Palm Sunday, Popayán

Popayan is a rebuilt colonial town which was all but destroyed after a devastating 1983 earthquake. Popayan is home to the largest Semana Santa celebration in Latin America and the second largest in the world. We unsuspectingly arrived the day before the festivities began not realizing that much of Colombia's Catholic population woud join us, leading to accommodation prices rising by 60+%. For this reason most backpackers cannot afford to stay during this week. We too were just about to leave when we stumbled across some cheap student housing. After a bit of persuading we were able to stay a week in Popayan for the price of one night's accommodation in the cheapest hostel. Here is the first installment of Popayan's Holy Week.