Popayán is a small city located on the southwestern part of Colombia, between Cali and the border town of Ipiales. It is the capital of the Department of Cauca and has a population of 260.000 inhabitants approximately.
My interest in Popayán comes from its colonial setup and its architecture, with streets of houses all painted in white color, a big contrast to the colorful Cartagena as well as many other Colombian cities. Popayán was also home for more than a dozen presidents and has being a center of power in the country since its independence.
You cannot use colors to identify a house or building in Popayán, they are all white! and they have being so since the early days as some old paints and photos show.
The city has two museums related to members of the Mosquera family that were presidents of Colombia. Photos of in these museums show the Mosqueras together with ancestors of current leaders of Colombian political groups, all them together participating in different social and political events from that time. I felt as if the political power in the country has being in the hands of a few families or clans for decades, over a century.
As I was in Popayan, is elections time in Colombia! the perfect time to repair streets and improve the infrastructure in the cities and anywhere else.
Despite all modernization in progress there are still some classical vehicles on the streets.
Popayán also has a hill close to its downtown, "el Morro de Tulcán". It's not as high as in Cali or Bogotá but offers a view of the town and its surrounding.
A last interesting point for me was an entrepreneurship event that was taking place as I was there. Many projects were presented, most of them targeting the food market, a few on computers and two related to tourism.
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