DAYS 29 - 30

The Casa Blanca Hostel that we stayed in in Cali.

This is the SanSebastion Hotel that we stayed at in Pasto, Columbia.  Our room was on the 4th floor - no elevator - Pasto is approx 8500 feet high.

Market in Pasto.

This is the church we visited in Columbia - absolutley beautiful!


Las Lajas SanctuaryLas Lajas Sanctuary (in Spanish Santuario de Las Lajas) is a basilica church located in the southern Colombian Department of Nariño, municipality of Ipiales and built inside the canyon of the Guáitara River.

The cathedral is of Gothic revival architecture and was built from January 1, 1916 to August 20, 1949, with donations from local churchgoers, replacing an old nineteenth-century chapel. The name Laja comes from the name of a type of flat sedimentary rock similar to floor tiles found in the Andes Mountains. There was a claim that an apparition of the Virgin Mary was seen. There is now a miraclous image on a stone there. It is still possible to see this today.

The cascadaThe reason for the cathedral's creation is that in 1754 an Amerindian named Maria Mueces and her deaf-mute daughter Rosa were caught in a very strong storm. They found refuge between the gigantic Lajas, and to Maria Mueces's surprise, Rosa exclaimed "the mestiza is calling me..." and pointed to the lightning-illuminated 'painting' over the laja. The oldest account was recorded in the accounts of Fray Juan de Santa Gertrudis's voyage through the southern region of the New Kingdom of Granada between 1756 and 1762.

In 1951 the Roman Catholic Church authorized the Nuestra Señora de Las Lajas virgin, and it declared the sanctuary a minor basilica in 1954.

Joe and his new friend guarding the bikes while we went to the church.

The Oasis Hosteria we stayed in - $20 each.

Dinner with fellow Americans.

The wine bar.

Taken over my shoulder while riding - I love this picture.

This is what we started out with this morning.  Most of the day was spent over 10,000 feet.  The highest was about 11,500 - 53 degrees and raining.  We actually saw snow on some mountain tops above us.

We had a bowl of chicken soup (they put the neck and something else I didn't recognize) and a chicken, rice and vegatable dinner.  Hope you enjoy - it is bed time.