Enjoying the desert

Neiva is a little city that is not mentioned in our Lonely Planet guidebook. And, I guess, that’s for a reason. We arrived after dusk and convinced a cab driver to find us some cheap place to stay. He found one, some shabby hotel, where bathroom and beds are not really separated. *lol*

We explored the city a little by night, always aware of that good advice our hotel receptionist had given us: “Don’t head further than two blocks South, or you might never return.” Right. Good to know. ^^

We did not head South, but found the “city center”, a little park right next to the Casino, as the only place alive. Furthermore, we found a great bakery, where we enjoy croissants for 15 c and stuff. And a waitress who had lived in Bielefeld, Germany for some time and was absolutely eager to try her German.

Anyway – this city was just a one-night-stand, before we headed off into the desert the next day. “El desierto de Tatacoa” is what they call it – a desert surrounded by lush green fields, which is famous for its marvelous sky at nighttime. We booked three hammocks in a Posada and went off to explore the loneliness of the desert. And its beauty, which is absolutely breathtaking! I somehow fell in love with this place, just because it seems so calm, peaceful and still so beautiful…

Until these backpackers came and started to fool around... no more calmness left...

... but still beautiful...

While taking some further legendary pictures of us jumping above stones and sand in birthday suits, we met two fun ladies from Germany and Switzerland. Turned out they stayed at the same Posada as us, and had decided to visit the astronomer as well. “El astronomo”, as they call him in Villa Vieja, namely Javier, is a dude who seems to know every single star in the sky by name! Fascinating. We had a 1,5-hour-session with him explaining us different star signs, galaxies and constellations as well as staring at the moon through his telescope. Believe it or not – this picture is taken by my personal camera!

The rest of the night was spent at a campfire where we indulged in deep conversation about life and its sense. Guess what? We couldn’t elaborate the answer! What’s yours?

After a good night in that hammock listening to a desert’s rain we took off pretty early in order to reach our next destination: Popayan. 8am, happy mood, on time, all good – until the motor of our bus went broke. Oh yeah! Well, okay, half an hour later, another bus came to pick us up, everything went fine – until that bus stopped as well. Road blocked due to maintenance works. *outch*Another hour passed by before we could continue our journey and finally reach La Plata, where we had to change busses. Only problem here: The last bus to Popayan had left an hour ago! Sometimes life’s a bitch.

The good news were: Anything is possible in Colombia, as long as you have money. So we simply rented our personal bus to Popayan. Seven hours drive in a private bus for 120 US$ - divided by 7 gringos, as we had decided this morning to tag along with Carina, the German girl from the desert, Sina, the Swiss girl from the desert, Sarah, Sina’s friend, and Montana, an American dude. So, after a tough ride through the mountains, we finally reached Popayan exhausted and close to midnight, found our hostel, checked in and went out. A rough bus ride ain’tno reason to waste a night sleeping… ^^

Almost starving after seven hours with little supplies, we found a street vendor who sold us some meat and potatoes – and almost bought everything she had. *g* Guess it was her lucky night.

So, while enjoying our food, some two kids walked up to us and started asking in English where we were from, what we were doing around here etc. Turned out these kids just had the college graduation party, and it didn’t take long until we were surrounded by 20 13 to 17 year old guys & girls, staring at us, asking loads of questions and taking pictures. It kind of felt like being a VIP… ^^

(Would love to upload some great picture here... but I can´t... *sob*) 

Julez and I still explored the city by night a little more thoroughly, before we all went to bed...

Next day was time to say goodbye. Gin and Montana decided to stay in Popayan a little longer, while Julez, Carina, Sina, Sarah and me went down South to cross the Ecuadorian border. Another whole day to be spent in taxis & busses…