Forget about guerillas and drug traffickers

The most dangerous thing about Columbia is road travel. Our driver between Cali and Popayan was one of the most reckless yet: driving 120 in 60 zones, overtaking around blind corners and over double lines, swerving across three lanes of traffic, tailgating, and trying to outrun speeding trucks from a highway on ramp. On the upside though, the minibus was new and in pretty good shape. Our bus this morning, from Armenia to Cali, was a wreck with sloppy brakes, loose steering and a back door that refused to close.

Yesterday, on the way back from the Valle de Cocora, our driver managed to fit 11 people into a five person jeep. A few days before, our bus driver stopped to buy some passengers (and judging by his driving, possibly himself) their third bottle of rum.

All of this madness is topped off by:

• bad roads
• regular police checkpoints and bus searches
• an insatiable appetite for extremely violent movies, particularly those featuring Sylvester Stallone, Van Damme and a chubby Steven Seagal.

Terrifying, but worth it. Popayan is a beautiful colonial city, with whitewashed buildings, blue sky and spectacular countryside. It's also a good place to stop and steady your nerves, before jumping on another crazy Columbian bus tomorrow.

The town of Popayan is a great example of Spanish colonial architecture

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