colombia was a nightmare!! Well from the Ecuadorian side...Our Polish friends had warned us in a mail to be ready to wait 5 to 10hrs and just only for an exit stamp!!! We arrived around lunch time and were happy to see a queue of only 14 people waiting and we thought we will have our exit stamp in less than 1/2hr! That was a dream!! 2hrs and half later, we were still waiting and why? Just because of the slowness of the policemen and because of their rubbish system of queuing!!! Once we reached the desk, we needed only 2 little minutes to have our stamps. What a waste of time!! We only spent 5 minutes at the Colombian customs!
We arrived in Pasto (2527m), south west, late afternoon in the middle of the fourth day of its "Carnaval de Negros y Blancos" or "Blacks and Whites' Carnival". During the carnival the city goes wild and during these celebrations people have fun painting each other's faces with cosmetics colors (skin safe and created for this special purpose...i hope) and throwing talcum powder and party foam. Before reaching our hostel, our faces were already half covered in black paint. Of course we joined the crowd and for 2 days we were all covered with talc powder, foam and various colours but we were fighting very well too. As tourists we were a popular target. We met very nice people and the very nice family of Elena (with who we had good fights!) and we had lots of fun and a superb time here. If we can, we will be back next year for more talc and foam fights!!

- Lee was happy to pass the Colombian border especially after the 2.5hrs waiting time in Ecuador and he had not visited this country the first time he went travelling to South America. Please note the normal clothes and the gayish green bag (our food bag bought in Bolivia)!,
- Lee the same day later in the evening!!! Unrecognizable! We spent a long time in the shower to remove all the paint and powder but even 1 week after we still had paint coming from our ears!!! But nothing harmful, don't worry!!!
- The next day, Lee was fully equiped to fight!
- And I was fighting too but in this battle I think I lost...
- ...That is me after 2minutes of fighting, all covered in foam (by the way not a very good taste!)! Taking pictures for Lee was also very tricky because foam and talc were coming from everywhere and he had to make a lots of effort to protect the camera. He still can find some powder in his lenses...he is not very happy!