Parque Principal

We, 24.05. Quito-Otavalo-Ibarra-Tulcán-Ipiales
After another night at the airport I first went from Quito 2h north via a super scenic, very bendy mountain road to the 50,000h and at an altitude of 2,500m located town of Otavalo passing Lago San Pablo and Volcán Imbabura and especially known for its Mercado, South America's biggest textile, handicraft and souvenir market. The locals are famous for their good textile skills and there is also a lot of animal trading - definitely a good stop on the way to Colombia.
From there I then continued via Ibarra to Tulcán where I met the Ecuadorian Javier. After changing money from USD into Colombian pesos (1€~3,000P) we took a taxi to the border Rumichaca where the border crossing was incredibly long due to missing and very slow staff - I left at 6am in the morning and after the border it was already 4:30pm.
After that we took a taxi to Santuario Las Lajas, an incredibly nice cathedral directly built into a steep gorge - very fascinating and with steep paths and incredibly many stairs also a well appreciated exercise after all the long bus rides.
I immediately recognised here in Colombia that apart from good exotic fruits such as lulu there are panaderías and pastelerías on each corner partially selling delicious bread but also a lot of sugary sweet stuff.
After a typical Colombian dinner (rice, beans and chicken) I took the night bus via Pasto to Popayán at 9pm, super bendy with noisy double music and crying kids (Supertaxi for 25,000; at least you can again haggle a bit) where I arrived at 5am in the morning.

Th, 25.05. Popayán-San Agustín
From Popayán I then continued with a small Colectivo bus and more expensive (Cootranshuila for 30,000) another 4h via partially unsealed roads and incredibly strong unfiltered black dust but beautiful green hilly landscapes with many rivers and waterfalls to San Agustín.
San Agustín is with only 16,000h a small relaxed village located at 1,275m and was declared a magic-holy place and a World Heritage Site in 1995. Together with Isnos it lies within a mountain and volcano region in the Colombian massif and the landscape is just breathtaking, with many waterfalls and rivers - above all Río Magdalena, Colombia's most important river. I rarely had a place where I felt so at ease and secure and also finally understood why everbody is so fascinated about Colombia: the landscapes are already so diverse and the people just so incredibly friendly, welcoming and helpful :)
The village itself is especially known for its archealogical park and further sites with stone statues from the pre-Colombian time. Until today their meaning is not quite clear, they are tombs, presents or decorations and can be found everywhere in the region. There is again a strong German influence - this time with Preuss who brought some statues to Germany where they can be found still today in Berlin's museums.
After a nice welcome in the family-run hostel San Luis I went to the archealogical park to see Casa-Museo, Mesitas A-D, Fuente y Alto de Lavapatas as well as Bosque de las Estatuas; everything very interesting and also within quite nice scenery. After that I hiked up to La Pelota and El Purutal, two more sites on private ground and with the only coloured statues. They have all still been the originals, well preserved and on the way back I enjoyed a nice sunset.

Fr, 26.05. San Agustín
I visited two more sites in the morning, El Tablon and La Chaquira - the first one was not that spectacular, the second one even more but not because of the stones but for the incredible view of the valley and many waterfalls; that was definitively worth the dozen stairs :)
I then had a genious jeep tour to more sights in the region. Back in Germany you have to pay a lot of money for an offroad adventure tour, here you get it almost for free :P I have seldomly seen roads in such a poor condition with tremendous holes, that was a real adventure ;) Thanks to low season we were also only 5 people, apart from me 2 boys from Spain and 2 from Germany. We first passed a lot of coffee, sugar cane, sweetcorn, banana and lulu farms (South Huila is Colombia's 2nd most important coffee region after Salento) to Estrecho de Rio Magdalena, with only 2,20m the narrowest part of the river. After that we saw the Obando tombs, this village is also known for Panela (solid, brown, organic sugar) as well as cuy - to my surprise guinea pig is after Peru and Ecuador also eaten here.
After that we continued to Alto de los Idolos and de las Piedras, two more sites in the community of Isnos - again interesting but I have kind of seen enough stones now :O More interesting were then the 400 and 200m high waterfalls Salto de Bordones and del Mortiño.
As Colombia is famous for its salsa I first thought about going to Cali, the country's salsa capital - however, I then heard from many locals and backpackers that the town is not so safe with some drug issues, also not really nice and salsa can be seen everywhere in the country. Allright, plans changed and moving to the next highlight: the super hot Tatacoa Desert :)

Sa, 27.05. Tatacoa Desert
The roughly 330km2 large Tatacoa desert is located only 3* north of the Equator and a bit off the beaten path 40km East of Huila's capital Neiva.
That being said: pretty long trip and bus rides. From San Agustín I first had to take a Colectivo 1h to Pitalito and then another 4h to Neiva (Cootranshuila, 25,000). There the adventure already began with a 1,5h dusty rollercoaster ride in an open jeep (15,000) in the heart of the desert and a nice hostel called La Tranquilidad. The people were again very nice, the name wasn't a lie and it was indeed quite relaxing. Since the desert has exhorbitant prices due to transport, cooling and in general being a touristy place (1l water for 4,000 io 3,500, almuerzo for 15,000 io 6,000) I brought a lot of water and pre-cooked food. I also had a new sleeping experience there: as often common in Colombia's warm and hot places (Desert and Caribbean coast) I spent my first night in a hammock - a nice experience outside and with only 12,000P also cheaper as the pretty hot dorm.
After lunch I immediately hit the incredibly hot desert (I already need some new expensive sunscreen :P) and its spectacular nice landscapes. We first went to the red part Parte roja and saw the formations cuzco, torres, ojo and tetero. After a well deserved break including super sweet sugar cane juice we then went to the grey part Parte gris to admire fantasmas, catedrales, torres jemelas - just have a look below, pictures say more than thousand words ;)
In the evening I had another good experience in the observatory. As quite common for deserts there was a spectacular sky full of stars and for more than an h we learned quite a lot about constellations, plants, the universe etc. - the guide really new the names of every star and explained us many constellations such as the Southern Cross, skorpio or dog. After that we had another h to look through different types of telescopes and saw, amongst others, saturn and jupiter; btw there were again German influences with Bayer and Hendl.
I then had a pretty nice evening with 7 Colombians with an awesome humour telling me a lot about Colombia and teaching me my first Salsa steps - a super cultural exchange :)))

Su, 28.05. Tatacoa-Nieva-Bogotá-San Gil
A long, very long, suuuper long travel day.
After a relaxed morning including an amazing sunrise in the desert and sleeping until 8am the long journey began: from the hot Tatacoa desert I first had to take the 1,5h adventurous and dusty jeep ride via Villavieja back to Neiva (15,000). From there we were supposed to drive 4h (which turned out to be almost 6h due to constant stops, mountain roads and city traffic; Transportes Rapido Tolima, 30,000) with incredibly loud thriller, We are the Millers and Rome films to rainy, wet and cold Bogotá. As I wanted to meet up with a friend a couple of days later in Colombia's capital I waited a few hours with salsa, classic and Titanic music in the pretty big terminal and took a 6h night bus (Berlinas, 35,000) to Colombia's adventure and outdoor capital San Gil where I arrived around 4am.
Colombia is another big country and especially due to poor and bendy road conditions the distances are all quite long; I am currently spending most of my money on transport but the destinations are definitively worth it, there is just too much to see here ;)

Mo, 29.05. San Gil: PN Cañon de Chicamocha & Barichara
Strangely enough the night bus already arrived at 4am and thus 1,5h earlier and did not drop me off at the terminal but on the street; somehow night buses are always 1-2h quicker and day rides 1-2h longer, especially as they usually stop at restaurants for breakfast or lunch. Still sleeping there was fortunately a super nice young Colombian who took me and another German backpacker Rebecca via taxi for 2,500 to the centre where we were welcomed by another super nice Colombian in her already booked hostel and could sleep free of charge for another 3h on the sofa, blanket included - Colombian people are just so amazing ;)
Well recovererd and fed we then immediately went to Cañon de Chicamocha, a valley located 1h north of San Gil close to Bucaramanga (9,000, Cotra San Gil). The ride alone was worth every penny and the landscape along the valley just beautiful. We first enjoyed the nice view incl birds and could not believe that they built an enormous water action park 3y ago; but well that should help the tourism...After that we had a roughly 1,5h hike into the canyon - a nice walk, first all the way down which we then steeply had to go up on the way back in the middle of the heat; definitively already a good morning exercise :P
We then went back to San Gil and from there roughly 40m west (Cotra sangil, 4,000) to Barichara, known as Colombia's most beautiful pittoresque town and part of the World Heritage. In the local language it means place of relaxation and it was indeed very nice: located within green Andean hills it has very beautiful colonial buildings, a main square with cathedral as well as some more smaller capels, green painted and planted windows and balconies, cobblestone streets but especially again the nice and generous population. Close to the cemetery we enjoyed an incredible view of the whole valley before starting our 2h hike along the so called Camino Real to the village Guane - a real adventure as it would turn out later :O Again there were some German influence as the stony, a bit similar to Roman streets path was built by German engineer and architect Geo von Lengerke who influenced North Santander with the so called caminos de Lengerke. Typical food of this region are btw grilled ants but I did not want to stress my stomach after my experiences in Asia :P As usual we followed all the signs until we met an American couple around 4pm who fortunately told us that we took the wrong way, damn it :P That literally meant the whole way 1,5h back but this time running against the time and sunset - and exactly here I had another awesome experience with Colombia's people: until today I cannot believe how lucky we were but on a road junction we passed a small lorry whose driver returned to Barichara and actually gave us a ride 15m later - such an incredibly nice gesture, especially as the rollercoaster ride already took half an h and we probably wouldn't have been able to arrive before darkness and to catch the last bus - thanks Colombia :-*
Back in San Gil we then went to the big shopping mal due to the late time and based on the public holiday already closed shops to have a healthy veg meal in the evening :)

Tu, 30.05. San Gil: Ciudad - Tunja-Villa de Leyva
San Gil itself is definitively bigger than I thought and with a population of 100,000h can also not be considered as a village. The town is not that nice but a good getaway for excursions to the canyon and Barichara as well as Colombia's adventure and adrenaline capital with guaranteed outdoor fun such as rafting, upsailing, canyoning, bungy jumping, paragliding, cave tours etc. It was already very hot and humid at 8am, there is a lot of sun and palm trees. It is steeply built in the hills, has 3 interesting hills Cerro Gruta, de la Cruz y de la Milagrosa as well as a nice main square Parque la Libertad with the church Iglesia Catedral.
In the morning I strolled along the Parque Natural El Gallineral with its typical trees and relaxed on the river Río Suarez.
In the afternoon I then headed 4h back south to Tunja, capital of Boyacá region (Copetran, 40,000) and then another 40m to the picturesque town of Villa de Leyva (Cootransvilla, 7,000) where I arrived around 6pm - in the best hostel ever :)
I really have to mention the Family Host World here: it is located in a quiet neighbourhood but still very central only 2 blocks from the bus terminal and only 10m walk from the main square and you feel at home like in a family from the very first minute. Amy and her family are very nice, the kitchen is well equipped including a lot of spices, there are many friends passing by and in the evening there was even salsa and a communal dinner. But the best and a new experience for me was sleeping in a single tent including thick, very comfortable mattress, just amazing :)

We, 31.05. Villa de Leyva: PN Santuario Iguaque
The next day I was in such a good hiking mood that I jumped into a 40m bus (Coomultrasvilla, 4,000) to go to the national park Santuario de Flora y Fauna Iguaque, 67,5km2 located at an altitude of 3,500-3,750m. It is known for mist covered mountain ranges north-east of Villa with pristine wilderness protected by the indigeneous Muiscas and the here so typical páramo (high altitude grassland; only because of the humid climate there is still such a lot of vegetation at 3,000m altitude). In total there are 8 small mountain lakes with Laguna Iguaque as most famous one to which we (I met a really nice French guy in the bus) also hiked. From the bus stop Casa de Piedra we first walked 40m to the visitor centre where we again had to face Gringo prices and discrimination by having to pay an entrance fee of 44,500P (Colombians for sure only pay 16,000) - but well, the park and then the very steep and exhausting but nice hike through forests and over rocks with the lagoon were definitively worth it plus we also got a free ride on the way back :)
Villa de Leyva is with 10,000 habitants and located in Boyacá region similar to Barichara another small town that still lives and incorporates the old style. It is a nice sleepy village located within a highly situated valley and impressed me again with its colonial houses, squares and churches as well as its nice people. Moreover, it has South America's biggest Plaza Mayor with a cute little cathedral.
In the evening we had a super delicious communal dinner with salsa and relaxing time in the hammock - what a nice day :)))

Th, 01.06. Villa de Leyva-Bogotá
In the morning I first slept in until 7:30am and then went to the so called Casa Terracota or Casa de Barro, the world's biggest ceramic building in numerous forms and formations. It is a unique piece of art made by Octavio Mendoza Morales and reminded me a bit of Hundertwasserhaus in Darmstadt.
In the afternoon I then took a 2,5h bus (Flota Valle de Tenza, 22,000) further south to the capital Bogotá and to Mosquera to visit my friend Daniela who I met in Ica, Peru and invited me to her home.
Similar to other South American countries the words mañana (tomorrow), ahorita (right now) have a totally different meaning and you should never rely on them :P However, the Colombians talk quite nice with 'Si señora' and 'con mucho gusto', oh I just like it :)Read more