Popayan, day one, part one

  I arrived to Popayan in the early afternoon on July 15.  On the descent I didn't see anything impressive.  The pilot parked the plane and we walked from the landing area to a small baggage claim area.  I had hosts whom I'll call Jose and Elsa that I hadn't emailed with in days.  I didn't know if they'd be there but I kept telling myself not to worry, fighting the uptight American impulse to have every detail in place.

After I gathered my suitcases and exited I saw Jose waiting there for me.  Of course he was there!  He drove me to the hotel and waited while I checked in, showed me some points of interest downtown, a museum, brought me to lunch, and then showed me more after lunch.  A person he had met once in a business setting in Bogota nearly two years before had just arrived to his hometown and he spent the whole afternoon with him.  That's hospitality.

In the next post I'll describe some of the places I saw on this first day:  downtown streets, Museo Guillermo Leon, Morro del Tulcan, and the Pueblito Payanesa.