11/21 The beautiful city of Popayan is my home for the next 2 nights. After scouting out hostels and hotels I settled on the Hotel La Harreria. It’s a little more money than I usually pay for a place but pickings are slim for a private bathroom in this area and wifi is a must (have to book plane tickets). The historic area where I’m staying ranks right up there as one of the nicest I’ve seen on my trip. The buildings, many of which date back to the 17th and 18th century, are all whitewashed. The sidewalks are my favorite part; they are possibly the best in all of Central/South America. You can actually walk an entire block without having to look down (except to avoid dog crap).
Religion seems to be more prevalent in southern Colombia. I was treated to some church bells at 5:30 this morning followed by some gospel music via loudspeaker. The last couple motels even had little Bibles in them (haven’t seen that since the States).
Stayed at the Hotel PanAmerican in the town of Santander Friday night. At first I thought the town was kind of rundown but when I walked over toward the main plaza my opinion changed. The streets were actually pretty clean and the buildings were in decent shape (no protruding sharp/electrical things).
Military checkpoints have been frequent. In fact at the first stop outside Cali 3 different military guys came up and shook my hand–they love Americans because we give them lots of money for weapons to fight the drug cartels that we keep in business by making said drugs illegal and using like it’s going out of style. Everybody wins (except the dead people).
The area south of Cali, right up to the border with Ecuador, is noted as being one of the more dangerous areas of Colombia. The FARC has been very active and there have been a couple recent attacks on police depots. While I was in an internet cafe this afternoon everyone ran up to the front and was looking down the street where a crowd was forming. I found out later there was a shooting but I didn’t catch who was involved. Not sure why I didn’t hear gun shots. Must have been too focused on email. Kind of crazy but tourists have been left alone when it comes to the drug-related violence and many touring riders have been along this route before me so I’m not worried.
Saturday night I stayed in Piendamo after a short, yet hilly day. My front tire went flat so I had to stop and fix that. It went flat again as soon as I filled up the tire and put it back on. I’m starting to think the patches I have are no good because the air leaked out right from under it. Looks like something else for my Florida shopping list.
Getting excited about my trip back home. I kind of wish I was getting there a little later so I could stay over Christmas. At least I’ll have lots of presents waiting for me (that I ordered for myself). 
Just spent hours trying to figure out why 0 byte files were getting uploaded via FTP. Turns out this wireless network required a hard set MTU size of 1492. Argh.
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Glad you clarified about the presents waiting for you.