Thewesternprovinceblog

A 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 history nerd travelling The New World. ¿What could possibly go wrong? Join me on my way to The fabled lands of Ar Wladfa 🇦🇷

recent posts

about

A 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 history nerd travelling The New World. ¿What could possibly go wrong? Join me on my way to The fabled lands of Ar Wladfa 🇦🇷 in 🇨🇴

  • The Road to Macchu Picchu: Night bus to Arequipa. Ft. The Nazca Lines

    Hola todos! Thursday going through to Friday was quite the full on travel day. It involved a double bus journey, first to Nazca and then overnight through to Arequipa.

    So to start with I get up and wait until 11:00 for check out of the hostel I am in as it is going to be quite a wait for the bus (it leaves at 13:45). Once I leave I walk to a place called the Wild Rover Hostel which has an arrangement with @peruhop so you can leave your bags in a storeroom there free of charge and I do just that ditch the big pack there and have a wander round the oasis, chat to a local feller for a bit then find a decent cafe which does a menu del día for a fiver. Had lunch there to kill time then I’m back for the bus.

    Our guide, Bo meets us there and we load back up onto the bus and off we go. First it is about a 3.5 hour ride to Nazca, where we get off outside the town itself and go climb this observation tower where once at the top you can see 3 of the many many Nazca Lines. From the tower you can see the Constellations of the tree of life, the Lizard and the. The chicken. In the Nazca culture what do they mean?

    Chicken – 4 and 5 hands represents human and animal connection.

    Tree of life – Huarango tree only tree that grows in the desert.

    Lizard – represents the underground in the culture of Nazca.

    This is a massive oversimplification of course and it barely scratches the surface. The entire region around Nazca is a Cartographic map of different constellations. The Nazca were very connected with Astronomy and in parts they have representations of things which did not exist in this desert such as cats in the lines which does make you wonder who or what influenced them in these rituals? 

    Another thing worth noting is the Candelabro back in Paracas is also connected to the lines though it’s exact relationship with them is not known. Might have been made by the Nazca themselves or the ancient Paracas culture or some kind of directional marker to the lines. Honestly without spending ages reading deep into it it is hard to draw a conclusion here.

    This brief visit was quite informative but if you want to see all of the lines you would need to take a flight over the desert here and even then you probably won’t see it all.

    After this and a brief stop in Nazca town It was back on the bus for the overnight ride to Arequipa. I didn’t kip much on the bus but about 0530 we arrive into Arequipa as the sun is coming up. Luckily the place I am staying will let me check in at 0800. Meanwhile I have a little bit of a wait.

    I will talk about my first days in Arequipa on the next one. Ciao ciao for now!

  • Paracas: Islas Ballestas – Perú’s ‘Mini Galapagos’

    Hola todos! For today’s installment I will go over the main attraction of Paracas; Las Islas Ballestas, Also known as the ‘Mini Galapagos’ of Peru

    So through @peruhop I was able to book onto this tour through their partner app for about £15. It is a two hour tour around these Islands. You can do a 7.40 or 9.40 tour. Being a bit tired from the travel day and tour yesterday I opted for the later slot. Good job as I nearly overslept my alarm.

    0940 comes round and we are soon taken onto our boat. It’s a bit bigger than the typical small boats they do on these tours which is pretty nice. First it’s about a half hour boat ride past the peninsula where we hikes last night. The sea is pleasant and there are some nice views heading to the Islands.

    On the way we Briefly stop to see the ‘Candelabro of Paracas’. This formation in the sand has been here for over 2000 years yet nobody knows who made this and why the sand simply does not bury it. After this brief stop we were over to the Islands.

    Once we get there we are greeted by the sight of Penguins on the cliffs along with lots and lots of sea lions on the shores. Our guide tells us it is mating season for them and yes it is, you can see hundreds of them including baby ones once we loop round to the other side.

    There is also a sort of factory here where every so many years they harvest bird shit here to make fertilizer – it is the best in the world apparently and there is no shortage of bird shit – there are loads of birds here including pelicans and these native ones to this place which have this white mark on their heads.

    After about an hour going around the Island it is a short half hour ride back to port. After we get back to port I decide to go for a swim in the sea. Despite how hot this place gets in the day the water is quite cold – circa 16-18 grados I recall someone saying. Not quite West Wales but you feel the chill getting in. Still was a good way to pass the afternoon without spending more money.

    The evening later was quite uneventful. Tomorrow we are back on the road and heading to Huacachina, the desert Oasis 🏝️

  • Paracas: Las Sombras Doradas

    Hola todos! After my arrival in Paracas and check in to the hostel I got onto a last minute sunset hiking tour known as the Golden Shadows. This tour takes you about half hour out of town by minivan where you are taken to a nice viewpoint of the coast before starting the guided trek up the sand dunes.

    We met up at 1515 in the centre of town before being loaded into the wagon. After a quick but very bumpy drive we are soon there and we start the trail with out local guide, Micky @tafurzz and his company Paracas Horizon I would highly recommend them.

    As we begin the sunset hike temperature begins to drop from the oppressive heat that it was during the day to a calm mid 20’s in grados C. Very pleasant weather for it.

    We soon ascend up these mountains and what you see looks like a very alien environment, almost like another planet. Micky goes on to explain this area is 40% salt as where we stand would all have been underwater 30-40 million years ago and though the sea has recorded high tides do bring water back into these valleys occasionally creating a big salt flat that back in the day would have been a huge resource to the natives here. In fact much of the salt here gets exported to Canada where they use it on their frozen highways in the winter.

    After walking for about an hour we come to the top where there is a sharp drop off a cliff and from this point we watch a brilliant sunset. In fact we walk so high up we watch it set from above the clouds!

    Though it added 4 hours onto what had been a quite dragged out travel day it was 100% worth it. After the sun set it was a brief walk back down the Sand Mountains and back to the van which was waiting. 

    After this we get back to town, get Mickey’s WhatsApp details for the photos he taken and that was the end of that.

    Tomorrow we do the main attraction of Paracas – the Mini Galapagos island chain.

  • The Road to Macchu Picchu: Lima to Paracas

    Hola todos! So yesterday I started my way on the road to Cuzco and ultimately toward Macchu Picchu. While I was in Lima I looked into the logistics of how to proceed and it looked messy to say the least; there is little info online for buses and what is more crazy is Lima doesn’t have a proper central bus terminal but every company runs out of their own depots all on different sides of the city and with info online being scarce looking at it the old fashioned way would also be difficult too, however a pal of mine who had passed through while I was in Colombia mentioned a company called Peruhop, which runs a hop on hop off service from Lima to Cuzco and even goes as far as La Paz, Bolivia. They also do a few mini tours in between places so seems ideal. Also it saves a lot of faffing round as they pick up either from your gaff or from central meeting points. Looking at it I opted for this as it didn’t work out that much more expensive than doing local buses separate and saves hassle, especially as some of these will be night buses.

    Anyways Monday morning I was up and out early for the 0630 pickup from the hotel opposite where I was staying. We were quickly boarded and on way. Once you get out of Lima you see how much of a Wasteland Peru is, well it is pretty much the start of the Atacama desert here and it shows in the terrain. You have vast swathes of sandy wasteland with what looks like the occasional mining site while eventually you come to small towns with lots of irrigation fields built around where small rivers flow down out of the Andes. It is quite a place to see and could be any random planet from the Star Wars universe here. Suprisingly They actually didn’t film any of the old Star Wars films in Peru though! 

    After the drive through we stopped at a place called Hacienda San Jose, which was basically a slave plantation back in the day which also had a church and was run by the Jesuit order. Highly interesting place though it was bloody hot there. Don’t know but mid 30’s I guess.

    They showed us round the gaff and also it’s hidden catacombs that only got found after an earthquake in 2007. It was a dark place as was used to quarantine newly arrived slaves and later used to bury them alive after abolition in the 1830’s. Walking through those tight spaces was quite freaky and haunting. It was a rather brief tour and after that we were out and on our way to Paracas.

    Once in Paracas I did two tours, the Golden Shadow trek the evening I arrived and the Mini Galapagos boat trip the next day. I will cover these both as separate posts. The evening unfortunately was pretty shit largely as it had been a long day with a tour thrown in I was losing patience and end up not doing both the pisco sour class and the viajero meetup and end up going out to eat by myself and then going to a locals bar for a few brews. 

    Golden Shadows and Mini Galapagos coming up soon.

  • Begin Act 6 – Inca Country: Arrival and wrap up on Lima

    Hola todos! I apologise for the sudden absence of blogging since we left off at the end of Colombia though I have had a spot of Road Flu that while the initial cold passed fairly fast I still feel bunged up with a chest infection which has made conversing with people somewhat different. I think I’m over the worst of it now however.

    I have done a few activities since I got here though have not done that much since I arrived. Right now I have decided to stay in Lima for another week before starting back on the road towards Cuzco and Machu Picchu. Lima is quite chill for a capital city and has been very much a far cry from the chaos that Colombia was when we landed there. It has been quite relaxed to be fair and I’m enjoying the change of pace.

    So what to note? After I arrived and got settled in I did the usual thing of doing a few walking tours, namely around the city centre and the Bohemian neighbourhood, Barranco, both are quite interesting places. The city centre looks very much like the historic part of Mexico City with the grandiose buildings and the large square (Plaza Mayor). Barranco is quite a laid back and chill place which also has some nice views out to sea, as does Miraflores where I am staying if you walk 20 minutes down to the Malecón – a big cliffside from where you can see the sea and the beaches below. They are apparently a good surfing spot though I haven’t gone down there and given it a go as of the time of writing. It is a bit steep maybe try in the next place.

    I also visited Fort Real Felipe over in Callao and that place was quite interesting and I learned a bit more history that I didn’t know about Peru. Might do a separate post to cover this one off. 

    Overall what have I been up to? Well between nursing my cold and visiting the must visits here I have been to a few meetups and events and met a few locals but nobody I really completely clicked with. Overall I have taken it quite easy here.

    After spending a week and a bit here I am now starting on my way to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. The next stop is a little beach place called Paracas, the home of Peru’s Mini Galapagos islands. The plan from there is to head further south into the desert to Huacachina and then to Arequipa before going up to Cuzco and then to Lake Titicaca before passing to Bolivia.

    Now that I am back on the road regular blogging shall resume.

  • Hasta Luego Colombia 🇨🇴

    As I ready myself to leave Colombia it’s once again time to wrap up another chapter of the Journey.

    Colombia has been I would say has treated me reasonably well and has by no means been the worst leg of this Journey though it has not been without it’s ups and downs, part of the negative experiences here I feel were at least part my fault because of how I approached and dealt with situations others just from being targeted. That said we’ve made it through without being mugged or scoped etc so that has to count for something. My one regret of this leg was probably not talking to and engaging with the locals as much I had done on previous legs, however that said I have generally been treated fine.

    Colombia is a vast and geographically diverse country and there is just about something for everyone here. You want beaches? Go to the Northern Coast. You want cities? Go to Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Cartagena etc. you want Mountains or hiking, go to places like Salento, Jardín etc. Colombia even has snowy mountains in places. Whatever you are looking for you will find your vibe somewhere in Colombia.

    The food here has also been very good, very filling but not very good if your vegetarian or vegan since everything here is meat and lots of it weather it be bandeja paisa or street food arepas. I think I’ve done well there apart from getting food poisoning in Coveñas.

    Overall despite many of my experiences here being mixed at the time I think I’ve enjoyed Colombia. Would I come back here again? Yes. As much as I have seen there is still a lot more places I would like to do. I would not be surprised if I find myself back here someday.

    Summary of places visited:

    I think it is best to split the Colombia leg into 3 distinct parts

    Part 1 – The Carribbean coast.

    To be honest I sort of flunked this leg having ended up skipping quite a few of the supposed best places in the country out past Santa Marta such as Minca, Tairona and Palomino. My experience of the north was probably overall the worst in the country and didn’t leave the greatest of first impressions though luckily that generally got better the further south we went. To sum up each destination:

    • Cartagena de Indias – Cartagena, the first stop in Colombia and in some sense the gatwway to South America. This place is a complete circus when you land, especially if you stayed in Getsemani or the Historic part of town, firstly when you land expect a long time waiting in line, then when you get out and into the city be ready to be thrown into a busy place with lots of touts hassling you – seriously you couldn’t cross one side of the road to the other in the historic part without someone getting in your face trying to sell you something. Where there is this much touring there’s also plenty of pretty scams to get hit with – see my first 2 blogs on the place, I got hit with 3 (Uber driver app glitch scam, guy begging for money saying he got jumped and robbed and a bar putting extra drinks on my tab that I didn’t order). What else to say? Cartagena is quite expensive compared to the rest of Colombia being a tourist circus so expect to get ripped off at least a few times here if visit. With the bad things about it out the way what was good? Well it is a very beautiful historic walled city being the main port of Spanish Colombia back in the day, as such you can walk through the city and many parts of the historic centre still look like they are in the 1700’s. You can also walk the walls and visit fort San Felipe to learn the history of the many battles that took place in and around Cartagena. I would also recommend a free walking tour through the historic centre and Getsemani; it is a very colourful neighborhood with lots of street art. Another thing to mention is that much like everywhere else on Colombia’s northern coast it is very hot here, you might want to splash out on a place with AC here. While I didn’t personally get to them there are meant to be some nice islands to go do day trips to if you want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. Despite all the nonsense Cartagena was okay and could do a revisit one day.
    • Santa Marta – Santa Marta I only spent one night at before promptly getting an early bus back to Cartagena and going to Coveñas instead. Was a sort of split second decision though doing that I did miss out on Minca, Tairona and Palomino which are apparently some of the best parts of Colombia and ate sort of a mini hippie trail. Santa Marta itself wasn’t much to look at, the whole place had the vibe of an American version of Benidorm, just an ugly city with lots of apartment blocks by the beach. Did do a decent tour of the historic part though I didn’t stick around. I was mentally in a slump at the time I got to Santa Marta and also part of the bail decision was because I had met quite a lot of idiots who were just looking to score drugs and figured there would be lot more of that nonsense if I did carry on up into hippy country. I later learned people only use it as a jumping point to go further into the north which explains it. Maybe I’ll come back one day and do the hippie trail.
    • Coveñas – This one is quite off the beaten track for Gringos as I found out when I got there – after bailing on Santa Marta and everything that way I decided to try this place out. The only reason I knew about it was because of talking to the owner of the last hostel I stayed in back in Cartagena and she mentioned this place as an alternative to Santa Marta, so off I went after bailing on SM. Coveñas is a nice chill little beach town and a cool place to have some R&R and that is exactly what I did for about a week. There are some trips you could do but I personally didn’t as I was recovering from my first real point of burnout on this trip. All I really did was go swim in the sea, siesta and have a few drinks in the evening, rinse and repeat. Coveñas was super cheap and that is because while it is a big tourist destination it is a tourist spot for Colombians mainly from Bogotá, Medellín or other cities inland – I was the only Gringo here when I visited but didn’t get any trouble. The only trouble I did have was getting food poisoning on my last day here because as you can imagine food standards here are a bit more ‘loose’ shall we say than more international spots out here. Still was a good place to rest but you need to know Spanish here, I also don’t want to be that dickhead who puts it on the Gringo circuit and spoils it for the Colombians so take it as you will though I enjoyed.
    • Montería – Montería was another place off the beaten track I visited in the north, mainly because it was the last major stop on the bus route between Cartagena and Medellín and I wanted to travel by day so I could see Colombia. Montería’s economy is very much based around agriculture; it is the main hub where everything farmed in the north goes to get traded, apparently it is also one of the most poorest cities in Colombia. It did look very rough around the edges and plenty of areas did look sketchy from the obvious poverty one can see here. I did walk around by myself at night here but same time didn’t push my luck i.e. stayed near my hotel and didn’t stay out too late and had no problems but once again being the only Gringo in town here.Montería does have a river (the Sinú) that runs through it and on the banks on the southern side where the main city ia there are some pretty parks and you can do an hour’s river tour in the evening for £6 if I remember. It does get Colombian tourists visiting there usually coming and going from the towns around Coveñas. Overall it was a rather basic place, didn’t hate its a one day and done kind of place.

    Part 2 – Central Colombia Overall was a decent experience with some very notable lows. Overall though I enjoyed central Colombia and there is a lot here I didn’t get round to seeing or doing simply because of time and logistics.

    • Medellín + Guatapé – So Medellín was a bit of a weird one as I ended up staying in a Blink Spanish School there for 3 weeks including Christmas and New year. I did enjoy it but because of how the schedule worked out it meant I had a rigid routine which meant I couldn’t do much free exploring between the classes, homeworks and extra activities such as the Salsa classes and mini tours to miradores etc.I did get out on the weekends and done the must do’s such as Comuna 13 and a full day excursion to Guatapé, which were both very much worth it. Comuna 13 to see the darker side of Medellín’s history during the Escobar era and how it’s transformed since those times have passed. Guatapé was a very cool day trip and very cheap having been sorted through the school. I forget the name of the company but it was sorted through the school. Guatapé is very much worth the visit with the big rock and the town itself is very pretty and colourful and a nice place if you want to get out of the city for a bit. Might have stayed here a few days if I wasn’t in the school. All in all was not the most exciting time here but was okay for what it was, all in all I played it safe and didn’t do anything too crazy out here and didn’t see as much of the city as I would have otherwise. Should I revisit Colombia another visit to Medellín would be on the Itinerary.Meanwhile if you want to check out the Spanish School here is the link to their website: https://blinkspanish.com/
    • Manizales – Manizales was interesting. Although I only stayed here 3 nights the place had a good feeling to it. It is a city about 1800 meters up into the mountains and it has a very similar climate to that of Wales in Spring or late summer – low 20’s in degs C and a tendency to rain suddenly and rain a lot. I was actually there during their annual Feria which takes place in the 2nd week of January and as such when I rocked up everyone was all dolled up and out and about, I didn’t go to the concert had no interest in that but it was a decent vibe out and about and could see it all set up from above on the cable car ride in. While I was in Manizales I went and checked out an ecoparque which was turned into a fairground because of the feria and also went and visited the tallest church in Colombia there which is quite the experience. Overall I liked Manizales and could go visit it again.
    • Bogotá + Zipaquirá – So Bogotá, Colombia’s capital city was okay in my opinion, I had spend a decent bit of time in La Candelaria, the historic part and Chapinero, the more up market northern part of the city. Overall while both parts were okay there was a bit more going on up in Chapinero i thought.Bogotá felt quite relaxed for a capital city though that is probably because I was a tourist there. It has some pretty bad traffic so moving round is rather slow. That said I did do a fair bit here.In Candelaria I went to several museums including both the gold museum and the casa de moneda. Both were worth a visit in my opinion. I also visited Monserrate, which is a monastery and pilgrimage site 3000 meters above sea level on a mountain top overlooking Bogotá. You can hike it or take the cable car up for a few quid each way. In the northern part I mostly chilled out but did do a collectivo excursion to Zipaquirá – this is another small colourful town like Guatapé but it has the salt cathedral which is about 200 meters underground into the mountain. It very much resembles scenes of out The Mines of Moria in Lord of the Rings. It is a bit expensive to get in but very much worth it. On return here back in February before flying to Lima I did try to find a bus to go to Guatavita but proved to be too much of a faf the day before a flight so bailed on that and had a look round the botanical gardens and a few parks, which were nice and relaxed. Overall I think I quite liked Bogotá and would stay a few days if I visit Colombia again.
    • Ibagué – I will keep this one short as Ibagué was just a bloody weird and awkward experience from start to finish staying in that family place – See ‘Kindness comes with a service charge’ blog for the full rundown there. While there is some history and good natural beauty to see about an hour’s drive north of it but you’d probably have to rent a motor for a day to get out there.Ibagué itself was quite hot and humid and not an easy place to get around needing to take Ubers or local buses. It’s also apparently the musical capital of Colombia but where we went there was not music playing! Personally I would probably give this one a miss unless I was traveling with a vehicle.
    • Salento – Salento is probably the place I would say was the favourite of this leg because it was very nice in several ways. Firstly the town itself is a cute little place high up in the mountains, high up and climate mild enough not to have mosquito’s about which is always a plus. Salento is another very colourful place and very relaxed. It was also pretty cheap to stay and feed yourself. Only real downside to it is most places shut quite early even on the weekend so it’s not a place to go if your looking for party but if your looking for chill it’s the place to be.In and around it you got some good places to visit. Firstly a slow day exploring the miradores on the edge of town is very much recommended for the views of the town and the valleys around it. Another thing to do is Jump into the Willie Jeeps and do a tour of one of the coffee finca’s nearby and learn all about ‘the fine art of making coffee’ which I did an long blog post on. But pack the mozzie repellent because while in Salento itself there’s none you drop about 400 meters in altitude going to the finca’s and that puts you in their ideal breeding ground – I was getting bitten to death and watching red blobs form on my arms in real time while I was there! Still very much recommend! For hiking you have the main attraction of Salento, the Valle de Cocora. This is a quite a. Challenging hike where you again take the Jeep to and then do a long uphill hike round in a circle. It is about 10k of hiking with an optional additional 8k if you go and do the hummingbird trail as well – see my ‘Hiking the valle de Cocora’ blog for the full thing but it has some lovely views and is the native place for giant 60 meter palm trees that you see across Colombia. Overall I absolutely loved Salento and if there was one place I would consider living in Colombia at that would be it.
    • Honourable mention – Jardin – I will close this part with a mention to Jardín, which is 3 hours south of Medellín which is meant to be very similar to Salento, however I never got there as while it is easy to reach from Medellín It is not from Manizales or Salento and given timings and logistics I simply never got there. It is one for next time if I revisit this country

    Part 3 – Southern Colombia – My exploration here was largely limited due to the fact that by the time I got to Popayan the decision to skip Ecuador had to been made and plans redrawn to get back to Bogotá, however of what I seen I overall quite enjoyed the southern parts of Colombia and much like central there is still a lot of places I never got to. To talk on what I did do:

    • Cali – Salsa Capital of the world 💃💃💃. Need I say more for this one? I’ll refer you to my ‘All things Salsa’ blog post for the full rundown but to sum it up almost everything there revolves around Salsa be it day or night. Outside of Salsa there wasn’t much to do. There are some out of town tours but didn’t go on them as we’re a bit expensive.
    • Popayán – The White city and ‘Jerusem of the Americas’ was quite interesting and also a cool place climate wise, there wasn’t that much going on in Popayán itself though it was interesting to learn it’s history and see the white buildings. It initially felt sketchy but after learning why people don’t go out at night much then you realise at least the historic part wasn’t too bad. That said an ugly modern city has grown around it and doesn’t look too nice. Much like Cali there are places out of town you can go but at that point I just wanted to move on from Colombia so skipped on them, among them the archeological site of San Augustin, which is meant to have some great indigenous artefacts but is also a long way from Popayán, maybe one for next time.
    • Neiva & The Tatacoa Desert 🏜️ – Last but most certainly not least was my detour to Bogotá via Neiva and the Tatacoa desert. I won’t elaborate too much on this one as did 3 posts to cover this leg which included the mad bus ride from Popayán to Neiva and both the Red and Grey Tatacoa deserts and the tour I did through the hostal. Check those posts out if you want the full story. The only additional I would say is I did not explore Neiva properly, though from what I did see of it I didn’t miss too much, looked like another hot and sweaty kind of one and done city much like Montería but it was however super cheap to go out and eat out there.

    If I do another trip to Colombia I would like to include these places in the south on the itinerary:

    • Pasto – 5 Hours south of Popayán, apparently has rivers going through it and canal house boats despite being 3000 meters above sea level.
    • Ipiales and Las Lajas sanctuary – The last town before the Ecuador border which while the town doesn’t look too nice the Sanctuary; a Gothic church built into the valley on a bridge looks epic. Probably my only regret of Colombia was not getting here.
    • Leticia – You have to fly to get here but it is a small town on the border with Peru and Brazil and from it you can take boats into the Amazon. I did consider going here and taking a boat to Iquitos to get around Ecuador but it still looked like you would have to fly from there so bailed on the idea. Let’s be honest I’m getting fed up of getting bitten by mozzies……..maybe next time I come to South America we do a full Amazon trip!
    • Caño Cristales – Its a waterfall of many colours but not an easy place to get to from anywhere on the route I did and only very recently is the area around it safe to travel because of guerillas operating where it is.

    That wraps this one up. You can see the photo montage reel below. Below that I will also include some photos. Onwards to Lima and Inca country

  • The Tatacoa desert 🏜️

    The Tatacoa Red Desert 🏜️ 

    Hola todos! This one is all about the Tatacoa desert trip – my last side quest in Colombia!

    I had did this trip as part of an organised full day tour run by the hostel I stayed at – Backpackers and Travelers Hostal, Neiva. This tour is organised by the hostel for the price of £32 per person, it is a smaller, more personalised group tour for 4 people at a time. Our guide, Juan was a very cool and helpful lad would highly recommend him. For info here is the link to their website HOSTELWORLD – Backpackers & Travelers Hostel Neiva

    So it was an early start for some light breakfast at 0730 and by 0800 we were in the minivan and on the road headed to a small town by the name of Villavieja. Once there we had a brief stop at this swampy lake where Juan first shows us this Ant colony which is pretty impressive, they carry leaves from up to 2 miles away on that path. We also manage to spot a croc in that little lake. It has a specific name which I forget – both the croc and the lake!

    We briefly stop at the Magdalena river to do a boat trip but the boat has an issue with the engine so that was bailed on and we moved on to the main attraction – the Tatacoa Desert!

    Pulling up into this place you are greeted by a landscape that looks like the Grand Canyon, it personally reminded me of Mount Zion from that Fallout New Vegas DLC. Out we got and we started hiking down into the Red Desert of Tatacoa; there’s another Grey desert but we go there later.

    Going down into the valley you can see all sorts of cactus plants including the prickly pears and barrel cactus plants we saw back in Mexico. Juan explains how this place became what it was. About 30-40 million years ago this valley was a lake but tectonic plates shifting caused some event which slowly drained out the lake, as the area is rich in iron ore and clay you get this red hue on the rocks and mud there. It is important to note this is not a true desert as it is about 80% dry rainforest 20% sand. The result of this is the dry mud surface that can grow desert plants and some trees similar to those found in the African Savannah plains. 

    After about 2 hours hiking round here it is time to head back to the bus, Juan tells me the boat is still broken down so we go for an early lunch at this local restaurant and have traditional Colombian lunch with soup, fruit juice and a massive bit of chicken and rice with salad. 

    After lunch the next activity was a swim in this pool full of natural hot spring water – didn’t get any pictures but it was just a normal swimming pool in this place but the water feeding it was being pumped from an underground spring. After 2 hours here we were all refreshed ready for the next hike, the Grey Desert of Tatacoa.

    Gallery of the red desert and other places. Grey desert below

    The Grey Desert is vastly different from the Red Desert. The Grey desert is larger and formed this way more due to Salt deposits? I think he said. Unlike the red desert there are lots more fossils to be found here and as we hike down into it’s many canyons, Juan shows us several including fossilsed snakes, turtles and fossilised wood from ancient forests. As we descend the canyon further we see remnants of ancient rivers which do still occasionally fill if it rains heavily as can be seen in places.

    These canyons wind on until eventually we come to a clearing where we ascend a small mountain and visit a farm real quick before walking further uphill onto a wide plain overlooking the entire place before descending down the narrowest and deepest canyon – La Entrada Señora – apparently the local folklore said women would pass through this canyon to go party way back in indigenous times. I don’t know but it was a mad place. Once through there and a few more uphills and downhills we get to the end of the trail and Juan tells us there is a nice cold beer waiting for everyone at the end and turn out yes there was. There was a little stall at the end and we all had a well earned post hike beer on the company.

    This was not quite the end as there was the additional optional extra activity of going to an observatory and looking at some stars, however when we got there lots of clouds came in and it was very hard to see them so the decision was made to head back to town early. By the time we got back it was around 20:30 pm. It had been a very busy and very good day.

    As for what’s next I am heading back to Bogotá for a few days to rest up and get some admin done with the intent to fly to Lima mid week. As I have done wrapping up previous acts of this trip will be looking to get a post mortem blog done of Colombia out just before or just after I reach Lima.

    I may try to get one more excursion in before I leave Colombia, if I do it I will drop that one before post mortem time.

    Stay tuned for the next leg of this journey – Inca country 🇵🇪🦙🇧🇴

    Gallery of the grey desert:

    Instagram links:

  • The Road to Neiva

    Hola todos!! I had originally planned to keep the Neiva leg to one blog post but the ride up here was mental, probably the most mental bus ride of the trip so far.

    So I get up and out of my hostel in Popayán and walk down to the bus station to get the 0830 bus for Neiva, i had actually booked this one online but get down to the counter and they give me my money back……..”no hay carro hoy, hubo un gran accidente te devuelvo el dinero y puedes comprarla con otra compañía”. So over to the other counter we went and traded our refund for a different bus ticket. About an hour later I’m crammed onto the Cootranshuila minibus and we are soon underway.

    The first 2 hours of this journey go by without much to note apart from stopping in the mountains for a brew. Then it starts, we start descending into this very deep valley and at different points of this windy road it goes from tarmac to a gravel or dirt track. The area is also full of unfinished construction works or areas where sections of the road have collapsed or there have been mini landslides where half of the road is buried under a rockfall. At all times there is probably a 1000 meter drop to the side off the road.

    From the amount of streams and culverts running down the mountain it suggests this happens all the time, the water gets underneath and wrecks the road, they rebuild it only for it to collapse again. For about 3 hours it goes on like this and every so often you pass through small ramshackle towns where someone jumps on board for half hour with bags of fruit, potatoes etc and then gets off at the next town. This was also a very bumpy ride and your thinking “bloody hell drive!” When we’re bouncing about by a huge cliff edge. Yeah your not nodding off on this bus ride!!

    After about 5 hours of this the road levels out and we stop at a place called La Plata where most people get off leaving about 4 people left on the bus to Neiva. Now it’s about 3 hours to go and our driver is on a mission overtaking everyone on the highway as we head to and come into Neiva.

    We end up in Neiva nearly 2 hours ahead of schedule in the end. Next it’s a quick taxi ride to the hostel, I get checked in and book myself onto the tour they do for the desert in the morning. I go out for some food and a few brews then turn in. It is an early start for the desert mañana 🏜️

  • The Jerusalem of The Americas – The White city of Popayán

    Hola todos! For today’s installment I will cover my short stay in the White City of Popayán – it is one of the holiest Spanish cities in the entire new world and is regarded by some as a ‘New Jerusalem’ in the Americas.

    The journey down here from Cali was pretty uneventful just the flatlands on the Pan American highway heading south. Once we arrived into the mountainous area where Popayán sits we soon pull into the bus station. Outside it’s a bit grotty as the city has grown around the old town in modern times but it was only 20 mins walk to the hostel so I decided to walk it.

    10 minutes in and you enter the whitewashed colonial old town and this is a pristine looking place I am later told these buildings were chalked white to get rid of an insect infestation in the region when the place was first settled and since then they made new buildings like that until modern times. 

    So I get in and get checked in usual stuff then go for a look round. It is not the biggest of places to look round and soon it’s sundown, I have some street food then go fo a beer in this little salsa music bar (nobody was dancing here though) and then have some more food. I hang at the salsa bar till about 10pm though walking back to the gaff the place didn’t feel too safe at night, everything shuts pretty early here though you still have groups of 3-4 young blokes loitering around looking shifty which did put me a little on edge but I was able to find a place to grab a few tins near my hostel and get back without incident.

    Next day I went on a walking tour with a local tour company, the other guy never showed up and so I had a private tour essentially, my guide walked me round the sites explaining how Popayán was a pilgrimage place for the indigenous locals and the first church here was built on top of the site of that after the Spanish, as per the pattern of things destroyed it. Despite all of this the place has remained a holy site and as such there are many churches here. Every year at Easter (Semana Santa) a huge parade is held here to commemorate the founding of Popayán.

    Another curiosity is the annual food festival they have in September every year where famous chefs from different countries come across and cook typical dishes from their country. You can probably see why the UK hasn’t yet got an invite.

    With that cleared up there isn’t too much else to say on Popayán. The evening went by uneventfully though I also learned its a big university town but there’s not much nightlife as there’s actually quite a lot of superstition with people saying they can hear ghosts in the city centres whitewashed walks at night, which sort of explains the too quiet feeling the place gives off after about 9-10pm.

    That wraps this one up, the next 2 installments will be on the side quest trip I did to the Tatacoa desert while making my way back to Bogotá.

  • All things Salsa 💃

    Cali, the world capital of Salsa 💃! What to say about this place? Bit hard to write this one as the near week I spent here has all been a bit of a blur it I’m being honest, my time has been mostly split between doing Salsa in the evenings either group or private classes and/or going out to Salsa clubs.

    The Salsa is quite fun but at the same time feels like it’s all it really is to the place and also going out to the clubs has been somewhat intimidating with the ol’ Agoraphobia kicking in when it gets too rammed to be able to really move. All in all has been quite fun though and I think I’ve improved quite a bit on that front.

    By day I’ve done a few walking tours to get the lay of the land but haven’t really ventured around that much in the day. This is mainly because Cali gets very hot and muggy when the sun comes up and most people stay indoors until dark with the city waking up from about 7pm onwards. There are a few decent bars nearby but if you want the true Cali experience you need to get an Uber to one of the large Salsa clubs.

    So what happened on my first day? After getting in and getting the lay of the land I go out to eat but before I do I ended up speaking to a Dutch lady in my hostel and we end up making plans to go hit a salsa club. About 10.30 we go to to a place called La Topa Tolondra, it is good fun we dance together and with some locals. I end up getting an Uber back about 1am and turn in. Not a bad start.

    Next day it’s the Cali history walking tour, this is quite interesting as they talk about how dangerous Cali used to be with the cartel wars and how now it is trying to reinvent itself as a tourist destination since the early 2000’s, the tour ends at this monument which is a testament to Jairo Varela of Grupo Niche – this world famous salsa orchestra putting Cali on the map as the Salsa capital of the world through their music. Jairo passed away in 2012 and this place is a shrine to him. I chat with a Dutch fella on the tour and we agree to meet later in the viajero hostel where he’s staying.

    I go to meet him and there’s a salsa class on though a little too late to join so I get a beer and wait for them to finish then we go out to eat, unfortunately he doesn’t come out for more salsa as he says he had a bad burger last night and was suffering from Delhi Belly. The rest of that evening I hit a few local bars but end up meeting some other folks in the viajero and we end up going back to that salsa club together though this time it was rammed and hard to move round so I sort of bailed after an hour.

    Day 3 here was another walking tour about the history of how salsa was brought to Cali from Cuba and how they embraced it as part of the culture here. Part of this tour shows a lot of muralism and how muralism became a symbol of resistance against oppression after some of the darker events of Colombia’s History – an event where several students were killed during a protest. Evening I went to salsa class the viajero hostel then went out with a different group of travellers to a different salsa club and stayed there till about 1 am.

    Days 4 and 5 I went to private salsa classes but didn’t do much else in the day. Day 5 I went to ‘Salsa’ street with a group from the viajero hostel but couldn’t get into the grove with that many people stopping you from being able to move easily.

    Day 6 I had a rest day and didn’t do much of anything and by then was salsa’d out and went to find a normal bar which I did, found a good rock music boozer and met a cool Aussie expat fella and his missus, he has been here for 5 years married to a Colombiana. We had some good conversation and he gave me some useful tips for the upcoming Peru leg.

    Day 7 and our last day here followed the same pattern as 6 and I once again met up with my new Aussie best friend in the evening. I had a pretty early one that night and the next morning was out and on to Popayán.

    Yeah so all in all that sums it up. I didn’t mind Cali but I personally didn’t have as much fun as others would say it is here. Before the trip I do have a friend who knows this place very well who had been thinking of coming down to meet me but unfortunately he was tied down with other stuff. Would have been a different ball game if you were with us for this one Marcus.

    Oh well es lo que hay! On to Popayán!