Experience the best of Pasto

Pasto is the capital of the Nariño department, in the Andes of south-western Colombia close to the border with Ecuador, at about 2,500 metres in the valley below Galeras, an active volcano of 4,276 metres. Each January the city holds the Blacks and Whites Carnival, with parades and painted faces, inscribed by UNESCO as intangible heritage. Pasto is also known for barniz de Pasto, wood decorated with coloured resin.

East of the city, Laguna de la Cocha is a large highland lake with a village, El Encano, on its shore and a small island, La Corota, set aside as a wildlife sanctuary. To the south, near Ipiales and the Ecuadorian border, the neo-Gothic Las Lajas Sanctuary is built across a river canyon, a church that seems to hang from the rock.

Highland ingredients dominate the table, with potatoes, corn and cheese, and cuy, roasted guinea pig, the dish for celebrations in Nariño. The climate is cool and often misty, and the middle of the year is the drier season.