Colombian Coffee — thats why I came to this country

Bring on your big drip coffee, your puny Aero Press and your wimpy little Italian expresso machine and I give you this, with a real Colombian at the helm and locally grown beans that will hit you so hard that your eyes pop out on their stalks - now THAT is the way to start the day!!

I DARE you to call this guy a barista

On the road after a quick radiator fix and directions from my hostel hosts to take a beautiful back road on my way to Salento. 

Villa Maria to ChinChina

Alas the temperature gauge on my bike started climbing and I soon realized that the radiator fan was not coming on. As I knew the fan was working before the radiator repair I was fairly confident that it was just a wire that had not been connected during the reassembly. This proved to be the case but it took stripping the gas tank and radiator off the bike to get at this little sucker behind the radiator - a little frustrating but at least I could repair it myself.

I stopped next to a man who had restored two Willy’s Jeeps to their original and had therefor sale

Asking price U$ 90,000

Salento was a cute little town, even though very touristy.

Salento Main street

The hiking in this area is spectacular with the main trails going up the Valle de Cocoro which is famed for its tall wax palms - the national tree of Colombia. I did a 5 hour hike up the valley to the Casa de Colibri ( hummingbird house) which as you may guess had plenty of these amazing little birds entertaining the guests.

Wax Palms

Taking the milk to market

Foot bridge on trail

Casa de Colibris

More palms

A local guy told me about a back road out of town towards the little town of Toche and then onwards to Ibague. Taking the main road would be about 7 1/2 hours on major paved roads or this route was only about 40km across the top of the Andes in what was billed as the first road in the area to have crossed this range of the Andes. Well I have to say that this was probably the most fun I have had on this trip to date and was without a doubt the most beautiful dirt road I have ever ridden on. Even a puncture in the rear tire after about 10 km did not dampen the experience as the view from where I stopped to do the repair was stunning. This stop did add nearly an hour and 45 mins to the trip.

Not a bad place to get a puncture

Salento to Toche

A picturesque farm on the way

The village of Toche on the eastern side of the mountain range was tiny and the only “restaurant” in town put together a great breakfast with eggs, arepas (corn/maize cake - fried or grilled ) with cocoa ( no coffee available here) for a hungry traveller.

Toche - not much here

A beggar at the restaurant door

A night on the road and onwards to St Agustin ( yes that spelling is correct ) which is renowned not only for the very authentic little Andean town but also for the Unesco World Heritage site that boasts more than 6000 statues carved from the volcanic rock. Not a lot is known about the various peoples that have inhabited this area for eons and so archeologists have not named the people from these ancient cultures.

St Agustin 

Smiley

Further south the town of Mocoa, site of a huge mudslide in March of this year that killed more than 300 people. The steep slopes surrounding many of these mountain towns and the massive amounts of rain received annually make this area very vulnerable to these natural disasters. This town is the starting point of the tiny road, known dramatically as the Trampoline del Muerte ( Trampoline of Death ) that weaves its way back west over the mountains to join up with the main Pan American Highway at the town of Pasto. Give a road a name like that and it is sure to attract the inquisitive.

Trampoline Del Muerte winding up the Andes

Narrow road with shrine

Watch for a truck round that corner

The road started off easy but got steeper and narrower very quickly with plenty of loose rock and some river crossings. I only started meeting other traffic after about half an hour of riding. This is when it got very tricky as you had to be prepared for a truck taking up the full width of the road when you came around a corner. At one point I was right up against the rock face on the inside of the road (luckily) and a truck slowly inched by me leaving less than an inch between my pannier and the truck tire. At one highpoint of the road there was an army guardhouse and checkpoint. I rode in a little fast, got my from wheel into some thick loose gravel, hit one of the cones and took a tumble off the bike - right at the foot of two astonished soldiers - That got a laugh out of them.

After that it was uneventful, although at altitudes of 9,000 ft and higher it was a chilly ride. I arrived at the border town of Ipiales mid afternoon and went to check out the Cathedral at Las Lajas just a few kilometers away. A most incredible structure that straddles a deep gorge with the wall behind the altar being the rock face of the canyon. Legend has it that an image of the Virgin Mary appeared on this rock way back in the mists of time with various structures and churches having been built on this spot over the years. This present cathedral was completed in 1949

Sanctuary of Las Lajas

The Altar

That is about it for Colombia -- Crossing the border into Ecuador in the morning

Medellin Colombia

Medellin, the city of eternal spring, as it is called. Once again the name of Pablo Escobar hangs over this city. I feel that this drawing is how he should be immortalized.

An early 6am start from Bogota on a Saturday was a guarantee to miss the traffic in that city — NOT!! The only way to negotiate the crazy drivers and motorbikes is to become one of them. Follow the cautious motorbike rider as he weaves in and out of the traffic and have eyes you know where seems to be a strategy that worked for me. After that a fairly uneventful 7 hour ride to Medellin.

As you descend into the valley of the Porce River where Medellin is situated the view is of a vast sea of red roofed and red walled buildings and of the various barrios as they climb up the sides of the valley. 

The city has made a huge investment in public transport over the past ten years or so with new trains, trams, cable cars ready, with hardly a wait, to whisk you down the valley or up into the suburbs that hang on the sides of the mountains. Even with all this the traffic is still terrible.

Public walkways also weave their way through the barrios and into the surrounding hills and coffee plantations. Look at this cool one I found after a train ride, two cable car rides and a walk.

Public art is everywhere

And non more so than in Parque Botero, dedicated to the sculptures of native son, Fernando Botero internationally acclaimed for his depiction of people and animals with strange proportions.

Ok, enough of cities and a 5 hour ride south towards the coffee region and the town of Manizales. I started on the main PanAm highway but had plotted out a more rural route that took me to the small town of Filidelfia. I have written so much about “twisty turny” roads on this trip that I need to find a another way of describing these great mountain byways — how about serpentine?

In this mountainous region most of the local taxis are old post WWII Willy’s Jeeps, restored with loving care and belching out great plumes of black smoke. Here is a local fruit seller who has got his own version of this form of transportation.

I found a fantastic hostel/ BnB in just outside the town of Villa Maria which is a short distance from Manizales. The Hostal Monte Quimbya is run by a young couple, Arne and Lynette. Arne being from Germany and Lynette from Colombia who have a charming 15 month old son, Samuel.

This couple were a wealth of knowledge and directed me up the mountain towards the Parque Nacional Natural De Nevados and the Termales deRuiz with a mountain hotel with hot springs and gardens that hosted an incredible number and variety of hummingbirds ( Colibri in Spanish)

Motobike problems delayed my departure from this beautiful area. The fan shroud at the back of the radiator had vibrated and rubbed hole through which the coolant was leaking. As I write it is in the hands of a local moto mechanic and I am told it will be ready by the afternoon - I did not want to ask which afternoon but it certainly is not a hardship having to spend more time in this area.

Bogota Colombia

An historic time in Colombia with the peace accord finally being signed between the government and FARC - thus officially ending more than 50 years of war

Like all political accords this was one not without it’s detractors. In fact more than half of the population voted against the agreement, not so much because they did not want peace but because they felt that the government was being far too generous with what they offered the guerrillas. After the losing vote, the president Juan Manuel Santos made a few changes to the agreement and pushed it through parliament. For his efforts he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

My time in the capital Bogota flew by and I achieved a new record in getting my Brazilian visa in just 4 days.

There was so much to see and I even broke my cardinal travel rule of No Museums by visiting the very impressive Museo del Oro ( Gold Museum)

Gold fish hooks

Fine filigree ear rings

This museum is dedicated to showing the history of the pre-Colombian peoples through gold artifacts from archeological discoveries. More than 55,000 pieces are displayed - can you even imagine what that is worth!! Not only that but this is after the Spanish carted off an estimated 235,00 tons of this precious metal during their years of conquest.

The Candelaria area is the old town area of this bustling city where the parliament buildings and presidential palace are situated. 

Bolivar Square and Cathedral

Capitol Building

Street in the Candelaria district

A whimsical statue on a house

Presidential Palace

Presidential guard

I had not planned on visiting this city and probably would not have done so if it was not for the need to visit the Brazilian Embassy but I am so pleased I did. A big stately city with a deep rooted tradition of fine architecture and support for the arts and culture.

By the time I got to the city my motorbike was in need of some tender loving care, and this it got from the fantastic folks at KTM Bogota Powershop. A full service, tune up, valve adjustment, brake and clutch fluid flush, oil change and a new set of tires. It is like riding a new bike, in fact it is running smoother than it has done on the whole trip. To top it all the owner, Santiago Bernal took me out to a Cabaret themed restaurant with a few of his buddies - now that is REAL service.

KTM Bogota

Life is a cabaret

Next stop Medellin