Popayán

i really, really love colombia. i think it's one of my favorite countries of the trip so far. the scenery is beatiful, and the people are so incredible friendly. like unbelievably nice. after futbol (soccer) cycling is the most popular sport in colombia. on the weekends everyone gets garbed out in spandex and goes riding. the other day peter and i were riding up this hill, and i say hi to this cyclist. we start talking, and he ends up inviting us over to his house. he was super excited to get to know us, and called up his brother-in-law who'd lived in NYC to come over so peter would have someone to speak english with. his wife totally cooked us up an awesome dinner, and then we all went out to these hotsprings on the outskirts of town. it was so fun. they guy (named alejandrino) was a police man and showed us were the narcotraficantes owned hotels. then yesterday as we were leaving cali, we ran into these profesional bike racers both of whom were named orlando. they were so, so nice, and like took us out for coffee and pastries, and one of the orlandos owns a bike shop in cali, and he is sending someone over here to popayán, like 75 miles away, in a taxi to bring us bike jersies from his shop. how crazy nice is that? i just like cannot believe how nice people are here. i want to come back to the US and tell everyone that they have to go bikeing around in colombia. it's that awesome. love,
-jessie