Pasto Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

I have always been fascinated by volcanoes. I remember being so impressed when, as a kid,  I read that story of a farmer in Mexico who in 1943 saw some steam coming out of his corn field through large cracks that opened in the Earth... He and his family witnessed the birth of a new volcano! The Paricutin now stands 424m tall over its surroundings. Just imagine having a volcano pop up in your backyard... This volcano has now been dormant since 1952. Later on, spectacular images of volcan...

Na een reis van 4 dagen, bus in, bus uit, taxi in, taxi uit, een lekke band in het midden van de Peruaanse woestijn, bussen met pauwen en andere beesten, nachtelijke controles en vooral oncomfortabele zetels en 2 vierkante centimeter plek ben ik terug in mijn favoriete land Colombia. Vanaf de grens kwam ik terug in contact met de Colombiaanse warmte en dan heb ik het niet over de temperatuur. Pasto is de theologische hoofdstad van Colombia met meer kerken dan banken. Dez...

During my studies I did 2 missions of 3 months each in Colombia as part of a joint project between the University of Geneva and the Colombian Geological Survey. The objective was to study one particular aspect of the formation of the Andes, in the South of the country, between Cali and Pasto. That was a perfect way to discover a new country, practice a new language; a great opportunity to get to know the warm Colombian people, and drive thousands of kilometers in the most remote Andean areas.

Departing from Popayan was not that difficult, after two days of the carnaval, everything was covered in flour dust, my clothes and backpack were a mess, and I was in need of a break. Since I needed to carry my small backpack on the bus, I didn´t have time to wash it so it was still covered in flour, making me stand out even more. It was late morning by the time I got to the bus station and around 11am I was able to get on a bus to Ipiales, about seven hours from Popayan. We were only on the...

Pasto would have to be the most dirtiest and by the far the most polluted of places we have ever been. It was only for a stopover before we travelled overland to Ecuador, but not too sure if it was worthy of that! We stayed at the Koala Inn, a nice 3 storey building in central Pasto. We checked in and then headed out into the exhaust filled air. I swear my nose hairs had been burnt off because my entire nose stung. We quickly found something to eat and Nathan finally found a store with some...

Dank des Ecuadorianischen Botschafters in Berlin, der Katha ihr Voluntaers-Visum verweigerte musste sie Ecuador verlassen und ich hatte die Ehre inne, ihre Reisebegleiterin spielen zu duerfen :) Also machten wir uns am 1.Dezember 2007 auf in unser Abenteuer! 17 Tage lang reisten wir durch dieses wundervolle Land, 17 Tage voller Busfahrten (aneinander gerechnet 4 1/2 Tage), voller Militaerkontrollen, Achsenbruechen, toller Museen, der Karibik und den wunderschoensten Anden! DANKE DIR KATHA!

A year spent exploring South East Asia, Australasia and my favouriter continent of South America

After 20 hours more or less continuously on a bus, I stopped in Pasto.  Border crossing into colombia wasn`t too bad (maybe an hour).  Pasto is a good sized town, without much to see.  Its got its main square, few churches, and a lot of clothes shops.  The backpacker friendly hostal owner (Koala Inn, 12 mil pesos) told me he never gets americans.  Didnt spend much time here.

I´m spending around 1 year in South America, I´ve had an amazing time. Enjoy my pictures.