Colombia Travel Report 7: Tatacoa Desert

As Chingaza National Park seemed to be somewhat hard to reach without an own car, I decided to go to the Tatacoa Desert instead. What a great decision. This final destination should turn out to be my favourite of the whole trip.

Somewhat basic accomodation as I missed the last bus directly to the desert, where I could have found some nicer hostals.

Supposedly, the trip would have taken 4h, but in fact it took me a whole day to go there from Salento - and then I didn't even reach the desert, but was stranded in a nearby city. A middle-aged lady asked me and Jihair (that's a name, just in case...), a Colombian fellow traveller I met in the bus terminal, if we needed some accomodation for the night. Indeed, we did. Seems to happen quite often, that people miss the last bus...

Me, Jihair from Colombia and the two ladies from Croatia: Marsha and Zora.

We spent the night in a really basic and not too clean house of the woman's family. Although it was not too pleasant, at least our "hosts" were friendly and I got an insight into how probably a large part of Colombia's population really lives - namely, somewhat basic.

The desert was sooo impressive. From one moment to the other, it suddenly begins. Green flora turns into ... nothing. Just red or grey stone (the desert consist of two areas which feature either color).

Funnily enough, it was in the desert where for the first time on this trip I was with some travel companions...Jihair who I had already mentioned, as well as Marsha and Zora from Croatia. As they both lived in Italy, they spoke an awkward mixture of English and a variety of Spanish that sounded much more like Italian than anything else... But well, we got along.

After our bike trip during the day (and with blazing heat), at night we went to the observatory, where an astronomer explained us the stars. Very beautiful. But suddenly I got veeeery tired and so I was lucky to finally slip into my bed.

So, this was my trip through (a very tiny part of) Colombia. Some concluding thoughts...

Colombia indeed was impressive. People were nice. Landscapes were beautiful. Travelling felt safe. Food... well, nothing to talk home about. In fact, among all the Latin American countries I know so far (which is nothing more than Mexico, Peru and Colombia), I liked Colombia least. Perhaps I just spent too little time here. But I felt that people are much more reserved than in Mexico. That landscapes are less diverse than in Peru or Mexico. That food simply doesn't compare to what Peru offered.

Of course, all this has to be seen in perspective. All in all, Colombians still were really open, warm-hearted, attentive, and less macho than Mexicans (is there any country which is more?!).

The Colombians I met smiled a lot and were pleasantly discrete. Call me prudish, but I really enjoyed the break from being forced to watch softporn - in contrary to Mexico, where people literally "eat" each other in public.

A word about language (uh, I like the combination of word and language in that context): Despite what they say about Colombian Spanish being the clearest one of all Latin American accents, personally I didn't get a grasp... It not only sounds strange, but words are completely different than in Mexico:  

• Bocadillo (instead of guayaba, i.e. guava)?
• Marañon (instead of Nuez de la India, i.e. cashew)?
• Coger (instead of tomar, i.e. take)?
• Señor (instead of joven, i.e. waiter!)?
• Mono (which literally means "monkey", instead of güero, i.e. gringo)? 
• A la orden (instead of dígame, i.e. yes...?)?
• Con gusto (instead of sale, i.e. ok)?
• Chévere (instead of chido, i.e. cool)?

And not to forget the different accents. Mexicans are certainly not the ones who stick most to grammatical rules (or well, any rules...). But hey - they do get the pronounciation if there is an accent.

Dear Colombians - it's written frijoles, so why on earth do you pronounce it fríjoles? And its bus, not bʉs...

Ok, difference in vocabulary and pronounciation also appear plenty in Peru, but at least I never heard that Peruvian Spanish is considered to be crsytal clear.

But anyway, I enjoy languages and to observe the differences, so I really liked to discover these "anomalies".

Bargaining in Latin America is big. But in Colombia, it's definitely king. And you'd better adapt quickly, if you don't want to get ripped off at every turn. Even things that in other "bargaining countries" are "non-negotiable", like the price of food or transport, are definitely subject to some considerable discounts - just ask.

I asked several Colombians if they cook and eat very differently at home than what you get on the street. I hoped they'd say yes, but actually... no. For me, this translates to banana, beans, rice, and some kind of meat... every day. Gosh. But at least, while food might not be the reason to come to Colombia, at least it's easy to "veganize" it - in contrary to what you'll read in many guide books or websites. In fact, I really enjoyed the Swiss chard that for some reason was abundnat all over Colombia.

So, the final verdict: Colombia is definitely worth a visit. Just focus on the super nice people (who even dance in the coffee shop between serving two clients) and not so much on the culinary side. Cheers!