Moving southwest in Columbia away from the cities we discovered Silvia and the Las Lajas Cathedral. We also had a wild adventure on the bus to Quito. We especially wanted to make the two hour trip to the Tuesday market in the very small village of Silvia because Tuesday is the day the indigenous Guambinos come from their reserve in the surrounding hills to the market. We did not expect that part of the adventure would be the ride there. Our shuttle careened up the highway with the driver passing others around curves, on hills and on the double yellow. He would tuck back in just in the nick of time. Mike and I speculated that he gets paid by the trip and is anxious to get us there so he can pick up his next load of passengers. We got there and were not disappointed in the uniqueness of the market. The amazing Guambino people are one of the few indigenous groups who have survived colonialism and modernization with their customs intact. Many of the 20,000 or so tribes people come to market in traditional dress. It was quite an enjoyable and colorful scene as we spent most of the day people watching.

The Cathedral Las Lajas is an amazing architectural feat as it was built to span a river gorge. An apparition of the Virgin Mary seen in 1754 instigated popular pilgrimage to the site and occasional reports of cases of miraculous healing. The first shrine was built in the middle of 18th century from straw and wood. It was replaced with a new, larger shrine in 1802, which was extended and connected to the opposite side of canyon with a bridge.

While at Las Lajas Michael had a chance to sample a local delicacy called Cuy. It is wild Guinea Pig. He just had to try it but after, said it would be the only time he ordered it as it was greasy and didn’t have much meat.

The part of our journey from San Augustine to Quito was a scary yet beautiful trip through the Andies. It was a two day odyssey that involved taxis, collectivos (vans or trucks packed with riders) and buses. On day one the road was primarily one lane dirt with drop-offs (no shoulders) to take our breath away.

Day two began with a taxi to the border and we made our way through immigration and then in Ecuador caught a collectivo to Tulcan. Finally we got on our “big” bus with reclining seats and everything. As we sat together enjoying the ride little did we know that it was short lived. About half way into the six hour trip the bus stopped and we were directed off the bus and onto another one. This new bus had no seats available. There were about fifteen people standing in the aisle and I was one of them. Michael wasn’t even on the bus. He was standing at the entrance waiting for space to be available and all of a sudden the bus driver began to drive away. I am standing at the top of the steps saying, “mi esposo, mi esposo”. The driver let Michael on and off we drove with no place to sit. As we faced the three hours with no place to sit we were not happy. Two hours out of Quito traffic stopped on the three lane highway. As our bus was sitting in stop dead traffic people began to get out of their vehicles and walk. Hundreds of people were streaming past us walking up the highway. Most of the people on our bus got out so we were able to finally get seats. We later learned that this religious pilgrimage involved walking all night for thousands of Catholics to the holy place. The bus stopped at 6 pm and we finally continued to our trip to Quito at 4 am.