From Ipiales, we took a very roomy and comfy collectivo about two hours to the city of Pasto. Most backpackers, typically the ones who make it to this part of Colombia, only stay for a night here en route between Medellin and Ecuador, but we’re really glad we gave it a couple so we could visit the extraordinary Laguna La Cocha, which is located 45-minutes east of the city and a drastically different side of the country.
In fact, although the powerful palette of colors and general air of cuteness fit Colombia, this tinker toy resembling village felt nothing like it. The lakeside village of El Encano felt more like stepping into a child’s picture book, with its diminutive brightly hued lancha fishing boats meandering on a curving canal, eclectic Lego-esque bridges and curious trucha (trout) restaurants and homes balanced precariously on stilts.
You can fetch a collectivo to Laguna de la Cocha on Calle 21A near the corner of Carrera 7 in Pasto. It costs 3500 pesos, or about $.75 each way for the 45 minute journey. Expect to wait for the van to fill before it departs.
It’s hard to place exactly where this place looked like, but for us it had flashbacks of Tonle Sap in Cambodia.
Maybe a little Scandinavia too? Regardless of where it was, it oozed in cuteness.
And of course, you can hire a lancha driver to take you on a cruise down the canal of cute as well.
Although we really loved just looking.
We were surprised to see how empty the town was, especially because we were there on a Saturday and normally touristy places are packed on weekends in Colombia. The locals love to travel their own country, which is rare and fantastic. Certainly no other gringos were present!
Stopping to admire the incredible succulent shrubs. Seriously, had no ideas succulents came in shrub form!?!
All the pedestrian bridges were a little bit different as well.
And now there’s Smurfy mushrooms?! Glorious fuchsia flowers? Sigh. I guess it’s just one of those places where everything is stinkin’ cute.
Including the lovable little perritos lounging underfoot everywhere.
A Colombian lake home, undoubtedly at an affordable price for us.
Looks like a theme park.
It’s really hard to resist one of those cheesy hand hearts under this thing.
Pick your darling dinghy!
It sure looks like an appealing place to live!
The canal widens as it glides to the lake.
Where you can take your pick on little girl dream homes.
Across the Lago de Cocha lies the smallest park in national park system in Colombia called Isla de la Corota. You can take a boat out to the island for 40,000 pesos or about $10 per boat. Unfortunately, the trails are currently closed for conservation. Thus, there’s very little to do on the island otherwise, so we opted out and chose to soak in the town views instead.
Along the canals, you will have your royal pick of restaurants serving trout, and some restaurants will even bite your head off to get you in the door.
But all in all, most options are tranquillo, tranquillo, much like the town itself. It doesn’t really matter which you choose, it’ll probably be a good choice. And you’ll likely get your trout served up to 12 different ways from boring ‘ol fried or steamed, to garlic to creole to all wined up. Greg’s Menu del Dia choice was garlic, which included a whole mouth watering fresh caught trout, rice, salad, patacones, soup and juice for about $5, while Mandy’s half trout was $3. It was the best trout we’ve had in Colombia yet. On any visit.
And while we would never consider chowing down on a real cuy, the sugary rendition wearing caps and scarves looked so cute we could eat those up. Or lots of other sweet treat options!
Rather than this, we settled for splitting the local drink called a hervido de fruta which is a hot liquor fruit juice made with blackberries. Complete with a sugar rim, it was surprisingly tasty!
Saying hasta luego to some quirky characters, and a charming little land so worth visiting.
Pasto
The city itself, known as “Ciudad Sorpresa” is known for cuy and is indeed surprising in its amount of beautiful buildings and museums. We really wanted to visit one dedicated to their January Negros y Blancos Carnaval, but unfortunately it had closed when we arrived. This festival happens every January when the population explodes for an event recognized by UNESCO where revelers paint themselves black to celebrate diversity. The festival concludes with the day of blancos where incredible floats flood the streets while hundreds of onlookers shower each other with white powder, like a Colombian version of India’s Holi festival. This colorful hillside neighborhood is in the north part of the city.
Completing the Colombian cute look, the Church of San Sebastián had a unique stained glass turret.
Street art in Pasto.
Inside the Iglesia de Cristo Rey, a stunning mosaic tile floor and enormous stained glass windows.
The outside of the building looks more like a Disney Church with its castle like turrets.
Our Airbnb, located in the historic center, was a full fourth floor two bedroom apartment in Pasto for $20/night. As in many places in Colombia, it offered deceitful furniture which looked more comfortable than it felt. 😂
