Day 9 – Popayán to Cali to Medellin

After breakfast at the hostel (COP 5,000), we headed out to explore Popayan for all the sights it has to offer.
 

Some of the best sights of this white city is the… city itself! Just walking around the alleys gives you a sense of the colonial architecture. Here’s a rundown of all the sights we explored:

• Iglesia de San Francisco
• Iglesia La Ermita
• Universidad del Cauca for its colonial premises
• Puente del Humilladero, a long walking bridge over a river in Popayán that was constructed in old Roman style.
• Parque de Caldas, which is the central square.
• Belen, which is perched on top of a small hill overlooking Popayán.

We had booked our flight from Cali to Medellin on Avianca Airlines for $90 one way, departing at 6 pm and takes one hour & 15 minutes. After lunch at the main square, we returned to the hostel, relaxed for a while and walked the 1.5 km to the bus terminal, to catch the next bus to Cali. Buses leave every 30 minutes between Cali and Popayan and takes about 3 hours reaching the bus terminal.

From the Cali bus terminal, it’s another 30 minutes to the Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International Airport (CLO) located about 24 km from Terminal de Transporte in the north of the city. We arrived an hour before the flight, just in time for some coffee and sandwiches!

Arriving at Medellin’s Jose Maria Cordova International Airport (MDE) at 7:40 pm, you have to take a taxi to the city center, which is about 30 km outside of the city and takes about an hour. The way to the city center traverses through the mountains and goes downhill to Medellin located in the valley.

It was almost 9 pm by the time we checked-in to Waypoint hostel, and we realized that not many restaurants may be open, so with recommendations from the hostel staff, we headed to Oviedo mall’s food court. We were told that it’s a simple, 15 minute walk to the mall that turned out to be almost 30 minute walk because of some road closures and detours.

Our intuition was right – there were hardly any restaurants open at the food court, and the ones that were open were about to close, so we stopped at a Japanese restaurant and ordered some chicken teriyaki (is that Japanese food?!) to go., and devoured it in an instant!

Too tired and feeling unsafe to walk back to hostel, we hailed a taxi, that took about 7 minutes to the hostel.

After some introductions with fellow travelers at the hostel, we called it an early night.

Waypoint Hostel Value Location Cleanliness Rooms Service Breakfast included: No. Address: Carrera 48B # 10S-10, Medellín Phone: +57 4 312 5294 Email: waypointhostel@gmail.com Website: waypointhostel.com Located in south-central Medellin, this hostel is a backpackers paradise, with seven minutes walking distance from Aguacatala metro station. A double room with two separate beds (actually, we got a huge room with one double bed and one bunk bed room) costs COP 36,250 per person, per night. The beds were very comfortable and you get a fan in the room too (inclusive). Bathroom is ensuite and quite big compared to other hostels in Colombia. Breakfast is not included but can be ordered in the hostel. The hostel has wifi that hardly worked on the first floor, but was good on the lobby and common area. The hostel has a swimming pool. The staff is extremely helpful and friendly; and keep the hostel secure by locking the front door.

Note: All values in USD, unless otherwise mentioned, are approximate and based on the exchange rate of USD 1 = COP 2200 at the time of publishing. Each cost is for one adult.