Villavieja y el desierto de tatacoa

Pitstop on the ride to Neiva

After Popayan I tried to go to the Tatacoa Desert. I didn't know how long the bus ride would take but by the time I got to Neiva I couldn't get a bus to Villavieja. So I had to stay in a hotel. It was pretty expensive compared to the hostels but at lease the owner was really nice, he told me about some of the best places to visit in Colombia and let me use the internet.
Neiva is a warm city with coffee farms all around it. The ride to Villavieja was only an hour but the land quickly turned brown with a lot of cacti and desert shrubbery outside the city. From there a mototaxi took me to the desert. There is only one road with nothing but the tourist sites and a few cabañas (cabins) spread along the road. There is an observatory, which I decided not to go into because it was a little expensive and the sky wasn't too clear.

The first afternoon I spent wandering around in the desert. There were red rock formations that looked like miniature Sedona. And they were so small and easy to climb I felt like a little kid in a themed playground. For being a desert there was a lot of plant and wild life diversity. I'm glad I didn't accept any tours because just wandering or sitting and observing the desert for a few hours was really nice.

That night I met up with a local hippie who was just joining some tourists for the day. He built a fire in the desert and we all sat around and listened to this guy talk about this and that whatever, but I guess it improved my Spanish or at least the slang from here. Chimba (the best of the best). Bacano(a) - great. Aguardiente (the local liquor).
The next day we met up again and walked to Los Hoyos (natural springs), a 2 hour walk. The walk went fast and we met a bunch of people along the way. By the time we got to the pools we were accompanied by 2 couples, a Belgian and a few other Colombians. 8 in total. It was a lot of fun meeting up with these people and just chatting and walking. I guess when you're on the only road in the desert that's what you do. The people were nice so I decided to change my cabaña to their place. And it turned out super good because the owner's son was 9 years old and learning English, so I traded my rent of the tent for an English lesson. They even gave me free dinner (deep fried lamb and plantains) and free breakfast.

I've never seen a cactus with fruit like this, but it was really sweet even though it looked like it should be spicy like a pepper.