Sunday, October 30, 2011
1st installment of photo's
Ok everyone, I had some communication probs with the Spanish computers and the 1st installment of pics ended up on marco's plus.google profile. Try this address for now...https://plus.google.com/photos/104751236269670276960/albums/5668944281958987857 ... this isn't all of them...like I said, I was in strugle town.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Tulua, Cali and Mondomo 15th-18th Oct
So as I last said, we were about to head off to the family finca. On the way we stopped for empanadas and llampu (sounds like shampoo!!)- a juice of lugo and corn! Pretty nice, actually. Got to the farm, had the tour and then BBQ´ed and played zapo (?) a cool bar game where you throw brass rings at the top of a shelf about 5m away that has 13 holes in it and 2 frogs with their mouths open (the other 2 holes- making 15 total) which all correspond to different points- see pic´s when I figure out how to do that!!
The farm has citris, corn, red beans, cows, chickens, and much to Marco´s delight- mushrooms growing out of cow patties, however I denied him the pleasure of ingesting them until I have more proof that they´re safe!! Back to the house in Tulua where we got ready to go then rode to a panaderia and tried some more local delights (bread dumplings) with Carlos and his half brother and then they rode with us back to the Pan Am.
It was quite an easy ride and the traffic wasn´t that bad. After about 2.5hrs it started to rain and then pour-we rode in it for a while and then came across a cabana restaurant, pulled over for cover and then ended up having a most delicious tamale meal. The rain died off and then we took a secondary road from this point.
All day was sugarcane fields and a few spots of stinky stagnant water. Made it to Cali after 5.5 hrs (100km!!) and then it took us an hour to get from the North end of town to the Casa de Ciclista in the South end of town. Cali is a massive, modern city.
When we got to the suburb that the C de C was in, we weren´t really sure where to go, and out of nowhere a car pulled up with a family of 6 piled in the sedan to see if we needed any help! They didn´t know the address, but called the place, got directions and then escorted us there!! The people here really are very nice. Even while we´re riding people wave and beep and even pull up and ask us about our journey. This family definately had their hands full and their caring generosity was so appreciated after a long day that I almost welled up a tear.
The C de C is great. The place belongs to the Miller family and Hernan is the son who is in charge of the place. They´ve made their house into a free hostel for cyclists. We got a room on the roof and set up our tent in there as the window doesn´t have any glass and it had been raining here the last 5 days.
Went for a walk downtown and met Cesar- a local who saw us ride past on the way to the C de C and said to his mate- that´s going to be me in 5years. He recognised us and we ended up having a few beers with him and hanging out.
Got to see the first game of Tejo- you throw rock-like balls over a distance of about 15m at this soft clay board that has 4 triangles of flint pointing to the center of the board and you score if you land in the center and when you hit the flint triangle which then make a big bang as they hit. We didn´t get to play, but we will before we leave this country.
Slept to the blaring sounds of salsa from a discotek across the road and when that finally finished, much to my displeasure, they continued partying (without the music) until the sun came up and the rain also came which was loud on the tin roof- needless to say, we didn´t sleep very well.
Mon 17th. It was still raining, so we chillaxed in the morning, drinking tea and local organic coffee and eating mango and papaya. Got heaps of information from Hernan about routes and ideas. Went for a ride into the city, got supplies, made a scrumptious dinner of fish and spinach salad and went to bed.
Tue 18th. We´re still not very good at getting up early and our repacking and breakfast ends up taking us 2 hours- hopefully that will change soon. We were super excited about today´s ride as we were going to take a back road to a Lago, spend the night and then catch a ferry the next day and ride more back roads to the Pan Am, but as we were riding on the back road (which was dirt and muddy, but totally do-able) a car stopped and told us that there had been robbers in the area, so it was back to the Pan Am.
But, this section turned out to be much more scenic and shot my theory of the Pan Am being the easy flat route out of the water!! The first 3 hours were flat and then we had another 3 hours of hills!! We stopped for pineapple and banana on the way.
My big purchase of the day was in Jamundi where I got an old-school bike horn so that I can honk back at everyone. And Marco got some MC Hammer Eyewear (for those of you who don´t know the joke, safety glasses) so that he can protect his eyes.
We rode 65km´s today. We´ve been riding past many waterparks and paintball. Today there were many beautiful mountains- although I have a love/hate relationship for them!!
After our fouled plans, we weren´t sure where we were going to end up- well, here we are in Modomo and once again the friendliness and hospitality is wonderful! I was sitting ou the front of the hotel and made friends with Hugo (the Dad) andYasseur (his friend who speaks english)- he even wants to come back tonight or tomorrow to talk more and everyone who walks past says hello. Two kids came in and loved my horn- me to!! And even the dogs have been friendly. OK, time to eat!!
The farm has citris, corn, red beans, cows, chickens, and much to Marco´s delight- mushrooms growing out of cow patties, however I denied him the pleasure of ingesting them until I have more proof that they´re safe!! Back to the house in Tulua where we got ready to go then rode to a panaderia and tried some more local delights (bread dumplings) with Carlos and his half brother and then they rode with us back to the Pan Am.
It was quite an easy ride and the traffic wasn´t that bad. After about 2.5hrs it started to rain and then pour-we rode in it for a while and then came across a cabana restaurant, pulled over for cover and then ended up having a most delicious tamale meal. The rain died off and then we took a secondary road from this point.
All day was sugarcane fields and a few spots of stinky stagnant water. Made it to Cali after 5.5 hrs (100km!!) and then it took us an hour to get from the North end of town to the Casa de Ciclista in the South end of town. Cali is a massive, modern city.
When we got to the suburb that the C de C was in, we weren´t really sure where to go, and out of nowhere a car pulled up with a family of 6 piled in the sedan to see if we needed any help! They didn´t know the address, but called the place, got directions and then escorted us there!! The people here really are very nice. Even while we´re riding people wave and beep and even pull up and ask us about our journey. This family definately had their hands full and their caring generosity was so appreciated after a long day that I almost welled up a tear.
The C de C is great. The place belongs to the Miller family and Hernan is the son who is in charge of the place. They´ve made their house into a free hostel for cyclists. We got a room on the roof and set up our tent in there as the window doesn´t have any glass and it had been raining here the last 5 days.
Went for a walk downtown and met Cesar- a local who saw us ride past on the way to the C de C and said to his mate- that´s going to be me in 5years. He recognised us and we ended up having a few beers with him and hanging out.
Got to see the first game of Tejo- you throw rock-like balls over a distance of about 15m at this soft clay board that has 4 triangles of flint pointing to the center of the board and you score if you land in the center and when you hit the flint triangle which then make a big bang as they hit. We didn´t get to play, but we will before we leave this country.
Slept to the blaring sounds of salsa from a discotek across the road and when that finally finished, much to my displeasure, they continued partying (without the music) until the sun came up and the rain also came which was loud on the tin roof- needless to say, we didn´t sleep very well.
Mon 17th. It was still raining, so we chillaxed in the morning, drinking tea and local organic coffee and eating mango and papaya. Got heaps of information from Hernan about routes and ideas. Went for a ride into the city, got supplies, made a scrumptious dinner of fish and spinach salad and went to bed.
Tue 18th. We´re still not very good at getting up early and our repacking and breakfast ends up taking us 2 hours- hopefully that will change soon. We were super excited about today´s ride as we were going to take a back road to a Lago, spend the night and then catch a ferry the next day and ride more back roads to the Pan Am, but as we were riding on the back road (which was dirt and muddy, but totally do-able) a car stopped and told us that there had been robbers in the area, so it was back to the Pan Am.
But, this section turned out to be much more scenic and shot my theory of the Pan Am being the easy flat route out of the water!! The first 3 hours were flat and then we had another 3 hours of hills!! We stopped for pineapple and banana on the way.
My big purchase of the day was in Jamundi where I got an old-school bike horn so that I can honk back at everyone. And Marco got some MC Hammer Eyewear (for those of you who don´t know the joke, safety glasses) so that he can protect his eyes.
We rode 65km´s today. We´ve been riding past many waterparks and paintball. Today there were many beautiful mountains- although I have a love/hate relationship for them!!
After our fouled plans, we weren´t sure where we were going to end up- well, here we are in Modomo and once again the friendliness and hospitality is wonderful! I was sitting ou the front of the hotel and made friends with Hugo (the Dad) andYasseur (his friend who speaks english)- he even wants to come back tonight or tomorrow to talk more and everyone who walks past says hello. Two kids came in and loved my horn- me to!! And even the dogs have been friendly. OK, time to eat!!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Colombia, safe and sound!
Well, we made it to Colombia after some craziness at the airport in LA- they wanted proof that we were going to leave Colombia- our bikes weren´t enough! So we had to run around the airport searching for a refundable ticket out of Colombia. We made it back to check-in with a minute to spare, got ushered through security and x-ray to our gate. Felt like we were in Race Around the World!
After 11 hours we arrived in Armenia. The day was clear, the views were lovely. Very tropical, lush and green. Everyone clapped when the plane landed and the kids were waving at the plane through the fence. I´ve got a good feeling. Made it through customs relatively unscathed- they made us open one of the bike boxes, but we didn´t have to take anything out. As we left the airport we were greeted by Mauricio. He lives on a beautiful finca (farm) with plantains, coffee, guava and avocado. We experienced a light drizzle at 4pm and then the skies opened up with thunder, lightning and consistant rain! Amazing views from his house. We put our bikes together and were suprised at how quickly we managed to do them. The next day we slept in until 11.30 and then packed, organised gear and hung out with Mauricio.
We left Mauricio´s on Thursday morning at 9am, made it to the first town by 10am, which was a very pleasant ride. We were on secondary roads which are quieter, very scenic, but no shoulder. We stopped for avocado, limes, cucumbers, tomatoes and arepas. Marco had to do a roadside repair on one of his panniers. Then we had a MASSIVE climb to Sevilla- 3 hours and it KICKED OUR BUTTS! Me especially, I had to stop 3 times. We lunched at the top just as the road entered town and then grabbed a fresh OJ. Didn´t stop in Sevilla, had a lovely downhill (which without disc brakes is also quite the workout- for the fingers!), then another more gradual climb, more downhill, then a flat tyre! (But it wasn´t our invincible Schwalbe Marathons, it was the dodgy tube). We made it to the intersection of the PAN AM HWY and decided to stop (20km short of our intended destination). Stayed at a truck hotel- very noisy, not the best sleep.
Thoughts for the first day- I was very nervous at the beginning and felt the adrenaline, but after a short time was feeling more comfortable. Love my rear vision mirror! Not excited about future mountain passes, but the views were lovely- mountains, bamboo forests and friendly people.
The second day of riding was all on the Pan Am. Loud, busy, truckes, buses, motorbikes, cars, BUT a wide shoulder. This is the trade off- oh, and it´s FLAT too!! I think I have a bit of bursitis in my achilles. We made it to Tulua in an hour, big city. Found a market and bought supplies. Started looking for a hotel and these young people came up to chat, they ended up taking us to a nice Residencia right in the heart of town. It´s safe- locked gate and our bikes are safe too. Rested the ankle. Made dinner with our new stoves- got some fresh Talapia and veggies. Marco couldn´t get the jetboil to work. I got the Trangia going just fine, but when I went to check the flame and lifted the pan, fuel or oil must have spilled and we started a little fire in front of our room!!! Ahhh!! Lucky we had water nearby and dinner wasn´t ruined, just a couple of melted spice bags. Got a suprise visit from Carlos our warm showers connection in Tulua, so we hung out and had a couple of Club Colombias.
Today we worked on our bikes in the morning and then Carlos picked us up and took us to his parents house where we all had lunch together and then we drove a car around for the Mayor elections. I think we are going to the family farm tonight. Carlos is great. He´s an engineering student and speaks very good english, so we´ve been getting much information from him. Tomorrow we will either try to make it to Cali or stop somewhere along the way- depending on how my bursitis feels.
After 11 hours we arrived in Armenia. The day was clear, the views were lovely. Very tropical, lush and green. Everyone clapped when the plane landed and the kids were waving at the plane through the fence. I´ve got a good feeling. Made it through customs relatively unscathed- they made us open one of the bike boxes, but we didn´t have to take anything out. As we left the airport we were greeted by Mauricio. He lives on a beautiful finca (farm) with plantains, coffee, guava and avocado. We experienced a light drizzle at 4pm and then the skies opened up with thunder, lightning and consistant rain! Amazing views from his house. We put our bikes together and were suprised at how quickly we managed to do them. The next day we slept in until 11.30 and then packed, organised gear and hung out with Mauricio.
We left Mauricio´s on Thursday morning at 9am, made it to the first town by 10am, which was a very pleasant ride. We were on secondary roads which are quieter, very scenic, but no shoulder. We stopped for avocado, limes, cucumbers, tomatoes and arepas. Marco had to do a roadside repair on one of his panniers. Then we had a MASSIVE climb to Sevilla- 3 hours and it KICKED OUR BUTTS! Me especially, I had to stop 3 times. We lunched at the top just as the road entered town and then grabbed a fresh OJ. Didn´t stop in Sevilla, had a lovely downhill (which without disc brakes is also quite the workout- for the fingers!), then another more gradual climb, more downhill, then a flat tyre! (But it wasn´t our invincible Schwalbe Marathons, it was the dodgy tube). We made it to the intersection of the PAN AM HWY and decided to stop (20km short of our intended destination). Stayed at a truck hotel- very noisy, not the best sleep.
Thoughts for the first day- I was very nervous at the beginning and felt the adrenaline, but after a short time was feeling more comfortable. Love my rear vision mirror! Not excited about future mountain passes, but the views were lovely- mountains, bamboo forests and friendly people.
The second day of riding was all on the Pan Am. Loud, busy, truckes, buses, motorbikes, cars, BUT a wide shoulder. This is the trade off- oh, and it´s FLAT too!! I think I have a bit of bursitis in my achilles. We made it to Tulua in an hour, big city. Found a market and bought supplies. Started looking for a hotel and these young people came up to chat, they ended up taking us to a nice Residencia right in the heart of town. It´s safe- locked gate and our bikes are safe too. Rested the ankle. Made dinner with our new stoves- got some fresh Talapia and veggies. Marco couldn´t get the jetboil to work. I got the Trangia going just fine, but when I went to check the flame and lifted the pan, fuel or oil must have spilled and we started a little fire in front of our room!!! Ahhh!! Lucky we had water nearby and dinner wasn´t ruined, just a couple of melted spice bags. Got a suprise visit from Carlos our warm showers connection in Tulua, so we hung out and had a couple of Club Colombias.
Today we worked on our bikes in the morning and then Carlos picked us up and took us to his parents house where we all had lunch together and then we drove a car around for the Mayor elections. I think we are going to the family farm tonight. Carlos is great. He´s an engineering student and speaks very good english, so we´ve been getting much information from him. Tomorrow we will either try to make it to Cali or stop somewhere along the way- depending on how my bursitis feels.
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