Tatacoa Desert

In Medellin, we made a little detour to Tatacoa Desert before heading back to Bogota. To save time, we took an overnight bus. Since the route goes over 7 mountains, we booked the front seats on the second floor with a view of the street. Jackpot: a super comfortable bus with huge, comfortable seats and us in the front with a clear view. From experience, we know that in such hot countries, behavior regarding personal space can sometimes be excessive. So we came prepared with leggings, a hoodie, scarf, and socks, although some more than others. It quickly became apparent that this wasn't enough. It was around 5 degrees and the initial excitement quickly faded. The next 12 hours were torture and we arrived in Villavieja frozen, exhausted, and annoyed. The daring, or should I say life-threatening, driving style - which we got a little too acquainted with from our VIP seats - was almost overshadowed by the unbearable temperature. With a slight anticipation that we wouldn't handle the night journey so easily, we booked two nights - luckily. So we could enjoy the first day relaxing by the pool before venturing into the desert on the next day.

Joe guided us through the impressive landscapes for half a day. In one corner, the red clay soil, a few meters further, a gray lunar landscape. He told us a lot about the formation of the desert, which used to be a sea and was inhabited by prehistoric animals 5 million years ago, about the composition of the soil, and everything about each plant on site. Very interesting, but we could easily work as tour guides ourselves now - for Spanish-speaking tours, of course. Our tour was actually booked in English. However, Joe thought it would be better if we practiced our Spanish during the tour - full-service, so to speak. All in all, we had a cool day in a truly impressive landscape.

For the way back to Bogota, we decided to take a smaller bus. However, this turned out to be a disaster as well, because it was not 5 degrees, but 50 degrees. The wind felt like a hot hairdryer blowing in our faces, and the 6 hours back over several mountains at 2800 meters were also torture. Normally, we are easygoing travelers. We can easily spend a day on a bus, listening to good music (thanks to Fabio and Marcel for the awesome playlists) with our active noise control headphones (other passengers often tend to listen to music or watch movies on their phones without headphones, which creates quite a wild mix). We enjoy the scenery and spend time daydreaming, and we arrive fulfilled at our destination. All it takes is reasonably comfortable conditions, which unfortunately were not met on these two trips. But we will definitely try our luck again soon.