Day 23 - last bus ride... and everyday is Groundhog Day

Today we had the last long bus ride ahead of us - what a stroke of luck 🍀. Destination Neiva, and then on to the Tatacoa Desert. The bus station "La Terminal" was a real showcase project when it came to order and organization. But inside the bus, everything was as usual. Chaos until everyone is in their seat, after all, we are traveling with the whole family from the baby to the grandmother and 12 plastic bags. Then, for some unknown reason, it takes another 25 minutes before we leave. I guess the bus can only start when the prescribed 7 degrees Celsius inside temperature is reached 😄. We couldn't even turn off the fan above our seats, I had to stuff everything with newspapers first.

After 10 minutes of driving, there was a sales event: some guy gives lectures about sprays, soaps or power banks and actually sells something. After about an hour, the first ones rush to the luxurious onboard toilet. According to my calculations based on experience, it takes another 2.5 hours until it starts to smell good ☹️

Meanwhile, another one of those super bad crime movies is playing in the onboard cinema. Someone gets shot every 2 minutes, there is no more plot. Then another sales event - this time a 20-minute monologue about alleged remedies. 30-minute break at a shabby rest stop, and after 7 hours, we finally arrived in Neiva.

Off to the colectivo. This time it's a rickety pick-up truck, we were allowed to sit in the back with 3 mothers and their 4 small children - really cozy, why are all Colombian women so fat? Whoever thinks that only Shakiras walk around here is completely wrong - it's more like the Tine Wittler model with black hair and less pale 😂.

On the last 4 km, we switched to a tuk-tuk, but by now it was clear that the effort of getting here was worth it. Really amazing landscape here. We are between the central and eastern Andes. The mountains ⛰ that you will probably see in the pictures tomorrow are about 5,000 meters high.

In the hostel of our choice, we booked a hammock. At dinner, we met 3 Germans. Julia knew two girls from the university in Magdeburg and Alex was with Julia at the university in Medellin - although they never met there, at least not sober.

We walked to the observatory with the three of them. Because of its proximity to the equator, the altitude, and the lack of "light pollution" from larger cities, stars 🌟 are observed here. Unfortunately, the tour guide lied to us for the second time in two days. The observatory closes at 8, not 9. That was really annoying now, as it is our only night here.

There's no use complaining, we went to the only bar far and wide and stayed there until there was no more cold beer 🍻. And the starry sky was sensational even without a telescope. It was a really fun evening with our hostel neighbors.