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Tulcán-Ecuador and Ipiales-Colombia


Hóla once again. It´s been a while since my last entry and I´ve been quite busy touring Ecuador and a very small part of Colombia.
Dad and I visited a small town north of Ecuador called Tulcán for it´s large and well known cemetery there. I hear you saying....Cemetery?! Yep, cemetery.

The gardens are the main feature there as the cemetery is lined with giant hedges that are sculptured into geometric shapes, pre-Colombian symbols and various animals. It was such an awesome sight to see! The figures were very cute, especially the animals. The graves were equally beautiful as the burial places are above-ground tombs stacked atop of one another so that they resembled a mini apartment complex rather than a final resting place.

The entrance of the tombs are heavily adorned with shrines and beautiful fresh flowers.

The day after visiting Tulcán we crossed the border into Colombia to visit the famous church Virgin de las Lajas. A magnificent church built against a cliff face!
Absolutely awesome! However interestingly at the border crossing we met some school kids who wanted to practice their English with us! So we agreed and also met their teacher who we later went to visit that night for a cup of coffee! It was wonderful chatting about our cultures, we also met another man from France who joined us that night as well.

He´s doing a walking trek for 2 years for the Aneascode (I think that´s right) following inca trails and finding ones that need preservation. We´ve met quite a few volunteers here and just recently some very young ones on our cruise through the Galapagos but that´s for the next entry....till next time. Chao!
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Comments

Soul Searcher said…
Elly that church built on the side of the cliff is beautiful. Very Gothic European. Looks more of a castle than a church. That is an amazing church.
9:32 pm
Eleonor said…
The most beautiful church we have visited by far! Yes it did look more like a castle! Absolutely beautiful, if you visit Ecuador or Columbia you should definately visit!
12:56 pm
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