Living The Dream: March 2012

We arrived at the border crossing in Cucuta on Sunday the 12th of December. We had to wait until Monday to do migration to our bikes. We stayed in Caravana hotel right in the city centre. We later learned it was the red district???. Overall very pleasant hotel and I would recommended Caravana hotel to other riders.

We parked our bikes in the hotel’s loby and later to our surprise we were greeted with free dinner.

Next day, after we did migration to our bikes, we split up. This was the decision time for me. Go fast and make Ushuaia before March while is still relatively warm in Patagonia or slow down. I decided to take it easy. I wanted to visit all the countries properly. I didn't want to rush them through. Besides I wanted to spend some time on the Galapagos Islands.
I red some horrific stories when riders got stranded for days on end when trying to cross the Andes because of the snow. On top of it, at the moment Bolivia and Peru had its wet season.

Thanks guys, it was the pleasure riding with you. I certainly learned how to do it faster :))

So, the decision was made. I was going to slow down and relax. Adrian and Tim needed to go faster to keep their tight schedule. I stayed in Cucuta for two more days.

This guy reckon, it is a good idea to ride the bike while balancing Coca Cola bottle on his head.

After couple days of rest, I rode to Bucaramanga; the adventure capital of Colombia and home to Chicamocha Canyon one of the deepest in the world. Colombians claim this is the second deepest in the world but to my information two deepest canyons are in south-western Peru: Cotahuasi Canyon followed closely by Colca Canyon.

Bucaramanga, nice and clean city with mild climate thanks to its elevation around 1200 m. I stayed in KGB hostel located in very safe area. There was no garage for my motorcycle. I bolted my bike to a tree with 20mm security cable.

Bucaramanga - Central Plaza.

Christmas time was approaching. Christmas decoration were in full swing.

......and Christmas shopping

This lady decided no more selling. It is time to go home.

This Cathedral was beautifully lit.

Bucaramanga is famous for its paragliding. I wanted to do flying certificate, but the price increased recently quite drastically. The cost for the course is in excess of USD$1000. I thought, instead I might do it in Ibarra Ecuador or Lima Peru.

The following day I visited Chicamocha Canyon national park. To get to the park, the road at first goes through the actual canyon, very picturesque.

Movie clip is coming when I find a better internet bandwidth

Some scenery on the way to the park.

Unfortunately this road leads to Bogota, meaning a lot of trucks and buses.

Over the millennia this river carved Chicamocha Canyon .

I was here.

In the price of the entry was included cable ride to the other side of the canyon.

...and off we go.

Some spectacular views of the canyon.

The view from the other side.

The view of the entrance and the parking lot.

I just came on this road from Bucaramanga

The Victory monument.

The park has some adventure rides.

The next day I visited Los Santos area. The road leads to the other side of Chicamocha Canyon.

This is very popular place with locals. The road is lined up with small country resorts, hotels and restaurants.

The movie clip is coming, as soon as I get better internet connection

The following day I serviced my bike. I noticed I lost some power and the engine was running a bit rough. This shouldn’t be a surprise. I haven’t changed spark plug since I bought my bike. I did 30 000 km on the same spark plug.
Getting out spark plug on KLR is a bit tricky. The seat and the fuel tank has to be taken off. In addition special thin walled socket is required. Colombia is motorcycle friendly country. I got to the street lined up with dozens of motorcycle shops. I bought the socket for around $2. I installed new Iridium spark plug and the bike was running like new again.

The next day I rode to San Gil, claimed by some to be the adventure capital of Colombia. The road at first goes through Chicamocha Canyon and later climbs to nearly 3000m.

Some villages, set high in the mountains, I passed on my way to San Gil.

The Lonely planet guide reads; 'San Gil lacks places to eat'.
This is not an overstatement. I couldn’t find anything decent. I planned to spend a night in San Gil but the place wasn't very appealing and it was crowded too. I decided to ride on to nearby Barichara village. Absolutely magic pueblo, beautifully restored and often used as a movie set for movies from the colonial period.

The main Plaza.

All streets were cobblestoned.

Cathedral in the main square.

The village is located in the hilly area.

I had dinner in this restaurant. The place was very popular and packed full.

The walls were full of paintings.

After very interesting day I rode back to Bucaramanga.

The following day I packed up and made my way to Medellin the capital of Antioquia and commonly regarded as a capital of beautiful women in Colombia. At first the road was mountainous then for the short period flat and mountainous again.

Just before I entered mountains again I rode through this beautiful country side.

These were perfect cattle pastures with natural lakes.

I underestimated time necessary to get to Medellin. There is a lot of mountain riding, meaning a lot of slow trucks and landslides. The night was closing down on me too. I had to find camping spot fast. It was already pitch black when I found place next to the petrol station about 60km before Medellin.

Next day, midmorning I arrived in Medellin and shortly after at Black Sheep hostel run by New Zealand expat Kevin married to the Colombian woman. The hostel is very popular with young backpackers. During my stay there, there was constant flow of backpackers from all around the world. Kevin, the owner, maintained the hostel really well, with his staff constantly cleaning the bathrooms and the floors. This is the cleanest hostel I stayed in so far.

Next day, I did little tour around Medellin. Medellin is spreading in the long valley and it is the only city in Colombia which has metro. The Metro goes right through the middle of the city from Bello to the Itagui. It has a couple branches off cable cars connecting with suburbs high in the valley.

Two decades ago Medellin was famous for being the most violent city in the world and the home to one of the most notorious drug gangs in history - the Medellin Cartel. However, after the death of its leader Pablo Escobar in 1993, Medellin has seen a decrease in crime rates and now became relatively safe city, producing 11% Colombian economy. Medellin is known for its universities, commerce, industry, science, festivals and the nightlife.

Thanks to its relatively high altitude of 1500m, Medellin has very a pleasant climate. The climate is more moderate than other cities located near the equator. Average annual temperature is 22° C and because of the close proximity to the equator is constant all year round, with minimal temperature variations. It is known as La Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera' or 'City of the Eternal Spring'.

Medellin is well known for its paragliding.

View of Medellin from the hills above. These days, this is a large city.

View of Medellin from Pueblito Paisa hill located close to city centre.

Pueblito Paisa.

Parque Berrio metro station.

The cable cars connect with suburbs high in the valley.

The streets were full of Christmas decorations.

Central plaza near Parque Berrio.

The plaza is full of statues of Medellin's favourite son; artist Fernando Botero.

The Black Ship hostel was only 500m away from Poblado station. In Poblado there is so called 'Zona Rosa' with Parque Lleras. Zona Rosa, is city's entertainment area, where most of the night clubs and restaurants are located.

View of Poblado from Poblado metro station.

I did customary Escobar tour.

This is the house were Pablo Escobar was caught by Police.

.... and the roof were Pablo Escobar was killed in December 1993

This is airport's section designated to store plains used for drug smuggling.

The grave of Pablo Escobar and his family.

It was getting close to Christmas and New Year. Cities in Colombia always dress up for the occasion with spectacular light show. Adiela showed me more of Medellin and especially the light show.

In Colombia, Christmas and the New Year is strictly a family affair. Most of the night life seas to exist. We tourists needed to entertain ourselves. On Christmas day everyone prepared some food and we had feast afterwards.

Luckily we had a couple chefs between us..

All good....

....and all pretty full!!!

In the meantime the cat was guarding my bike.

On New Year Eve, Kevin the hostel owner organized the barbecue, later on we had a party.

In the first week of January Colombians having a long weekend. I was lucky to spend the weekend with Adiela and her friends in the resort at San Jeronimo, about 60 kilometers away from Medellin.

Adiela organized minibus and we are ready to go.

The resort complex in San Jeronimo.
Some houses are permanently occupied and some are for holiday escape.

We are getting ready for the party.

No comment.

......but not before we did some last minute shopping.

Steaks are nearly ready.

...and the food just keeps rolling in.

This was my chance to learn some Latino dancing. First the Merengue.

Some late instruction from Adiela.

.....and off we go.

This instrument is nearly in every Colombian family. It is responsible for this distinctive Salsa sound.

...and the close up how should be played.

I am having some progress.

.......

Apparently I was pretty good for a Gringo.

The happy Dude !!

During the day swimming pool to cool down and sober.

There were three swimming pools in the complex.

I had great time and I was very lucky to learn first hand how Colombians enjoy their time off. They certainly know how to do it.

When I got back to my hostel I met Neel an American rider on mighty KTM. We set off to visit Guatape and nearby lakes.

In the distance 'The Rock'.

The interconnected lakes were created when the dam was build, flooding the mountainous area.

Guatape, the central plaza.

The Cathedral - I found many in Colombia with this distinctive architecture.

The was a lot of colour and Christmas decorations on the streets.

Neil pretending to be a western tourist.

Looking at this police station you might think they must have a lot of problems here.
I think this is the relict from the violent past.

Guatape spreads right along the lake.

Neil and his mighty KTM to the right.

.... and me in the red Jersey I am wearing for the first time.

We got back on the road again.

Some pretty waterfalls we passed.

Until I got to this corner were my bike didn't like the road.

When I was coming off the corner my front wheel found this pothole and a bit of gravel afterwards.

My protective gear proof itself again but my new red Jersey was ruined.
Too bad - this was unlucky jersey anyway.

After some clean up we are back on road.

With some more spectacular views.

I wanted to learn more Latino dancing, especially I wanted to learn salsa. There are two major areas for partying in Medellin: Parque Lleras in Poblado which is more orientated to disco music and El Estadio where traditional Latino music is played.

Poblado

....and Parque Lleras.

In Parque Lleras all streets are lined up with clubs and restaurants.

Local artists presenting their paintings. All for sale.

.....and Parque Lleras late at night when the party begins.

Here I learned that beer doesn't always has to be cheap in Colombia.

.....but the Pizza was delicious says Nancy.

In contrast at el Estadio restaurants/discos set their tables right on the street and play excellent Latino music.

Me and Nancy having a great time at one of the discos at El Estadio.

On one of the weekends, I wanted to experience first hand South American football. Group of us from the hostel went to watch match between Medellin and Cali.

Me an Chris are ready. Right now we were are not quite shure who played who. Who cares anyway.

But first we had to give an interview to the local TV station.

The police is dressed up for the occasion.

We all were searched for weapons and the alcohol.

.....and the spectacle begins.

.....and the customary mug shot.

This is one of the goals scored by Medellin.

Towards the end, some trouble was brewing among Cali and Medellin fans in result the whole section was removed from the stadium.

For the record Medellin outclassed Cali 3:0.

Every morning this park in Poblado served me well during my stay in Medellin.

Nancy is showing me how to use the equipment.

Later on we are exploring the city centre.

My bike after 6 month on the road looked pretty bad. It needed some work to its fairing and welding to the crash-bars. The easiest way would be to replace all damaged parts but I am in Colombia were labour is still relatively cheap. They repaired damaged panels, did some welding to my crash-bars and painted the bike for $120. All this was done right on the street.

They stripped the bike from all its fairings.

Welded and repaired cracked panels.

Juan is welding one of the cracked panels.

....and the bike is like new again

On my first trip to Guatape I missed to climb ‘The Rock’. The Rock offers magnificent view of the lake.
I decided to visit Guatape again.

"The Rock" I had to climb first.

Half way view of the lake.

.....and right from the top.

After two magnificent months in Medellin there was time to leave. My next stop was Manizales, only 180km away. Manizales is built into the side of a mountain, and the entire city seems to be hanging on the side of the hills. Manizales is the capital of the Colombian coffee region commonly known as “Coffee capital of the world”, were large percentage of the world's coffee is grown.

The road was good, very twisty with fairly decent pavement. There was an odd pothole I had to dodge, but otherwise it was a fine ride. Just before Manizales the road became even more interesting, winding, with a lot of full switchbacks. The traffic was pretty light too. I reached Manizales in the late afternoon. The GPS worked well and I found my hostel without any problems. I stayed in El Cable right in the centre off 'Zona Rosa'. El Cable is the exclusive area similar to Poblado in Medellin.

Manizales - Plaza de Bolivar

Thanks to location, the streets are often very steep.

Church La Inmaculada Concepcion in the city centre.

The view towards the Plaza de Bolivar.

... and another intriguing church.

Bolivar's monument at Plaza de Bolivar.

In Manizales I met Maria. Maria works as a manager in preschool child care centre.

Maria hard at work at her office.

On the weekend we visited the botanic gardens.

Crossing the bridge!!

In the butterfly enclosure.

Somewhere in the forest. Maria wanted to have a foto here.

The bridge.

... and again.

It was time for my next step in Latino dancing. Apparently, my progress will be faster if I upgrade my dancing shoes. I heard this before, so it must be true.
We went shopping. Small problem; Gringo size shoes are very hard to come by in Colombia. Normally shoes go only up to size 10. I needed 11 or 11.5. It took some time but in the end I found my size. I am ready for my next step: Salsa and Vallenato.

When I got my new shoes we did a lot of this.

......and this.

On one of the weekends we decided to visit Salento; very popular tourist village in the coffee region. The road was twisty, with a lot of full switchbacks well suited for my bike. Maria enjoyed the ride. We finally reached the town. In Salento I found the best coffee in Colombia.
So far I was rather disappointed; with the great quality coffee Colombia has it was hard to find a good Cappuccino. The best one so far, was coffee made at Juan Valdez coffee chain, unfortunately the coffee wasn't very consistent. It varied a lot from shop to shop, usually over-brewed.

At first, we visited the lookout overlooking the valley from one side ....

.......and the village of Salento from the other side.

I don't know what this guy is doing.

View of the lookout from the lookout above.

Maria and the view.

Having some fun.

There was an option to walk down to the village.

We preffered to ride.

.....and we are there.

The day was overcast and was just about to rain.

Pretending to do shopping.

We had dinner in this restaurant. Unfortunately Maria chose to sit outdoor during the heavy rain - coolldd

Later, we rode deeper into the valley, to the village where Maria spent her last holiday.

More views.

The rain made the road very muddy and slippery.

We had to turn back.

It was getting late. It was time to go back. I didn't want to ride at night. All was going well until we reached the town of Pereira. In Pereira there is a large bridge dividing the city. We lost the turn just before we got on to the bridge. My GPS was completely lost. It took some ingenuity and about 40 minutes to get back on the bridge. This is the worst case I had in my entire trip. We arrived in Manizales late and tired but othervise it was very enjoyable trip.

My party time in Colombia was getting to a close. Three month limit was approaching fast. All foreigners are allowed to stay in Colombia for up to three month.

I am not in a hurry to move south until the summer sets in the southern hemisphere. Now Patagonia is approaching winter, not an ideal time to visit it on the motorbike. Peru and Bolivia is still in its wet season. I decided to spend some time in Ecuador and on the Galapagos Islands.

But first, I have to get on my bike and leave Colombia before my visa expire on the 10^th of March.

This is where my bike lived during my stay in Manizales. Time to pack up.

I had about 850km to Ecuadorian border. On my way I wanted to visit Popayan. Very pretty colonial town often called 'The White City' for its building painted in white. After Cartagena, Popayan is regarded as the second most beautiful colonial city in Colombia.

I arrived in Papayan late, so my my first pictures are made at night.

Still pretty early but not many people on the streets.

Main Plaza the next morning.

The Main Plaza from the different angle.

The streets are cobblestoned. Fun to ride, especially when wet.

In Colombia the army is never far away.

More riding the next day. I wanted to reach town Pasto situated about 100km from the border. Pasto for its proximity to the border crossing is a very popular jumping off point to make the border early in a day.

More riding high in the Andes.

I decided to have brake for dinner here - the fish on the menu.

This is the view from the restaurant's terrace.

......and more views on the way.

It was getting late. I haven’t been camping for a quite some time. In fact my last camping was about two and half months ago, just before I reached Medellin. The countryside I was passing through was simply breath taking. I couldn’t miss this opportunity.

My camping spot before crossing the border to Ecuador.