Las Lajas - A Spectacular Detour

My trip out of Quito was going to be a 24 hour slog to Cali in southern Colombia, which was not something I was particularly keen on. Then I heard about this place called Las Lajas where you can see some cool stuff just on the Colombian side of the border, so why not break up the trip a bit?

After a cheap, scenic and trouble free bus north from Quito, all you had to do was cross the border, find a collectivo in the border town and Roberto is your tío. Easier said than done, as the border was chaotic and full of some seriously dodgy characters. Two stamps in the passport, a loud, dramatic negotiation for a fair taxi price, buy a night bus ticket, leave your big bags with the bus company then hop in the car before sunset.

You arrive to a couple of beautiful statues and a long stone path down the side of a canyon through stalls flogging all kinds of religious souvenirs. On the left side the canyon got more dramatic at every turn, then this appears...


A gorgeous neo-gothic church, the latest incarnation of a church on the site of one of the holiest apparitions in Colombia, the Virgen de Las Lajas.

The OG Virgin


All in all, not a bad way to spend a couple of hours, and a very good way to stretch the legs before the overnight haul to Cali.

It gets even better after sunset!

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