From Colombia to Ecuador

From Pasto I took a large van to the Colombian border town of Ipiales. The city itself wasn't that exciting but the "Santuario de las Lajas" was a very cool sight. Basically it was a church built into a ravine a few miles out of town. I stopped by there to have a look before I made it across the border to Ecuador.










Crossing the border took a little time but was fairly simple. It was getting late by the time I made it across so I decided to stay in Ecuadors border town, Tulcan, for the night.



The taxi driver that dropped me off at my hotel the night before said it would be worth it to check out the town cemetery before moving on to Quito. I had no idea what to expect but I followed his advice and he was right. It was a unique cemetery with gorgeous topiary sculptures. I was so happy to stumble across this gem in such a windwhipped border town. I also happened to be there when the designer was taking a look at the grounds so I got to talk to him for awhile. Apparently they have 12 full time pruners on staff to maintain the topiary sculptures. Got to love the cheap manual labor in Latin America! No chance you could get away with that in the states or Europe.


















From Tulcan I caught another beautiful bus ride across the Andes through small towns and cities along the way. 5 hours later I was in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.






Green arches