The border crossing from Peru to Ecuador was so simple. These things take time but wow how easy, NOTHING like border crossings in Russia.

We made a brief stop at the equator for some pictures, it was cool as I’ve crossed the equator many times but never been on the equator 🙂 The scenery through Colombia and Ecuador has been breathtaking, unfortunately I blinked and missed Ecuador due to the speed we rode through it.  We only spent 2 nights in Ecuador but I will be  coming back anyway on my way down to meet Joern in Peru.

Or Guides

The gang

On the road down to the Peru border

Another Volcano in Ecuador erupts

From Medellin to Salento: The 250km ride from Medellin to Salento was interesting to say the least. This group is FAST OMG not only am I not used to riding in a group like this but the entire group ride the same speed and it’s all or nothing. As Leigh commented ‘’usually on a tour like this there is a natural split in the group fast, medium and slow riders, but not on this tour’’ The main thing I am not used to is a tour where all the riders ride together behind a guide and with a sweeper rider at the back (this is like trail riding off-road) The adventure bike tours I have done were run different, each rider was given a GPS with all the routes and waypoints. During the morning briefing we were told at which waypoint we’d meet up, the final waypoint being the hotel. If the route was easy and not complicated we’d only meet at one or two waypoints. If the route was more complicated like Mongolia we’d meet frequently at waypoints. This way everyone rode their own speed stopped for breaks, coffee or pictures at will. Interestingly enough even the really fast biker often arrived last due to stopping for pictures etc. I really like this way of travelling in a tour. It’s taken some getting used to the way Motolombia organise their tour, where you ride and stop as a group. This is not a complaint it is simply different and I am sure suits a lot of people.

So I had a really shell shocked day. I’m not a huge fan of fast mountain twisties but try doing them in Colombia with a group of riders all of who have min 30 years biking experience and do twisties at 80 – 90 kms/hr, then add a myriad of huge Colombian trucks to the mix. I think I ended the day with post traumatic stress disorder. However there were some great views along the way.

Salento, Popayan and Pasto: My first overnight stop with the group was in Salento, what a lovely town. The day we arrived was a holiday and the town was in full celebrations, full of people, music and festivities.

 This lady is making a caramel sweet similar to marshmallow, quite tasty but SWEET

 On the hill overlooking Salento
The next morning we went to a coffee plantation for a tour which I can highly recommend.

ready to get picking

 Brian grinding the coffee
I spent the day riding with the sweeper guide, Roberto. He walked me step by step through twisties, gearing, breaking and watching my line. I also spent a lot of the day following him to get the line right. It was a great day and has done wonder to help me improve my technique and speed. I will never do twisties at 100km/hr or overtake on a blind rises but I am not no more than 5 mins behind the group. I have had to just live with being slower since my justification is that if I wipe out no helicopter it going to arrive in 5 mind and take me to a hospital in 15, plus it means the end of the my 8 month trip. I am just not comfortable going at the same speed as the group and also not willing to take the risks, but then again I don’t have the experience they do so they can handle it.

In Medellin I joined up with the Amazon Challenge group, a great bunch of people and will be spending the next 45 days with them. We’ll be travelling through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela and back to Colombia.

17 people, 13 bikes and a support truck. I don’t have much time to blog right now so will need to catch up when we have a rest day. Cheers for now

 Somewhere in Colombia

 The group

Yesterday I had an easy trip to Medellin less than 100kms, but it still took 2.45hrs, and it was nice to be back on the bike.  When you plot a route in Europe Google maps will roughly indicate that 200kms will take 2hrs. In Colombia Google maps will estimate twice that so 200kms will be estimated as 4 hrs and it is not wrong. Google maps estimated the trip from Guadape to Medellin 84kms at 2 hrs. It took me longer due to getting very lost in Medellin 🙂 as some of the GPS roads were closed to motorbikes.

 Graffiti in Medellin

 View from the hotel room

Medellin is the second largest city in Colombia and it sure is huge and has even worse traffic than Bogota. The roads are in good condition though and it is a nice city. I am not a fan of huge cities but when travelling they are worth seeing just to get a feel of the country you are visiting, you need to see both cities and countryside to really feel a country. One thing I have noticed is the amount of police. Not a day has gone by that I have not seen at least 8 to 10 police on motorbikes. I’ve only seen about 2 or 3 police cars as most police are on KLRs or DR650s. I’ve also seen at least 1 to 2  police check points on the roads between cities. I have only been stopped once and that was on the way into Guatape. The policeman was very friendly as asked where I was from and where I am going and wished me luck.

 (I still haven’t had a chance to get a pic of the police so had to borrow this off the internet so you could see the luminous bikes)

So far besides the beauty of Colombia the two things that have struck me is how colourful it is and how friendly the people are.  After arriving I went for a walk and met a local lady in a little coffee shop. She asked me where I was from and what I thought of Medellin. She told me how dangerous Colombia and Medellin were 20 years ago, that it used to be the murder capital of the world at one point. She explained that the government put a lot of money into education, building libraries and schools in some poor areas. She said this has done a lot to raise the prospects of children in those areas so they can now get jobs. The government also put a lot of effort into stopping crime, increasing the police presence. She went on to explain that Medellin is now safe, there are some slums outside the city and she told me not to go there alone, and also to be careful of pick pockets. However this is the same in all big cities, overall Medellin is a safe and nice city. The lady told me that there are still some areas in Colombia close to the border that are dangerous due to the drug cartels but most rural areas are very safe and the people very helpful. She ended by saying Colombia may not be perfect but it is perfect compared to what it used to be like. Wow what insight into this wonderful county in a short conversation, and it goes to show that countries can change.

I knew Colombia was safer than a lot of people would have me believe. I cannot count how many people told me not to visit Colombia as it is so dangerous and that I must be very careful I don’t get kidnapped etc etc, but it is even better than I imagined. It is a pity that it still suffers from the old stigma.

Today I went to explore a little more but it is hot, so I didn’t spend all day walking around just a few hours, downtown and to the Botanical Garden.  In Medellin there are even more police and at least 4 in every metro station, which I very modern, clean and extremely cheap. Sadly at the Botanical gardens the butterfly house was closed for renovations (I love butterflies J ) but I was rewarded by seeing a huge big iguana in a tree. Another good day in Colombia, and tonight the Motolombia tour arrives and I head off on the Amazon Challenge trip for the next 6 weeks. We are going to Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela and back to Colombia.

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The town of Puerto Salgar put on a parade in my honour this morning … well in my miiiind

I have no idea what the parade was about but it seemed to have something to do with school kids as they were part of the parade, perhaps it was the first day of school parade. No matter what is was it was a lovely sight to see while riding out of Puerto Salgar.

The road out of town and half the way to Guatape is a perfect motorway. This was great just what I needed the feeling that I was really getting somewhere. The other half of the road was very twisty mountain passes however this time with far far fewer trucks, so I really got to enjoy myself.  I enjoyed every bit of the ride to Guadape and the scenery got even better as did the quaint little roadside cafes. I enjoyed making conversion with the really friendly café owner where I stopped for a coke, she spoke all of 2 words of English but that plus my 3 words of Spanish worked wonders. I’m back, the adventure biker is finally back, this is what I love doing. Just me and my bike against the road, watching the world as we pass by riding through roads that are enclosed by tall trees smelling the earthy smell of damp forest floor or road kill whatever comes first. There was one stretch of road where I spotted 5 dead dogs in about 2kms and smelt a whole lot more, I don’t think Colombian dogs have learned the rules of the road. There are however enough buzzards to make short work of them. I saw hundreds circling overhead all over and thought, well at least if I died on this road my body will go to feed something not a wholly unpleasant thought. but on a more wholesome note I did see some strange things on the road …

 yup .. no idea.

 (I downloaded this off google maps just so you could get an idea of what I saw today riding into Guatape, when I could not stop to take a picture)

Our enjoyable ride was rewarded by an even more enjoyable sight once we entered Guatape.  After finding the hotel and being told must park my bike in the reception I went about trying to get my bike into the reception. This was not as easy as it sounds. The small cobbled street had a step down on a sunken sidewalk which was quite narrow and the entrance to the hotel had a step up. I could not ride my bike along the sidewalk and turn it into the hotel as the turn was too tight and I was worried my panniers would bash the narrow door, it was a VERY tight fit. So I had to enlist the help of the butcher next door much to the amusement of his wife and daughter the two of us struggled with no co-ordination between us (due to lack of using the same language) to push and pull my bike into the hotel. A small crowed had gathered and we all just ended up in tears of laugher. Who needs communication when you have sign language 🙂

This must be the cutest most colourful town I have ever seen. It is a small touristy town on the edge of a large lake. I spent the afternoon eating empanadas (what else) and drinking a coke while people watching and it was good 🙂 tomorrow I will spend the day in Guatape relaxing, reading, walking, eating and people watching.

After a hair raising ride through downtown Bogota on the back of Labardo bike, not he isn’t a good rider because he is very good. However the Bogota traffic is something out and the hundreds of motorbikes lane split left right and centre. So constantly weaving through the busy stream of traffic is normal for him … but not me. However after arriving at the bonded warehouse I felt like a kid at Christmas opening the biggest present ever … my bike. It seemed to take forever to get gadget out of the crate but Lobardo and I finally got all the screws undone and the plastic pulled off and there was my baby in perfect working order. After all the paperwork was done, petrol and SATO insurance purchased I was ready for a good night sleep and eager to head off to Puerto Salgar in the morning. I abstained from my usual dinner of empanadas to indulge in the biggest avocado I have ever eaten, it was extremely delicious and filling.

Trying to navigate my way through the Bogota traffic on a bike that felt unbelievable too heavy was another story. I was honestly quite shaky and just not all together with it. My luggage pannier sand pannier racks included comes to 55kg. Panniers and racks 10kg, 8kgs in each pannier and my bag 23kgs with extra rear tire (which will stay in Medellin for my return after the Amazon challenge tour) This all weighs less than a person and I’ve lifted people who easily weight 70kgs, but this dead top heavy weight really took some getting used to. The relay bonus is that the panniers will stay in Medellin, and my bag will go on the support truck during the tour. Thereafter things will get lighter as I start using up my supplies … and ditching those things I never should have brought in the first place 🙂 (you always find something you don’t need)

The road to Puerto Salgar is not too bad, not pristine but not bad at all. It is a very windy mountain road though with a plethora of large trucks each intent on killing each other by overtaking on double yellow lines ignoring both the no overtaking and 30km/h speed limit signs. I felt way out of my depth trying to fight for road space with these monsters. I struggled to bring myself to overtake on double yellow lines so spent most of the trip at 30 to 40km/h behind the trucks.  On the odd occasion steeling my nerves to cross those yellow markers of doom.  I was narrowly missed a number of times when trucks over taking each other in both directs had to swerve back onto my side of the road.

The trip however was not bad but the 200kms did take 5 hours, which did give me time to check out the scenery  Stunning to say the least,  the buzzards and road kill, and the very many strange road signs. Coming from South Africa I am quite used to seeing road signs for wild animals, but these were quit amusing signs for snakes, tortoises, foxes, porcupines (well I think it looked like porcupines) and anteaters I did you not J This one of the best things about travelling in a foreign country are the little idiosyncrasies.

I think I’ll live on empanadas. The highlight of my day today was finding a little street café which sold the larges scrummiest empanadas ever. But let me go back a step.

I arrived in Bogotá on Sunday without my travelling head on my shoulders, so got TOTALLY ripped off by a taxi. I walked out of the airport with my heavy bag and wanted to catch a taxi to the B&B. I saw a group of people with badges and yellow vests with taxi written on them so I asked them where I get a taxi to the B&B and gave them the B&B address. They got on a radio and there were a load of people milling around shouting and saying this B&B is too far and too expensive they have a better one… ja right I’ve heard that before … I insisted I need to go to this B&B and eventually they agreed and bundled me into a minivan saying the taxi is usd15. I argued that that was too much but they said no that is the fee take it or leave it. I stupidly took it. As the tax minivan pulled out of the airport I saw a long line of yellow small cabs. I asked the driver and he said ‘’oh no small cheap cabs not good, different company’’ uuggghhh I bet they didn’t cost usd 15. I get to the hotel which is 6 mins from the airport. Well stupid me, I should have taken 5 mins at the airport to get my travel bearings.

I was meant to collect my bike today but the stupid airline would not move it to the bonded warehouse on a Saturday. It arrived last Thursday but Friday was a public holiday. Then today they only moved it this afternoon so we can only get an appointment with the customs inspector tomorrow.  What a waste of a day as we (the agent and I) were hoping to get it out today and I had to stay at the hotel to wait for the agent to fetch me. I did however go for a long walk in the area. It was interesting, as always, to see buildings in a different country.  And the empanadas were worth it  J

I am also getting my travel head back on, having ‘’conversations’’ with the lady who runs the B&B who does not speak a single word of English, but she is so friendly and keeps feeding me coffee I don’t think I’ll sleep for a week  8)

I have been planning this trip for almost 3 years and kept promising myself that I would learn Spanish and got a couple of really good CDs. The problem is when you work 12 hour days you are just to damn exhausted to do much else, even my weekends were a bust as I was so tired I just wanted to chill, or I had a bike to fix or needed to spend time with Joern … excuses excuses but the bottom line is I never did learn Spanish and now I am sorry I didn’t. I do have a small intro course with me and have started working on that, I hope it helps.

Let’s hope tomorrow brings me good news on the bike and I can head off on Wednesday.

my baby is on the move, safe flight Gadget 🙂
Message and picture from Roddy (Motofreight): ”Your bike is currently travelling at around 800 KPH on the first leg of the journey”

15 June 2015 – Belgium Bruges to Calais

Pannier firmly in place back on my bike I head off to Bruges. What a nice surprise. I have plenty of time to spend many hours investigating this lovely city. Sitting watching a street busker who is playing tin drums and a large digery doo, very impressive. I had to have a Belgium waffle in Belgium, so found the quaintest coffee shop and ended up have a waffle and tea for lunch. I love people watching and today was just as entertaining as most. I watched a lovely family of 4 having lunch, (mom dad little girl about 4 years old and a tiny about 3 month old baby) thinking that is so sweet.  Until the little girl would not eat so threw a tantrum at mom who gave in and fed her cake just to keep her quiet. The baby then started crying and the little girl then tried to rider her tricycle in the restaurant and dad had to take her off it which resulted din another tantrum. My thoughts quickly turned from ah sweet to damn I’m glad I don’t have kids, I felt so sorry for these young parents who just wanted a nice lunch with their cute family. Fertility I had been there for a relaxing hour and very nice lunch and it was time to head off to Calais.

The ride to Calais was as boring and unexciting as Calais is, no one comes here on holiday you simply stop off in time to catch the ferry. I stayed overnight in a very boring and unexciting hotel ready to catch the ferry in the morning.

16 June 2015 – UK

The Eurotunnel could not be easier as was the ride to Epsom to drop Gadget, but not before stopping to get him a brand new set of TK80s ready for South America. Roddy (from Motofreight the company I am using for my shipping) was great, like all South Africans. Roddy took my pannier to the UK adventure bike show to drop it with Bernie from Stahlkoffer who fixed it up and posted it back to Roddy. WOW what service THANKS guys J

I now feel far more relaxed and ready for South America, after completing the biggest part of the preparation i.e. getting my bike ready and in the UK ready for shipping. All that is left is for me to pack and get on the plane on the 2^nd  August easy

14 June 2015 – Here I go, off to Luxembourg

Watching Joern as I head off to Luxembourg and he goes back to Switzerland made me sad as I always miss him when we are not together, however at the same time I feel really excited about my mini trip. I love riding on my own, as I truly feel this phenomenal sense of freedom and peace at these times.

This is just what I need, gadget and me on the motorway,  to get my head right and excited for my trip and to stop over thinking the preparation. I never listen to music when I ride rather just enjoying the peace of the road and my own thoughts, however sometimes I sing to myself or with no encouragement my mind gets stuck on a song .. today Britney spears ‘hit me baby one more time’ uuggghhh why is my head doing this to me I have been into alternative music for as long as I can remember, I really do not like Britney spears, this is nuts … okay I need to start signing ‘enter sandman’  ahhh that’s better J

Pulling into Luxembourg City I’m clearly smiling, this is turning into a rather enjoyable little trip. Lux city is really nice and I enjoyed walking through the old town seeing the stunning architecture and historic buildings.  And while I am enjoying an OJ in the city Gadget is enjoying being photographed by a bunch of Chinese tourists.

After leaving Luxembourg and riding through Belgium I get about 50km from the hotel in Nivelles I hear a loud thunk grrrrr and the bike sort of slightly swerves. I look down and it takes me a nanosecond to realise that my left side pannier is missing simply gone. I immediately pull over and stop, looking back I see my pannier lying in the middle of the motorway, cars swerving around it left and right. Uugghh shit I am terrified that a car is going to hit it and have an accident and all I could think about was thank goodness Joern or another biker were not riding behind me as they would have  hit it and had a major accident. I run back along the motorway (I think that is illegal, not sure, don’t care, need to get my pannier out of the way) I wait for a gap in the traffic and run grab my pannier and run back out … man that was hairy with the number of cars going full speed past me, I really don’t want to do that again.

I put it back and carry on slowly to the nearest motorway rest stop to assess the damage.  I look at the pannier and the brackets are fine but the lock that locks it to the pannier rack has snapped clean off.  The pannier itself is pretty dented and scraped but the integrity has not been compromised and the lid still fits perfectly … well there’s a testament to how good Stahlkoffer panniers are.  I just cannot figure out why it fell off, the motorway was pretty standard a few road works with a couple of very small bump where one type of tarmac meets another, but nothing significant enough to bump a pannier right off its rack so that the lock snaps.

I decide to fix the additional internal brackets on (screws that go through the pannier and rack at the bottom),  I had the stahlkoffer team add them to the panniers and racks for when I am riding off road, or very bad roads, in South America. They are not standard but I think I’ve shown that they should be.

Pics are of the pannier, and my toys which I threw badly while at the road in a rest stop. I am not sure what people thought of this mad red head biker woman literally throwing her stuff out of her panniers over the bike onto the grass. This was so I could get in to the bottom on the pannier to lock the inside brackets on.  I was actually most pissed off that my brand new waterproof yellow day bag is not so waterproof anymore having been slid down a motorway.