Tatacoa desert - Rain?

7 hours by bus from Salento lays the second largest desert in Colombia called Tatacoa desert. This desert covers 330 km² of grey, red and ochre canyons and peaks, interrupted only by the vivid green of its cacti. The name ‘Tatacoa’ refers to the rattlesnakes that once lived in the region, and the area is sometimes known as the rather more poetic “Valley of Sadnesses”. In fact, this Colombian desert is not a desert at all, but a dry tropical forest. Scientists estimate that during the Tertiary Period it was a beautiful garden, full of thousands of tropical flowers and trees that gradually dried into a desert. This is also what I experienced when I arrived there. In contrary to all my expectations this desert was not at all hot and dry.. we literally had rain everyday and even so much rain that we were afraid to not leave this place…
Besides the rain however I loved Tatacoa. The red desert was my favorite! However every part of the desert was individually special, including the grey desert which almost looked like you would walk on the moon and then swimming in the natural pools there! Unfortunately due to the weather conditions I was not able to see any stars or planets (even though this was the main reason I went there to do a stargazing tour). But this trip showed me one again that you should never underestimate the weather conditions even though you are in a South American country and a desert.
The pictures also show my little group including two lovely guys from the Netherlands who I met on the bus to Tatacoa and who I now share incredible memories with! On the last day we also did a beer tasting and tried local artisanal beer. One beer even included chili 🌶️ and another one coffee. Crazy combinations but definitely worth trying! The chili one was very spicy though!Read more