The forecast was positive. Actually more than that. A few months before when I left Medellín going to Pereira a aside from the fact that I had to walk a lot, it was quite an easy hitchhike. Now the only difference is some 30 km. The 30 km between Pereira and Armenia. How wrong I was...
We left Armenia really late. First ride was going to Pereira but I told the driver to leave us at the peáge. WRONG! I didn't know how to leave Pereira Northwards. In the peáge I decline a ride to Pereira. Second time WRONG! I didn't know how to leave Pereira Northwads.
Truck driver stopped and took us to, you guessed it right, to Pereira. After wasting almost two hours (or more!) while he dropped his cargo he left us in the west exit of the city, NOT the north. TERRIBLE spot. After a long while a short ride to the close town of "La Virginia" where we got stuck and had to find somewhere to spend the night. We got kicked out of a petrol station. Night spent in the corridos of some restaurant.
Tuesday morning I found a ride to "Anserma" where the owner of a small restaurant gave us some coffee. Father and daughter or husband and lover or driving teacher and studern drove us to a peáge in Nowhereville. Ride in the back of a truck (coffee making including) to the begginning of "Ríosucio". Small ride to the exit of the same town. Ride to the turnoff to Manizales with a weed smocking Colombian that was very proud of his Northamerican accent. After walking a couple of kilometers we found a ride to "Santa Clara" (?). While thumbing, an intercity bus stopped and asked the million euro question: "where are you going?". I said that we didn't have money for the bus. He left. Stopped two meters down and said that he will take us to "La Pintada" because we were in a terrible spot, most likely we were. In La Pintada after no more than 30 minutes a bus stopped beside me and the million euro question was asked again. Million euro answer. Million euro luck! Not first time hitchhiking a bus (this was my sixth) but this time was the first time I hitchhiked two buses in a row! Another first for Colombia.
