June 29, 2018 – July 2,2018

We got on the road about 8 or 9 am for the long slow drive along the back country roads from Salento to Ibague.  We knew what the first 20 kilometres of so were going to be like, as we had ridden down it on a bike the day before with Doug and Lindsey, but we were excited to see what else the day would bring.

The ride past the wax palms was just as intoxicating as it was the day before.  Here’s another video….maybe one of the most stunning landscapes I have ever seen.

We drove up and over hills, down through valleys.  The road was fairly good to begin with and slowly became narrower and wetter.  Doug and Lindsey were leading at first and Lindsey would sometimes have to jump out of the truck to clear rocks from old land slides out of the way.

The forest changed from the wax palms to more typical rain forest as we made our way east and gained elevation.  The views were incredible, forest dotted with patches of agriculture on ridiculously steep slopes and views that went on and on, despite the overcast day.

The road in places was partially washed away, or wet, or under construction.  I had said to Derek that probably as we got closer to Ibague that the road would get better, but it didn’t.  What did happen as we got closer is that we met more and more oncoming vehicles, some of which were huge heavy duty 5 or 8 tonne trucks carrying people, supplies, chickens….who knows.  We would have to pull up and into the grass verge in order to be able to pass each other.  By this time Derek and I were the front vehicle and we would wonder how Doug and Lindsey were doing meeting these trucks, being a several centimetres wider with their dually truck.

Here’s some dash cam video of the drive.  (I have sped up the dash cam film….we were driving much slower than this!)

We started to look for a place to camp along the road as it was getting late and rainy, but it was difficult to find any flat land that wasn’t being used for housing or agriculture.  (Flat land, no doubt, is at a premium here).  In addition, we weren’t feeling as welcome as we had in other parts of Colombia.  Derek and I discussed it and we think that the locals are probably not impressed with tourist trucks tearing up their roadway when there is a perfectly good highway 20 or 30 kilometres to the south that would have gotten us to the same place.  Many of the people we passed smiled and waved, but many scowled at us as well.  We were definitely being more respectful than the many ATVer’s we saw ripping by as we neared Ibague, but that was likely hard for the locals to judge from their homes 3 metres from the muddy road.

We decided we would continue on the Ibague and find a traditional overlanding place for the night.  Just before we joined back on to the highway, we came to this tunnel….were we suppose to enter that?  It only looked one way and there was a small track leading to the right of it….our mapping software told us to go through the tunnel, so we did…..

Eventually, we made it to Ibague, and after a few false starts at finding a place to camp, we got settled into a nice spot for the night.

The next day we drove on to the Tatacoa Desert, a red rock desert set in the middle of rice and coffee plantations.  We set up, made dinner, tried in vain to get pictures of the incredible starry night sky, and celebrated Canada Day….maybe we should have tried for the star photos before celebrating?

The closest to wild camping we had had in a while.

Tatacoa desert with badlands type erosion similar to Drumheller

The next day we walked in the desert together, and then said our “hasta luegos” (until next time) to Doug and Lindsey as we each headed in our separate directions.