Made it to Colombia

Today we traveled by bus up the Panamericana about two hours to Tulcan, Ecuador, which is on the border with Colombia. Then we shared a cab with a nice Swiss couple to the border. Making it through customs in both countries was easy and we again shared a "collectivo" (van) with the Swiss couple to the bus station in Ipiales, Columbia, the first town on the Colombia side. We continued in another collectivo to our final destination of Pasto, about another hour up the Panamerica.

Pasto is a lively colonial town that has the reputation in Colombia apparently of being very much like Ecuador. We read it our guidebook that jokes are made in Colombia about "pastusos," as the folks here are called. I think they are considered to be rustics compared to the sophisticates in the rest of the country.

At any rate we were happy to see Juan Valdez, the logo, since 1959, for the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia. Who, of my generation, does not remember the many TV adds we used to see with Juan and his mule carrying his coffee: "the richest kind."