A tropical, desertic oasis

A little desert heat was just what I needed after after two days of soggy hiking. For some reason a raincoat did not make my packing list...

To get to El Desierto de la Tatacoa from San Agustin, 3 bus rides of varying comfort lie ahead. The first was a Kia minivan driven by a a young guy who treated it like a Rolls Royce. Turns out it's his dad's car and that he lets him use it to make a few bucks toting people from San Agustin to the city at the base of the mountains. Next was a 3 hour van ride with a more, shall we say 'relaxed', driver. This 2-lane route is plied by endless amounts of slow-moving fuel trucks, which the driver had no patience for. It seemed like we were either in the wrong lane, flying around a truck, or else I was staring at the Spanish for "Keep your distance, extremely flammable" right in front of our windshield.

Anyway, one more van ride and I was at the edge of the desert, bargaining a 'tour guide' for a ride in. The motorcycle option was cheaper so I found myself hopping on another of those wobbly things, this time with my backpack on. I think my abs were sore for days after that. But the scenery more than made up for the muscle tension!

The bright red hue of the land and its erosion formations as well as the spiky, gnarled cactus reminded me uncannily of Arizona, almost like a mini Sedona without the New Age shops. In fact there isn't much in the way of civilization out there (which was fabulous!) The only inhabitants are the owners of the handful of small hostels. I chose to stay with Doña Elalia, vouched for as being a good cook! They offered me a basic room with no windows. The lack of light probably worked to my advantage as I couldn't see any spiders or scorpions. Ignorance is definitely bliss when it comes to me and arachnids; I think all my family and friends will agree!



As it turns out, a couple of girls I hiked in the rain with in San Agustin were also at Doña Elalia's, so I had some good company the rest of my visit! Upon nightfall, we headed over to the observatory a few hundred meters down the road. What awaited us on the rooftop deck was a bundle of astronomical energy in the

form of a local professor and astronomer. He would dart between his 3 huge telescopes, pointing out planets, nebular clouds, and galaxies, refocusing them as the world turned beneath us. The highlight was definitely Saturn, it's breath-taking rings clearly visible to our eyes! Later, we all sat around as the Professor showed us constellations with his laser pointer and explained the Greek myths behind each name.

I don't think I had ever taken over an hour just looking at the night sky and definitely not in a place devoid of any sort of light or noise pollution. Given its location near the equator, I was also seeing a more complete picture than I would back home. What suprised me was how dynamic it is: before you knew it, Jupiter was past the horizon but Orion was coming into view. Which explains the Professor's swiftness at the telescope. It was just stunning to realize how vast our universe is and how tiny even our entire galaxy is in comparison.

After a dark, spiderless night, the morning greeted us with clean air and blue skies. I had contracted my moto driver to take my friends and I on a desert tour so he met us at the hostel and we set out. First stop: El Laberinto de Cuzco (not to be confused with Perú)

After hiking through the laberinth, we hopped on Juan's moto/golfcart to explore the other end of the desert. the color scheme changed dramatically, trading reds for grays. Juan said it was because this later section was once completely underwater and thus the soil has a very different mineral composition. Who knows...

Street of mud! Felt amazing to squish my way through.

At the end of the trail there was a 'natural swimming pool' about $1.50 per swim.

Why not?

Our desert tour concluded, the guides brought us back to town. However, Juan's we had to stop along the way to pick up Juan's actual moto/golfcart vehicle. Apparantly it had broken down the night before and he was borrowing another guy's. Here how the operation looked:

Colombians are quite resourceful.

 

Success!