After 5 short hours of sleep and delaying the rental car reservation until the next day, Mike arrived to pick up the rental car to begin our 7 and a half hour journey to the Tatacoa Desert. We were exhausted from our long bus rides the previous day, but ready to start this leg of our trip. A successful road trip through Colombia to see some beautiful and interesting parts of the country was in store.

Read about our crazy adventures crossing the border from Ecuador to Colombia the day before.

Having a car would give us the freedom to explore more off the beaten path locations. We were planning on visiting the Tatacoa Desert, Bogotá, Salento, Jardín and ending in Medellin. We had heard many amazing things about the Tatacoa Desert in Colombia.  Its mesmerizing arid landscape has striking red and gray rock formations. It also offers a unique opportunity to stargaze under its clear, dark skies. We were ready to explore! 

As our title implies, this journey didn’t turn out quite as we had planned. Hopefully you will learn from our experience and end up having a successful road trip wherever you may go. And if not, hopefully you enjoy our funny tale.

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How To Have A Successful Road Trip

Lesson 1 – Expect The Unexpected

When we booked the rental car, we specifically reserved a vehicle with an automatic transmission. We can drive a manual, but felt much more comfortable with an automatic. The majority of cars in South America are manual transmission, so we were prepared for the worst. When the first agent at the rental company said there weren’t any automatic cars, we weren’t surprised. Mike must have had a worried look on his face when the second agent arrived as she frantically looked for an option. 

After a short time, she was able to locate a car for us. Mike was relieved. It’s already a little nerve-racking to drive in another country, let alone in a car you aren’t super comfortable driving. After the necessary paperwork, we were on our way. 

Lesson 2 – Take The Most Popular Car, Even If It’s A Manual

We wanted to do a little exploring in Popayan, Colombia, so we packed up the car with all of our belongings and drove around. Popayan, Colombia is a charming colonial city known for its well-preserved architecture and white-washed buildings, and has the nickname “The White City.”

During the short drive through the beautiful downtown, we did notice that the car didn’t run particularly smoothly, especially when at stop signs. However, we didn’t think much of it at the time since it was pretty much a brand new car. Thinking back now, it probably had been sitting on the lot collecting dust for some time without regular check-ups. Maybe a manual would have been the better option?! The least we could have done was driven back to the rental car company to see if they had another option.

Lesson 3 – Make Sure The Car Is Running Smoothly For A Successful Road Trip

The Tatacoa Desert is located on the other side of the Central Andes mountain range from Popayan. Only a few minutes after leaving Popayan, you start the ascent. While taking in the beautiful views, Mike noticed that the vehicle had a real lack of power when faced with the steady incline. He switched it to “sport” mode so he could manually drop it into a lower gear to better control how much power the vehicle was using. It helped, but not a ton. This was beginning to become worrisome. 

Again though, we thought that it was just the type of car and while we were nervous we wouldn’t reach the top, we didn’t expect what happened to occur. We just thought it would be slow going. 

After about 45 minutes of driving up this curvy mountainous road, the car’s motor began to sputter and then just stopped. Stranded in the middle of the road, with no shoulders to pull over on, we found ourselves in a predicament. We tried to start the car again, but nothing happened. Frustrated and a little scared, we wondered what we should do. We needed to get off the road. 

Urgently, we thought of the only way to exit the road. Mike put the car in neutral and started us coasting backwards down the road. We remembered that there was a house a mile or so back down the mountain, so we crossed our fingers and continued to wind backwards down the mountain road. 

Backing up on this curvy road was not easy. I didn’t think about this at the time and thankfully Mike reminded me AFTER the fact, but since the car had no power, that also meant the power steering was out and that the brake assist was not working either. Thankfully we didn’t run into any cars and found a house with a place to park. As soon as we stopped a few people emerged from the house to see what was going on! Hurray!

Lesson 4 – Practice Your Language Skills; You Never Know When You Will Need Them

Upon stopping, we got out of the car and realized we had no cell phone coverage. Of course! Thankfully the people who lived there were nice and helped us brainstorm ideas.  Unfortunately, the suggestion of calling through the WiFi wasn’t going to work either since the family’s WiFi was down.  After a bit more discussion, the woman that owned the house said she would drive Mike down the mountain to a spot where we could get a cell signal and call the rental car company. Phew! One step closer. 

Lesson 5 – Don’t Believe Everything The Rental Company Says

Mike hopped into our new friend’s car and sat nervously as it barely started. We were starting to think we were jinxed. Luckily, it started and they took off. When they got to a spot with cell service, Mike called the rental company. They said it would be about 30 minutes, and they would get someone up there to help us. That was easy enough! 

5 HOURS LATER no one had arrived. OH and did we mention it was the daughter’s birthday that day, and that they were preparing a party for her? Oh yeah. That was happening! As the kids played with the family’s new kitten and swung on their fun swing, Mike and I awkwardly made conversation and felt in the way. 

Lesson 6 – Make Friends With People You Meet!

It was now getting to the point that it seemed like we would never get help from the rental company. The mom in the house needed to grab something from a small tienda down the mountain for the party and invited Mike to come with her to make another phone call. 

She ended up grabbing the phone from Mike and yelled at the rental company’s representative in rapid Spanish. She was more upset about this than we were! As she finished their shopping, they saw a tow truck heading up the mountain. They waved it down, it was, in fact, heading up to get our vehicle, and Mike jumped in to make sure it arrived at the correct location. We weren’t taking any chances on it passing the house! 

All of a sudden the sky opened up and started pouring the heaviest rain I had ever seen. Because of this downpour, the tow truck driver decided to wait in the car for it to let up. Mike hopped out and filled me in on what was happening.

The tow truck driver was only there for the car, not us. We had all of our belongings with us, 4 stuffed suitcases and 4 full backpacks. As we scrambled to think of a plan on what to do, we noticed this small beat up, hatchback car arrive. We thought it was someone arriving for the birthday party, but it turns out that was our ride. I wish I had taken a picture. Imagine something similar to the picture below but with a front bumper. 

Lesson 7 – Don’t Panic And Go With The Flow For A Successful Road Trip

Once we realized this small car was here to transfer all 4 of us and all of our luggage, we started packing up the car. With luggage and children on laps, we managed to squeeze into the car. We hugged our new Colombian friends, wished them happy birthday and headed back to Popayan. 

The road down and the rain made the trip an adventure to say the least. Colombia had been getting these rain storms every day for months and so the roads easily had mudslides flowing into them. Also the car’s vents weren’t working, so the driver used an old dirty rag to clear the constantly fogging up window. I don’t know how he could see anything because we sure couldn’t. Fortunately, we arrived back at our original hotel without a scratch on us. 

Lesson 8 – Be Ready To Change Plans

We checked into the same room and decided to stay a few nights. We need to reassess our plans and get some much needed sleep.  Sadly our road trip wasn’t going to happen and we were bummed. The unexpected is bound to happen when traveling and having a good attitude and willingness to change gears is always important. 

It may not have turned out to be a successful road trip for us, but during our stay in Popayan, we were pleasantly surprised to find some very delicious food. The city is small but was a cute town to explore. It ended up being not too bad of a place to reexamine our travel plans.