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Day 5

Day 5

35,647 – 36,010. ——-   363 Miles today (13,310 Miles Overall)

Popayán, Colombia —> Quito, Ecuador

The two other bikers from Colombia that stayed in my hostel room decided to get up at 4am and make a ton of noise getting ready to head out for the day. After they left there was no going back to sleep for me so I got up too. I packed up in a hurry and got my bike out of the parking garage. The Colombians were still loading up their bikes at 5:45am and left maybe 10 minutes before me or so.

It’s nice starting to ride at sunrise with the beautiful views and getting a head start on the day. I was riding for about 20-30 minutes and I caught the Colombians. I could only follow for so long till I needed to get back to my pace. I went to pass the first guy and he had a duffle type bag on the back seat with his stuff inside. I noticed the bag was wide open and his stuff was hanging out. I pointed it out to him and he was confused but pulled over and I’m assuming he fixed it. I have no idea how his buddy didn’t catch it the whole morning. I picked up the pace and I was shaving time off the GPS real quick. It said I was arriving at 12:45 but the earlier I could get there the better. I might actually have time to get to Quito today and not be getting there at night time!

Most of the ride was absolutely stunning. So many mountains with rolling hills near them and so many farms. Most of the ride was near 10,000′ and I had a lot of temperature swings all day long. No rain. I was in a rush to get to the border to get this over with so I didn’t have anything to eat or drink in the morning. Just my last protein shake. I was starting to get some anxiety about the rest of the trip again knowing how far I have to go. I really needed some social interaction since I really haven’t had any of it since I got here. A couple of dogs gave me a heart attack running out in the road trying to be suicidal. Luckily I never hit any. I almost got pulled over by a cop for overtaking a truck on the outside of a turn but he just gave me the no no hand sign and let me go. I really should slow down so I don’t get in a ton of trouble before I cross the border since I’m so close.

Next thing I know it’s about 10:45 Am and I’m pulling up to the border. I can’t believe I shaved the hours of the time. Well actually I can. The time has come. I parked my bike right in front of the Aduana which deals with my bike visa. Probably not a smart idea considering I’m not going to close out my bike visa since it’s expired. I walked over to the immigration line. Luckily an officer that spoke English dealt with me and had me checked out in 5 minutes. I walk back over to my bike and there’s about 15 bikes. A bunch of Finnish guys rode down from Alaska and are heading to Ushuaia as well. Thankfully I was ahead of these guys or else my border crossing was about to get that much longer.

I rode over to the Ecuador side and no one checked shit! I tried to get on the line for the immigration but I needed to fill out a health form on the bridge between both countries. I walked back over and a guy showed me how to do it on my phone. I went back to immigration and showed a woman the completed form on my phone. The line was about 100 people long or more. Last time I was here I had those whole border crossing done in about one hour. This was gonna take some time. I waited in line for about an hour or more and it went perfectly.

I started to get in line for Aduana to get my bike visa and it was a disaster. Pure chaos, people cutting the lines, and no communication. I finally got my passport over to the woman on the computer. After 3 hours I ended up waiting for them to do the paperwork. The Finnish guys caught up to me in that line and she started to work on their bikes first and I threw a bit of a fit saying I was there before them. I was in a rush to get to Quito before sundown and I wasn’t about to get screwed because these guys like to travel in a group and hold up a line everywhere. 15 minutes later I was on my way.

While I was online I was talking to a few of the guys and they said they were riding from Alaska to Ushuaia in 13 weeks. THAT’S INSANE. What’s the point of the trip then? I did the math and they were averaging 1.6 or so border crossings a week. That’s insanity. It looks like they are just riding and riding and riding and not stopping to see anything. I couldn’t do it. Most of them were in their 60’s. Some retired, some not. What’s the point of taking this trip that is a dream of a lifetime only to fly though it. I could spend 4 months in Mexico alone easily.

I threw my winter gloves on since I remember Ecuador being cold as hell last time I was here and hit the road like a bat out of hell. I don’t even know what speed a bat out of hell moves at so I’m going to assume I was moving faster than that. I probably was. GPS said 4:40 to Quito. One of the other Finnish guys said no way in hell I’m gonna make it before dark. I said you got my IG so check up on me in 3 hours. Haha

Right off the bat I was passing cops on double yellow lines not caring what’s about to happen. I was finally riding legally for the first time in months here. I was pushing it so hard the entire way. Passing cars and trucks on the shoulder and on the outside of turns. No cops chased me, there were a ton of road blocks with checkpoints and power was out in a few towns so there was miles and miles of traffic. I was riding on the shoulder of oncoming traffic for all of that. I love South America, anything that doesn’t go to the USA goes here.The weather was wild. I hit 90 degree temps on the ride and it was a bit steamy in my winter gear with winter gloves on. Next thing I knew it was 6:10 as I pulled up to my Hostel.  3:10 total 🙂

As I pulled up I noticed a black African twin with Canadian plates. YES. A few seconds later Pierre walks up and introduces himself. He just got here a few hours ago too with another buddy. What a long long day and I finally am about to make some friends. We unload our bikes and the woman in the hostel told us they had parking for us literally next door but it was very hard to get the bikes in. I was so relieved to be here and with some English speaking friends and the hostel worker was so kind and sweet and spoke English too. oh all the small things that can turn a day around in a heartbeat. We unpacked for a few minutes inside and then went to deal with the bike parking.

She opens a gate on the sidewalk with about a 16″ wall under the doorway. We have to get our bikes up this ledge!!! I went first and got it right up. The doorway was just a bit smaller than the width of my handlebars. I got the bike and flipped it around. Pierre on the other hand was struggling so I offered to help. I jumped on his bike and got it up there while his friend Christian was talking shit about him! haha

We went inside and got our rooms and got settled in. Did I mention how thankful I was to have a place to sleep with some new friends? This hostel was gorgeous, spacious, cozy, and clean. Was much nicer than the place I stayed at last time I was here in the old city center. I’ll never go back to that area ever again after being here. I met another rider from Germany. The 4 of us went out for some Arabic food right after I showered and had a nice chat about all kinds of things. Work, bikes, gear, life, traveling, and our lives before the trip. After dinner they got some bottles of wine and we sat on the terrace outside on the roof of the hostel drinking and talking more about life. We talked about plans for the next day. I had a long day ahead of me working on the bike at the shop getting it all ready for the rest of the trip so I went to bed at about 10:30 and that was that.

On my ride to Quito today it was wild how unpleasant I was feeling with a bunch of anxiety. Once again being so far from home and having such a long way to go. As soon as I met these guys with the atmosphere of the hostel it was all gone in an instant. A complete 180 in a matter of seconds. These are the moments I love about this trip. A complete roller coaster ride and you never know what’s going to happen at any given time. The way the night ended boosted my morale so much and I was ready for the rest of this trip on another level. Well see how long this holds up for!

Also my memory, I don’t trust it anymore. The entire summer I was thinking of the road from the border crossing to Quito and I specifically remembered a bunch of spots in Ecuador. Funny because I hit these roads in Colombia long before the border crossing and it confused the hell out of me. I would have bet my life and everything I had that these certain roads and views were in Ecuador. I don’t understand how I can’t remember these specific parts of the ride with how beautiful it was. I’m starting to not trust my memory anymore but it doesn’t matter anymore because everything from here on it south of Quito will be new territory and i’m so excited for it. The trip has officially begun once I leave Quito.

Made some friends along todays ride.

Sunrise in Popayan, Colombia

Immigration line for Ecuador

Views on the ride in Colombia

Praying I didnt get busted for no TIP

Looks like the new cool thing to do nowadays

Pierre struggling to get the bike up!

Wine with my new homies in the hostel

Three days from may arrival to Bogota.

 

 

 

 

 

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Day 4

Day 4

35,453 – 35,647 —- 194 Miles today (12,884 Miles Overall)

Tatacoa Desert, Colombia —>  Popayan, Colombia
I woke up at 5:45 today and hit the road. Weather looked pretty good and I might actually not get rained on today but who knows! I had a 7 or 8 hour ride to Popayan and it was going over the Andes Mountains with a-lot of dirt riding. I almost got busted by cops going around a truck but luckily they didn’t stop me. My visa for the bike is expired and I don’t have insurance so if I get busted I’m in tons of trouble and I’ll have to pay a-lot in fines. I passed a few roadblocks by cops but they let me cruise right through while stopping others. Lucky.
I took this route on the last trip coming north so I figured I would remember most of it but as the hours went by none of it was coming back to me. I ended up riding about 2 hours in the dirt today. More than I would like to with these tires. I hit some real muddy spots going over the mountain today but luckily I didn’t crash once! Such nice views today with most of it being twisty roads so that was fun and the time passed by quite quickly.
Crazy to see how much of a beating these bikes can take and they still run great after years and years of abuse. It really makes me appreciate machinery and how well it all works when it works. My bike was just rattling like crazy for most of today’s ride and I keep having a feeling that the box is going to fall off the back or my panniers are going to fall off. I rolled into Popayan two hours earlier than Google said I would and got myself a little hostel right in the center. I went out for some food and walked around a bit. It’s a small city with not much to see here but they have a great delicious restaurant right near my hostel which I went to twice today.
They have a grassy pyramid shaped hill on one side of town so I went for a little walk up it to get a nice panoramic view of the city with clouds in the background and rain pouring down behind the sun. I have a bit of free time on my hands tonight and my mind started spiraling. I looked up directions to Quito and the border and for some reason I started panicking with how much of a journey it is with nowhere to sleep in the middle at any hostels. I put my phone down and decided to go for a walk.
The emotions from their last trip are coming back slowly. So much anxiety coming from so much free time. It’s funny how we all are too busy at home all the time with work, life and errands to ever self reflect. Now it’s all coming back to me. Time to get used to not working all the time or having anything to do. Nothing I can really do to run away from these feelings I just have to take them as they come. This was one reason I really didn’t want to break the trip up into two parts.
Coming back to this life is a bit rough to get used to so quickly. What a rough life I have huh?
So tomorrows gonna be a big day. I am trying to leave Colombia. It’s a 7-8 hour ride to the border if I don’t get hit by any rain and then I’ll see what I can do to sneak my bike out. Hopefully no one will ask to see that I closed out my TIP for the bike. Once I get into Ecuador I can relax quite a bit as I will be legal there. I also called the bike shop in Quito and told them I’ll be coming in a day or two for the tires I ordered from them over the summer. These guys just made my day and told me they’ll throw the tires on for free. What a bunch of nice guys. Ecuador Freedom Bike Rental is the name of their shop in Quito if anyone ever needs to rent a big bike down here for a little vacation.
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Day 3

Day 3

35,263 – 35,453 190 Miles today (12,690 Miles Overall)
Bogota, Colombia —-> Tatacoa Desert, Colombia
I woke up at about 6 today and started loading the bike up straight away. The sun rises here super early and sets at about 5:45PM so I think early morning starts are going to be a thing until the clocks change here if they ever do. Packing up my panniers this morning made me realize how much a few extra things really changes how packed my panniers are. On this trip Im living on the wild side since I brought 2 pairs of jeans since im pretty sure ill be wearing them alot with the weather being colder on this leg. I also brought an extra pair of heated gloves but im thinking I might send a pair back and just deal with the cold down south if my heaters don’t work anymore. I brought some workout bands which seem to be taking up a bit of space here too. I can barely close my panniers and my top box had maybe 20-25 lbs of shit in it which isn’t good.
I loaded up the bike and handed the keys back to the front desk art Daniellas apartment complex. The bike is so damn heavy with everything on it, feels much heavier than last time but it also didnt help coming from a bike that weighed maybe 70 pounds lighter all summer. I typed in Tatacoa Desert on the GPS and hit the road. I hit too much traffic in Bogota this morning which wasnt expecting. I hate cities. GPS had me arriving at about 2:10pm (or time to beat) so I had a long ride ahead of me. I took a route Daniella recommended which went by her farm but the fog was so damn thick for about the first 2 hours of the ride with rain and it sucked. I just wanted to get the hell out of it and in some clear weather if there was going to be any. The route I took had some gorgeous windy roads on a gorge with some wild rivers. I didnt stop because of the rain to take any pics. The bike was feeling normal again and I was getting used to it. Just heavy.
All the new gear felt great. Klim jacket held up and kept me dry in the rain along with the new helmet not leaking any water in through the shield. Very happy about this.
I hit about 10k feet at one point and the temps were dropping down to about 50. Thick thick fog with more rain along that part of the ride. The smells and views are coming back to me. All the burning smells reminds me of being in Serbia as a kid. Seeing everyone live their lives on the sides of the roads as im passing through small towns was fun to watch again. So many little motorcycles with 2-3 people on them, no one wearing helmets. Love it.
Finally started to descend out of the mountains and the altitude was dropping fast and the temps were rising. Next thing I know its about 86 degrees out and humid as hell. I want the cold back! I almost killed myself trying to put out my highway pegs I just installed yesterday so I can stretch my legs on these long rides. As im playing with the pegs sliding them out so I can use them I look up and there’s a car doing about 30 and im doing 80 on the highway. Just missed killing myself there. Great. Also I love how people on the highways here go from 60mph or so to almost a dead stop because there’s a small bump in the road. Cmon people!
I found my old gos tracks from the last trip and turned down a dirt path to a small town called Pata where I hopped on a ferry for 10K Colombian Pesos. Once off the ferry I had about a 40 minute ride on dirt roads through some river crossings to get to the desert. IM just praying I can get to Quito for new tires without me getting a flat here since the tread on my rear is pretty low right now. I stopped for a few pictures and enjoyed the view for a little bit. Its so weird going from Brooklyn to Tatacoa desert in nearly two days all alone. The views of the mountain far in the distance with thick fog and clouds floating above them was beautiful. No one around for miles with some peace and quiet finally was really refreshing. Feeling very vulnerable out here all alone but it feels good.
I found the hostel I stayed at last time, checked into my room and went back into VillaVieja to get a big lunch at a fancy little spot. Im trying to blow all my money sooner than later because I was expecting to stay in Colombia for about 10-15 days before I went to Ecuador but my plans changed so I have to get rid of this cash! Had some grilled rabbit for lunch with a tasty homemade cake. Went back to my hostel where I dipped in the pool and then  I put my hammock up between the trees and read on my kindle for a few hours in between dozing off for a few naps. I decided to get my new Sony camera and go walk around the desert to get some shots of it for you guys and to try to figure this camera out. I have no idea what im doing with photography. I don’t have an eye for it like these other people. Props to you.
I walked around the desert for about 2 hours and enjoyed where I was and this new relaxing life with no schedules anymore. So weird how it goes from chaotic busy to pure freedom. Im so thankful I get to experience this at such a young age and I try to remember that as much as I can everyday which is sometimes every hour of my day. I walked back to my hostel where I read for a bit more. Skipping dinner for sure. I don’t quite have an appetite here so just trying to eat once or twice a day for now. Im unpacking most of my gear and rearranging everything so I can not have as much crap in my top box and I also topped up my oil since I didnt put enough in yesterday.
Just another day with nothing very exciting thankfully! Looking forward to getting out of Colombia since my TIP for my bike is expired and if I get busted at the border ill be in a shit ton of trouble so just excited to get my ass out of Colombia and into Quito for those new tires and the trip will get really fun once I get south of Quito where everything is new.
$10,000 pesos
Taking the dirt road into Tatacoa Desert.
Roasted rabbit. Delicious
Some homemade dessert
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Part 2, Day 1/2

Day 1/2

New York, New York ——>Bogota, Colombia

Big dilemma here. Not sure if I should continue from the last trip with the day count and miles or start fresh. Anyway….

Here we are. Back at it. It’s been a little over 7 months since I left the bike here in February and went back home. I can’t believe the summer cruised by this quickly and I’m back here again. The culture shock is settling in quite quickly. I’m remembering how my most used line here is “No hablo espanol”. Quite a few familiar feelings from the beginning of the last trip are settling back in already but thankfully I know how to deal with them knowing this is a rollercoaster of emotions. 2-3 weeks ago I was pumped up like an excited child to get back and now I’m kinda looking around thinking am I ready for this? Well I guess you’re never ready for anything. Just have to take it as it comes.

It’s going to take me a bit to get used to this life again. Kinda sad leaving the comfort of my home and life in New York where everything is quite easy and coming down here to the unknown, cold showers, barely speaking the language, crooked cops and everything being new.

I had an easy flight down here last night, got my luggage and found out my Google Fi service isn’t working this time around. I got shafted by a taxi driver to get to Daniella’s apartment but oh well. I got settled in last night and crashed early to have enough energy for the next day here

I woke up the next morning pretty early and waited for Daniella’s cousin to give me the go ahead to get to their house to grab my bike. When I got there no one knew where my extra set of keys were which I’m pretty sure I left them there in case someone ever needed to move it or start it. Bummer

This will be a big problem if I lose my set of keys. I’m gonna have to call someone at home to get to the BMW dealer to order me a new key and mail it down or I’ll figure something out. I pulled the bike out of their garage and it was still shining from the last bike wash I got at the end of February. I hooked the battery up and she fired right up on the first shot. I couldn’t be any happier.

Tires were a bit low on air, brakes were super soft and it all just felt weird. Gonna have to give it some TLC so get it back to tip top shape. I loaded up the luggage, gave Maria a hug and off I went. I pull up to the first street light and there’s a man doing a handstand on a bucket while his shoes are on fire. I shit you not about everything I just wrote. Once the light is about to turn green he flips over and asks everyone for money. Well it’s official. Welcome to Colombia

Riding this bike after being on the Tenere all summer just feels so weird and I really hate the bike now. I knew this would happen. Feels like a slow dog. No power, suspension is too soft without the luggage even on it and the brakes are kinda weak. I hope I get used to this thing quickly because I am not gonna have fun with it until then.

I got the bike back to Daniellas and did a quick oil change, cleaned the filthy air filter, installed the GPS tracker, wireless phone charger, removed some wiring, put some new adventure mirrors on with a go pro mount because my old mirrors would twist off every time I dropped my bike. I got caught in the rain for a bit working on the bike but it didn’t get me too bad.

I spent the next two hours rearranging everything I was going to take this time around and getting a package ready to mail back to New York with extra crap I didn’t need. I feel like I’m packing more this time than last time. I definitely have some more clothes because it’s going to be really cold once I hit Peru but the luggage already feels packed out! I’m living life on the edge this time bringing two pairs of jeans! Hah

I met up with Gareth for the first time since right before Covid when he flew to New York and we got him a bike to cruise around America. I met him in Montenegro on my last Europe trip and the lad is from Ireland. His bike has been registered under my name for the last 2-3 years. I don’t even know how long it’s been and I’m not doing the math right now. Quite the view seeing two bikes under my name parked next to each other in Bogota, Colombia.

We put the Moto gear away and went for a walk down the block to the mall to get my SIM card and get some food for the first time in 36 hours. Was nice catching up with him. He just got to Bogota last week and will be heading up north and slowly making his way back down to western Colombia. Lucky bastard is going to spend three months here. After dinner I found out that Daniella remembered she put my key in her office desk where the bike was being held. Crisis Averted!!!!

I shot over there on my bike to get fuel and the keys, parked the bike and now I’m starting to pack everything up in the panniers. If I wake up in the morning and it’s not raining out, I’ll hit the road and head south the Tatacoa desert and lay in the sun like a lizard baking because I’ll probably be soaking wet with rain on the way down at one point or another.

Just checked the weather actually and it seems like the Tatacoa Desert is a “tropical dry forest” and it rains there a bunch. Welcome to my life everyone. Thunderstorms in the desert. There’s no escaping rain. I’m out.

BTW no good pictures for today. Forgot to take pictures of anything really.

My Irish lad Gareth. He’s single.

My air filter even though no one cares.

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Day 115

Day 115  2/18/2022

Odometer  34,860 – 35,263  —–  403 Miles (12,500 Miles Total)

Medellín, Colombia – Bogotá, Colombia

The time has finally come to start my journey back home. I’m heading back to Bogota today where I will spend about 5 days with my friend Daniella before I fly out to Guatemala. I’ll be in Guatemala for about 6 nights enjoying some time at the beach in El Pardon which was one of my favorite spots I’ve been to on this trip.

I’ve had a great time in Medellin the last few weeks. I have never stayed in a place this long in my entire life on motorcycle trips. Medellin is definitely a place I would move to and it’s one of my favorite cities I’ve ever been to. My last few weeks here have been interesting in another sense as well.

When I left on the trip I was telling Yak how I was quite unhappy,  had lots of anxiety and always wanted to be around other people while making as many friends as I can. As my trip comes to an end I realized something that I did not expect at all. I am 100% happy on my own without anyone else in my life for the first time in maybe my whole life. I don’t need anyone to talk to or be around or hang out with. When I met some people here and there lately and they invited me out I would much rather just be by myself for the day and night. I didn’t need to see or meet anyone anymore. Such a weird mentality now that I think about it. Am I going to be that loner that doesn’t have any friends or doesn’t go out anymore? I’m not sure but I’m really enjoying my time with myself. Being in the desert in Peru, Argentina and Chile alone camping for weeks on end sounds lovely right now but unfortunately it’ll have to wait until October when I come back.

I wonder if I will feel the same way when I come back to finish the trip. I also wonder how I will feel this summer when I’m back at work skydiving and living in the city in a few weeks. Will I just be unhappy being surrounded by a bunch of people and will I need more alone time? Who knows, I guess I’ll have to wait and see. Yak messaged me reminding me about culture shock. I forgot all about that. I cancelled my coming home party I set up since I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle talking to too many people as soon as I get back. I might need some quiet time to ease into my old life again. A Lot of interesting thoughts the last few weeks.I’ve most definitely changed as a person thinking about the way I think now.

I walked out of my hostel at 7am pretty pumped on leaving. The people in my room are not thoughtful of other people. They walk into the room at midnight or 2am and leave the lights on to wake everyone up, or they make a lot of noise in the middle of the night when they get home from partying. Im very excited to get out of the hostel life and get back to my own personal space at home. Of course when I walked out of the hostel to load my bike up it was raining. I had a feeling it would be raining the whole ride to Bogota which sucks.

I was down to my last 50K pesos so I ended up getting money exchanged. I checked a few places on google maps last night and there were a few money exchange places nearby that were open 24 hours. I loaded up the bike and headed over to them. Of course I pull up and right next to the sign that says open 24 hours were gates covering the door. Closed! Oh it never ends.

I had a full tank of fuel and a credit card. I didn’t think I was going to stop for any food anyway because of the rain. Once I ride in the rain I don’t stop till I get to my destination because pulling over and taking off what gear and gloves and helmets just to put it all back on sucks. It’s gonna be a long day, I said to myself.

I hit the road and it started with a long climb up the steep mountain east of bogota. The roads were wet and slick and loaded with traffic. My clutch was taking a beating every time traffic stopped. I eventually got to the top and the rain started coming down even harder. Ugh this was going to be a long long wet cold day.

I stopped for a few pictures before the rain started with a beautiful view I found. That was pretty much the only one I saw for the rest of the day. As I kept riding I got blasted with some insanely heavy rain. It was too late to put my winter waterproof gloves on and I was too lazy to pull over and put my wet hands inside of the warmer dry gloves. The temps were around 50 all day so my hands were wet and cold. I went up and down a lot of passes going around trucks and it was exhausting.

I almost went down really bad at one point. I hit the double yellow line which is literally like black ice when it rains and as soon as I did that thankfully I was riding straight and not trying to turn. But as soon as I hit the yellow line my tires automatically started to slide. my front tire went to the right and my rear tire went to the left, I was about to go high side. I didn’t even touch my brakes and wildly enough with my bike sliding sideways at 65 my traction control light never went on which means my front and rear tires were still spinning at the same speed. I have no idea how I did not crash but I got out of that one with luck and some skill.

I absolutely cannot believe how slippery any painted surfaces are on these roads down here. Everytime I rode through a painted crosswalk or some sort of white painted sign on the road my bike would start to slide. More than once I was in 6th gear doing 50 and my back wheel started to spin until the traction control kicked in. I mean for an 800cc bike that’s slow as hell loaded up in 6th gear with low rpms to spin the back wheel you can just imagine how slippery the surface must be. After that I got some more rain and then the fog started. It was so thick at times I had to use my GPS more than looking at the road to see which way it turned. I couldn’t see more than 50′ in front of me at most times.

I was over this ride, I barely saw any nice views and I was bummed about it. I was soaked, tired, and just not feeling it. I eventually got to Daniella’s house at about 2:30 or so. I took a hot shower, dried up and we went out for some food down the block.

The next few days I’m going to strip the bike down and drop off the Givi top box mounting plate to get welded since it cracked on both sides from all the off-roading. I’m going to see if a shop can fabricate a piece of aluminum to cover the crack and then weld it on to give it double the support. I’m going to need it for the rest of the trip since I’ll be doing a lot of off-roading down in Bolivia, Argentina, Peru and Chile.

I’m going to leave the bike in Daniella’s garage for a small fee with most of my gear. I’m not taking too much stuff home just to bring it back. Mostly just my riding gear except my boots. I’ll buy new boots at home they’re too heavy to haul around back and forth. I might go and do one more ride if I get bored being here for 6 days but well see how that goes. My rear tire is getting pretty bald and I’m going to need it to make it back to Ecuador where I’ll buy new Motoz tires in October.

 

 

 

 

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Day 108

Day 108  2/11/2022

Odometer  34,650 – 34,827  —– 177  Miles (12,097 Miles Total)

Medellín, Colombia – Jardín, Colombia and back

After spending a few days in the city getting back into my routine of relaxing, salsa classes and Crossfit I felt pretty stagnant so I decided to take a day trip out to Jardin. It’s a small town in the mountains fairly close to Medellin except the roads there are all going through mountains so the 90 mile ride turns into a 3.5 hour ride.

I packed up my top box with the bare minimum for the day to keep the bike light. I got on the road a bit late at around 9am. I was out dancing with my salsa instructors at a salsa club till about 1am so there went my plan of getting up early for the day! I left Medellin heading up in the mountains and holy hell were the roads lovely. No rain, the roads were dry, my bike was light and the temps were perfect. I haven’t ripped like this with nothing on the bike in a while.

It turns out I got really lucky that I got a late start. I hit a roadblock for construction about an hour into the ride. After waiting around for 30 minutes I heard two guys speaking English. Locals in Medellin now moved there from the states. I asked them what was going on and they said roadwork. They block the road off Monday – Friday 9-11am and 2-4 pm. So I guess I got really lucky that I didn’t leave early or else I would have been waiting at the roadblock for about 2 hours. I only ended up waiting about 30-45 minutes. I don’t remember exactly what time I arrived and left but I was there for about 30-45 minutes.

I guess I’ll be staying in Jardin till about 4pm just to make sure I won’t hit this on the way back. The rest of my ride to Jardin was pure joy. I don’t think I rode more than 100 meters of straight roads since I left the roadblock. I was pinned to the max ripping through every single turn. I was having a blast. God I wish my friends that ride could get a glimpse of this or even be here to ride these roads for a few hours. I’ve never in my life taken a 6 hour joyride anywhere for a day trip and I would do this all over again in a heartbeat.

I pulled into Jardin and this town was really cool. My salsa instructor told me it was her favorite town in Colombia to visit. It had its own unique vibe. Small town, beautiful church, lovely little houses with nice colors on the streets, mountains covered with banana, plantain and coffee trees all over. The smell around the town was delicious as well. I got some breakfast, walked around, took some pictures and did some googling on what to do here. There’s two nice viewpoints on either side of the town from the mountains.

I hopped on my bike and decided to ride to one of them. I had a nice little dirt road to ride on for a bit passing a big waterfall which I stopped at for some photos. Up some other twisty switchbacks I rode on dirt for about 20 minutes and decided to head back down because the viewpoint was nowhere to be found. I parked my bike by a river and walked down to it, stripped down and jumped in so I could cool off since I was sweating most of the ride there. I washed some of my clothes and let them dry up in the sun while I laid out on a rock to get some tanning in. This was so peaceful and maybe the most favorite part of my day.

After about 90 minutes I got back on my bike and headed over to the other side of town to get to the other viewpoint which I failed at as well because the dirt road turned into nothing at one point so I had to turn around. I parked the bike along the way for some pictures and a couple from the US approached me with the usual question. “Did you ride your bike here from New York”. Yes, yes I did.

I got a few messages from people when they saw I was in Jardin and one of them told me to head south a few more miles to a restaurant for good fish. I got on my bike and rode out there.It started to rain when I pulled in but I didn’t think the rain was going to stick around. I waited about an hour for my fish that was actually terrible and paid the bill in a hurry to get the hell out of there since the rain started to pick up. I hit the road heading back north to beat this rain and luckily I got ahead of it. The ride back was incredible just as the ride was on the way there.

I was really enjoying every single second of the ride knowing it would be one of the last ones I’ll be taking for this trip. I appreciated every single turn, mountain, river, waterfall, and everything else. I stopped for a few photos along the way and eventually another storm caught up with me and I was riding in the rain for a while. The roads once again were slippery as hell and my back tire was sliding out in most turns and it was getting quite annoying. I made it back to Medellin before sunset thankfully while almost running out of gas.

I met up with my salsa instructors for another night of dancing at the salsa bar and called it a night! What a wonderful packed day of fun!

 

 

 

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Day 104

Day 104  2/7/2022

Odometer  34,404 – 34,620 —– 216 Miles (11,920 Miles Total

Padua, Colombia – Medellín, Colombia

I had a rough night of sleep. Dagos house is under construction and all he has protecting us from the elements is a thin piece of sheet metal roof with some holes here and there. Well it was a downpour all night and the rain hitting the metal roof was so loud with water leaking through the roof landing on me. I was eager to get out and get on the road. Dago made us a nice simple breakfast and we loaded up the bikes to hit the road.

Our plan was to go to a town called Honda along with another one nearby to try to get some paragliding in if the weather was ok and after that we were supposed to ride to Guatape to spend a night or two there setting up a ramp on the edge of the Penol rock to BASE jump it. We left Padua and first headed the other way out of town than we came in from. He was selling three cows from his farm and they needed to get weighed for the sale. We met the truck at a weighing station for the cows which took about 30 minutes for the whole process.

We hit the road afterwards and had a lovely ride towards Honda where we stopped for some roadside sweets which I already forgot the name of. It was a cup of mixed fruit which was so delicious with some sort of juice in the cup as well. It was so good I had two of them. We had a nice 2 hour ride to Honda where we rode through the town and tried to continue up onto a mountain for a paragliding spot but it soon started to rain on our way up so we decided to turn around and bail on that. We started our ride up to Guatape which was a place I’ve already been with the big rock on a reservoir.

I typed in the destination on the GPS and it was a quick 5.5 hours away. Well we started to ride hard to get there before sunset. Dago pulled over shortly thereafter and started speaking to a woman on a roadside shop. Next thing I know I’m drinking palm tree wine. It’s a specialty they only make in this part of Colombia. Kind of illegal to make, he said as well. A Lot of Colombians supposedly don’t even know about it. Back on the road and we had to ride a long boring stretch of highway where we were just being idiots riding with our feet up on the crash bars trying to stretch. It was pretty hot out and we were getting really bored just riding straight.

In no time we were turning up into the mountains. Dago has been up this way before to go paragliding. Right before we started to ride up into the mountains Dago wanted to pull over for a little smoke break. It’s legal here in Colombia to carry weed and cocaine, he told me. As long as you don’t have it in separate bags which means you’re probably selling it then it’s legal. Pretty wild I never knew about this rule. Legal to have a small amount of cocaine on you….that’s insane! So we pulled over for a little smoke break and then Dago pulled out the palm tree wine. What a fun little roadside pit stop! As Dago was finishing up his smoke two cops on motorcycles drove by. They started talking to me like I was the culprit and told me I’m not allowed to smoke weed and ride a bike. Dago told them I didnt smoke anything. They were just trying to be funny and scare me. Asshats.

A minute later they were asking how we knew each other since I’m from the US and he’s a local here and we were riding together. He told them we skydive together for work in the US. A minute later they recognized Dago from being on TV here in Colombia. Dago took the Colombian presidents brother on a skydive and he was on tv. Next thing I know the guys asking Dago for his cell number so they can go skydiving with him. The cops gave us a fist bump and they left. What a ridiculous situation. hah

Minutes later we were riding up into the mountains.Once again we had a wild ride on twisty mountain roads for hours. The weather was pretty good with just a bit of fog here and there with some rain. I ended up harassing him to stop for a little river shower since I was sweating in all my gear from the afternoon. We eventually found a nice strong flowing river and we made our way down a dirt road to park our bikes. I stripped down and went for a nice little dip to cool me off and wash some clothes. Dago brought me to a amazing viewpoint where they actually have a huge paragliding launch point. We stopped there for a ton of fried food and snacks. We couldn’t fly because of the fog right above our heads but I’m happy we took this route to check out this view.

Im really happy I got to meet up with Dago he’s such a good spirited positive person and he can ride a bike! We continued our way through the mountains to go to his friends house in Rio Negro near Guatape. We decided to spend the night there and go to Guatape the next morning. We got to Rio Negro and rode out of town into the rolling hills behind the small city. God damn I was in heaven this place was paradise. Small houses on the hillsides with so much property to each house. We met his friend who inherited the house after his father passed away. Dagho knew him through paragliding. He gave us a tour of his little farm with mini horses and a bunch of dogs. I sat in front of his golden berry tree for a while eating all the fruit. He showed me his weed garden. In Colombia you’re allowed to own up to 19 weed plants. Such a weird number.

I think the reason for this is to take away business from the drug cartels. Why buy the stuff from them and supply them with money if you can just grow it yourself right? Makes sense. We hung out there for a while and shortly thereafter I found out his friend is also there since they are going on a bike hike for the next few days. There was literally nowhere for me to sleep so I decided to head to Medellin since I had to start my salsa classes soon anyway with all the hours I had left on my account. I said my goodbyes and Dago said he would swim by Medellin in a few days to see some family. I packed up my stuff and had about a 1:15 ride to Medellin where I settled into my hostel and called it a night.

Dagos friends backyard

His legal weed farm

I found another friend

Little lunch break riding through the mountains

Palm tree wine

Dago doing motorcycle yoga

My favorite fruit snack of all time

Morning stop weighing Dagos cows

 

 

 

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Day 103

Day 103  2/6/2022

Odometer  34,300 – 34,404  —— 104 Miles (11,704 Miles Total)

Salento, Colombia – Padua, Colombia

We got up at the crack of dawn and met up in front of Dagos hostel. We loaded up the bikes and hit the road. I was leading the way since he didn’t have a phone mount for GPS to get to a city named Manizales where his father lives. It is so nice to be riding with someone finally on the trip, especially someone who is a local and can show me around. We were blasting away on the twisty roads having a field day. He’s got a bike that’s a bit quicker than mine so I was trying to keep up with him. But god damn Dago can ride a bike really well. I was struggling to keep up with him in some of the turns. We stopped for a quick breakfast which was hilarious. He got annoyed because the service took so long and then when we got our food the order was all messed up. I was cracking up telling him this has been most of my experience in Colombia where the food takes so long to get and it’s usually not what I ordered.

We got back on the road and he kept talking about all the storms in the area. It seems like he knows what he’s talking about with the weather patterns in the area but I had a feeling we were going to get some rain. We took a ride over to Manizales to go see a spot to paraglide. On the way there we hit a gorgeous uphill section of twisty roads. We were pushing our bikes to the max the whole way up for about 2o straight minutes. I could feel my tires slipping in every turn. I have never been this dialed in on a motorcycle in my entire life I think. I was so comfortable in every turn leaning the bike over to the breaking point, feeling the tires slipping and playing with it. Dago and I kept passing each other using both lanes like a race track. At one point 3 guys got behind us on crotch rockets and they were barely able to pass us but they did. I was wondering what these guys were thinking about us idiots on adventure bikes almost dragging our panniers in the turns.

We finally got to the top of the mountain and pulled over so Dago can have a smoke. We passed the guys on crotch rockets as they were pulled over as well and they were cheering us on super pumped up to be riding as fast as we were! We finally got to the paragliding launch point but Dago started to have issues with his clutch. It wouldn’t engage. I took my tools out and tried to fix his lever thinking it was the issue but then I took a wild guess and said he had air in the hydraulic line of the clutch. Nothing we could do without any extra clutch fluid. After about an hour he realized if he let go of the clutch lever slowly it would engage. So we decided to ride it to his dad’s place since it was Sunday and most shops were probably closed. On the way there we actually found a block with 15 Moto shops and one of them bled the line and topped it off. it was working perfectly now and it only cost $2. Incredible.

We took a ride to his dad’s place for a little snack and then decided we would ride to Padua where he grew up and had a small apartment he was fixing up. He was concerned about the weather as we had to ride over a huge mountain pass to get there and it was most likely going to rain. Dago pulled out his “rain gear” which was a few plastic bags he put on over his clothes and shoes. I loved it. Poor guys were gonna be soaked by the time we got there. We hit the road and it started to rain straight away. We stopped for fuel and he asked if I wanted to wait out the rain. I said hell no we will be here waiting for 2 days!

We started up the long cold rainy ride. I think we hit 12,500′ in elevation and holy fucking hell was it cold. It was down pouring super hard most of the ride which was 2 hours. Poor dago was probably soaked behind me. The roads were incredible but the fog was thick, the roads were super slippery and it was cold. I wish I could ride this when it is dry and sunny. We stopped at a nice little rest area for a delicious lunch. He was a regular at about 20 minutes from his town. I love these little shops to buy local food for so cheap.

We made it to his town in the rain. It was a tiny town in the mountains. He owned two huge farms. One with cattle and one with coffee beans. He goes paragliding on the as they are literally  on a mountain side and two steep you can barely walk up them but they do! He had his grandfather’s Daihatsu truck from 1960 in the garage that we ended up taking to the farm with the cattle. He has a house on the farm which a family lives in that takes care of the cattle and the farm. We went overthere to check it out. There were about 15 baby cows roaming around living in his truck because they liked the way it tasted I guess. We had some fresh coffee with fresh milk from the cows. His little puppy was ripping around the farm and it was adorable. Back into town we went for some snacks and dinner. On Sundays all the farmers drink all day and night after selling their produce for the weekend so the town was jam packed with people. There was so much traffic so cops were directing all the traffic which was a mess. Dago grew up in this little mountain town and knew everyone. He was like a god damn mayor. Every 30 seconds we would stop to talk to someone.

We chilled out at this house the rest of the night and crashed pretty early. We had another long day of riding tomorrow!

 

Dago on his 1000 Vstrom

Fresh coffee on Dagos farm

His grandfathetrs truck from the 60’s. The fog was this thick nearly all day long.

Dago squeezing the truck through a narrow spot on the corner of his block

Where we stopped for lunch in the mountains

Getting down to the edge on the tires.

 

 

 

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Day 101,102

Day 101-102  2/4/2022- 2/5/2022

Odometer  34,253 – 34,300 ——   47  Miles (11,600 Miles Total)

Salento, Colombia

Day 101

Didn’t do much today at all. I felt like laying in bed between going out for breakfast and dinner. Watched a bunch of Netflix and slept. I think I’m starting to turn into a person I never thought I would be. Being alone. I really enjoy my time alone lately and the idea of going out and interacting with people drains me and makes me not want anything to do with that at all. It’s weird. I’m going to think about that in the next few days and wonder why that is. 

Day 102

I got up and headed out for breakfast. I had a nice peaceful day yesterday of doing nothing and I feel recharged. I’m on a mission to find a motorcycle at home. I said about 20 dealerships I found online that might have a lead on a 2022 Tenere 700. I went out for breakfast and wrote down every dealer with their phone number in my notes and called them all at breakfast. I just missed one by a few hours in Arizona. 

The owner of the hostel told me about this dirt road that leads from Salento to Toche. He said it would take me about 4 hours to ride it but it was only 28 miles long. Right after my 20 phone calls and breakfast I stripped the bike down and decided to go for it. I threw my backpack on with 2 liters of water and my camera and hit the road. I started up the road which was super muddy. The last few days here have been sunny and beautiful for the most part but of course the day I want to go ride this dirt road it rained all night. I hit some really bad muddy spots and my tires don’t have much tread left on them so it was a mess getting through the mud! I got about 8 miles into the ride and I climbed up about 4000′ in elevation but then it got super foggy and it started to rain. I didn’t have the patience to ride in mud, rain and fog on bald tires for the next 6 hours so I made the call to turn around. I was pretty bummed. I headed back into town and decided I would head to a town called Filandia that Daniella told me about.

I threw my box back on the bike and took a quick 35 minute ride over. The roads were gorgeous just as expected. I found a nice viewpoint that I hung out at for a bit and then I went into town to get a delicious lunch that Daniella told me about. This girl should be a damn tour guide since she knows of a restaurant in every town in Colombia. I spent most of the afternoon in Filandia and then headed back to Salento for the evening.

On my ride back my buddy Dago that I skydive with back at home told me he was thinking about coming by on his bike from Padua about 4 hours away. Next thing I know it’s 7pm and I decided to go out to the local coffee shop to buy some more friends at home some good coffee and as I walk out of my hostel there he is! Dago! He literally dodged about 5 huge storms on the way here and didn’t get hit with one of them. It was raining in Salento most of the evening. Lucky bastard! He got a room at a hostel down the block and we went out for some dinner. I got two orders of fish since I was starving. It was pouring out the whole time. I mean to the point if you walked out in the rain you would be soaked in 15 seconds.

We chatted for a while at dinner waiting for the rain to stop and then headed back home. We hung out for a few hours on the balcony of my hostel while he gave me a history lesson on Colombia which was lovely to hear. We made plans to ride all around locally where he grew up for the next few days. We were going to go paragliding and rock climbing hopefully along with some speed flying if the weather was good for any of this of course.

 

 

 

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Day 100

Day 100  2/3/2022

Odometer   34,240 – 34,253.  —-  13  Miles (11,553 Miles Total)

Salento, Colombia

I got up at the crack of dawn today, showered up and waited for Afshan in the common area of the hostel. As I was waiting to drink my coffee I saw a guy from the hostel walk in with a Rukka jacket and a helmet. I immediately said to him “Well I know you ride a lot since you’re carrying a Rukka jacket!” He’s from Germany and bought a bike down here since he’s in Colombia for a while. We chatted a bit before Afshan walked out and we were ready to go. I told her since we only have one helmet she has to hide her head behind me on the 6 mile ride to the trailhead and she was cool with it. I was praying no cops would see us on the ride because it’s a big fine getting busted riding without a helmet meanwhile everyone else does it here all day everyday.

We hit the road and it was quite chilly but the view was insane. Once again it looked like a mini Switzerland. The wax palm trees were incredible. They were so skinny and maybe 100′ – 150′ tall just reaching up into the sky everywhere around us. Green mountains, beautiful green grass everywhere with old Colombian houses on the mountain sides. What a beautiful day already!

We found some parking for $5k pesos for 6 hours. We were told the hike takes about 6 hours so that should be fine. We walked up to the trail and missed the main entrance thanks to catching it on my maps.me app. We got back on track and found the main entrance. We paid our 5K pesos each and off we were. The view here was incredible with the hills and the huge trees. We had a 6.5 mile hike with 2600′ of elevation gain. For not being very active like she claims she was moving at a pretty decent pace. We chatted about a lot of stuff about back home, traveling, life and so much more. We stopped at a few spots for pictures where all the nice viewpoints were. We were both sniffling all morning long and she didn’t have any tissues. I literally taught her how to blow her nose using a finger to block off the other nostril and blow. She was so excited about it I couldn’t believe it. It was also her first time peeing in nature. I can’t believe these city people that dont ever do these things!

We got to the top of the mountain and it wasn’t too bad at all. We started to descend into the jungle following a river pretty much all the way back to the end of the trail. We crossed about 15 bridges that were crossing over a river. They were just some old rackety hanging bridges with wooden planks on them. I loved it! She found some cows that she wanted to pet which she’s never done before so I snapped some shots of her doing that.

The whole walk out looked magical. Hell, even the way up looked magical. We both kept saying this looks fake and none of this seems real in front of us, that’s how beautiful the views were today. Afshan walked out of Cocora Valley as a new person. Blowing snot boogers out of her nose and peeing in nature. We made our way back to my bike. She mentioned she wanted to take the jeep ride back into town last night and this morning but when we got to my bike and said screw the jeep ride i’m getting back on the bike! She took some videos on the 6 mile ride back and luckily we didn’t see any cops once again.

I dropped her off at the laundromat to get some laundry and I went home. I worked on the blog for a while and got a huge lunch. I did nothing for a few hours just being lazy. Anastasia got into town today as well so we met up for a few hours and got some food. I went shopping for some coffee for some friends at home. I got a bunch of mangoes in a cup in the town square. I’m sure going to miss these cheap mango cups when I go back to the states.

I got back to the hostel to work on my blog some more and I met a man named Eddie who I later found out owns the hostel I’m staying in. He’s from New Jersey and ended up moving down here a few years ago and opened this hostel. He also has a BMW 1200GS and rode it to Argentina right when covis started and had to leave his bike in Buenos Aires for the last two years. He’s flying down there this week to throw it on a plane and bring it back home. We chatted all night about riding. Once we were done Afshan walked in and we started talking about psychedelics. Next thing I know it was nearly midnight and I was exhausted. Nap time!