Off to the desert: Tatacoa

What to do in the last days in Colombia? There is still so much to see, but we have to decide. From Salento we take a bus to Armenia, from there to the next bus to Neiva, where we spend a night. This city is not beautiful, but just around the corner there is an empanada festival. We expect a colorful variety of fillings in these typical Latin American pastries, but there are only the absolute favorites of Colombians: chicken or minced meat ;)

So on the 18th of September, we quickly continue to Villavieja, the "gateway to the desert". It's only an hour's drive, but since the bus leaves when it wants or when it's full, we wait 2 hours aimlessly at the train station. On the journey, the landscape becomes increasingly dry and finally we arrive in the very warm desert village. We take a rickety tuktuk to the colorful hotel, where we spend the afternoon and evening relaxing by the pool.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, we have to get out of bed, because if you want to see the sunrise, you have to get up early (or something like that). It would just be nice if the sun would come out from behind the clouds... Nevertheless, we are happy to be the first ones in the small Tatacoa Desert. We are even so early that we have to climb over the barbed wire fence with our guide instead of using the entrance. We enjoy the peace and look out over the red rock formations of the desert. Actually, the Tatacoa Desert is not a "real" desert, but a dry rainforest that dried up many thousands of years ago due to plate tectonics and the piling up of mountains.

We eventually venture into the desert, where we see various types of cacti. We especially like a small round species, because our guide shows us how to simply pull out and eat the pink fruits of these cacti - a welcome breakfast! The inside of the little "cactus peppers" looks like a dragon fruit and tastes pleasantly sweet. We learn a lot about the plants and animals that live here, and see some beautiful colorful birds.

After a small coffee, we continue to the "gray desert", where the eroded sandstone looks like little ghosts. Strangely enough, there is also a swimming pool here - in the middle of the desert. This is possible because it is fed by a small spring. For the first time, we also try the sweet filled wafers here, which you can buy on every corner in Colombia. Delicious!

At our last stop, where we have a great view of the surrounding landscape, Carsten also gets to drive the tuktuk, which is really fun :)

But now out of the heat and back into the hotel pool! We make ourselves comfortable, fill the afternoon with phone calls home and write blog posts. In the evening we can admire the beautiful starry sky, which is best seen here in all of Colombia due to the low light pollution.

We spend our (temporarily) last days in Colombia in Bogota, where we take the cable car up to Mount Monserrate and spend the rainy days in the Gold Museum and shopping. Of course, we also enjoy ourselves culinary with Timo and Vivi... ;)

On Friday, after hours of delay at the airport, it finally says at some point: next stop PERU! 🇵🇪