Our arrival in Ibagué

Saturday we left for Ibagué. Before taking the taxi, we said goodbye to Katia and Oscar and thanked them for their hospitality! 

We took the bus at noon and drove for about 4,5 hours. Very nice views; spectacular mountains, eclectic villages, people selling things at the side of the road,…

It would have been more beautiful if I didn’t have to go to the bathroom! I had to go after one hour on the road. Especially the last hour was difficult because there were a lot of huge bumps on the street! At that moment I wasn’t even afraid of the chaffeur’s driving style anymore! Here in Colombia everybody drives twice as fast as the signs tell you to drive. I first thought they counted in mile per hour, but it was kilometer per hour! Anyway, Colombian drivers have given me a couple of heart attacks, but I’m still alive! I can’t get used of the lack of seatbelts in the taxi’s though…

Before we left we were told you shouldn’t buy food in the bus but I didn’t understand why, until the bus stopped in the first village; there were at least 10 people trying to sell us fruit, sandwiches, ice creams,…


We arrived at about 5 pm and there a lovely woman waited for us; she was named Claudia and would bring us to our house. She is about 24 and studies after work. I thought I would stay in a host family, separate from Marie-Laure, but apparently they changed plans; now we’re together with a German boy and it’s not really a host family. The house belongs to a woman who lives close to us. She is called Marlena and is very sweet. She has a daughter but she already has children of her own.


Our address is Onzaga Manzana 10 casa 2, Ibagué (Tolima), Colombia (South America)


We unpacked and met another girl. She was named Yesica and she lived one block away from us. The blocks are really small so she is practically our neighbor. We met her family, who were also very nice people. They own the neighborhood shop and know the whole neighborhood. We talked the whole evening and played with her little sister and dog. At the end of the evening we got invited to go to a swimming pool the next day; of course we said yes!