Almost everybody going from Ecuador to Colombia goes through Cali. I think it's the first big city with buses to almost anywhere in the country but getting there is tricky. It's a 17 hour journey so you can take a direct bus from Quito, which leave at ridiculous times in the morning or arrives really late in the night. The next option is to do the journey on several smaller trips, Quito to Tulcan, then taxi to the border, walk across the border, then taxi to Ipiales and finally bus to Cali. We chose this route bacause you can stay in Ipiales and take an overnight bus, arriving in Cali around 7am. Now what to do in Ipiales for an afternoon?? Well I googled Ipiales and this is the first thing I saw:
WOW!!! This looked like something from the set of Lord of the Rings, maybe the elven kingdom or Gondor. Las Lajas is a church on a cliff, with a bridge, a river, and a waterfall!! Come on! Now we definitly had to spend an afternoon at the Las Lajas Sanctuary.
It's a short 10 minute ride from the bus station to the sanctuary. When you arrive at the parking-lot you don't see anything special. It's just a decent pedestrain path down a hill, with souvenir shops and little restuarants along the way. But a short five minute walk around a hill and there it is, in all it's glory, Santuario de Las Lajas.
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