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Day 99

Day 99  2/2/2022

Odometer  34,067 – 34,240 —-  173  Miles (11,540 Miles Total)

Tatacoa Desert, Colombia – Salento, Colombia

I couldn’t sleep much again because of the heat. Jesus Christ if it’s not the heat it’s the elevation. I rolled out of bed to check what time it was and it said 5:40am. Perfect. I just turned the light on and got all my stuff together for this hike I’m about to go do in the morning before the sun starts melting everything outside. The gate was locked for the entrance of the Hostal so I just walked about a 1/4 mile down the road to the entrance but it was locked as well since the beginning of the hike started at another hostel.

I walked over a dirt mound next to the hostel and set up my phone on a tripod overlooking the red mounds of dirt to get a nice time lapse of the sun lighting it up. As I turned around I realized there were some clouds over the mountains and my time lapse wouldn’t work out at all. Oh well I just walked around for 20 minutes until the sun cleared the clouds and then I pulled the phone off the tripod. I set the drone up and while I was filming I met a lovely couple traveling from Austria. We chatted for about 20 minutes while I flew the drone around and he was giving me points to go check out in Peru as he was there a while ago.

I packed up the tripod and headed down into the red desert. I easily got lost a few times but thanks to maps.me I got back on track quickly. It’s easy to get lost down there in the maze. The sun was beating down on me by 8am and I was sweating bullets. I couldn’t imagine doing this in the afternoon down here. I also couldn’t wait to get home and edit these photos for everyone to see. It might be some of the best photos I’ve ever taken in my life.

I got out of the hike an hour after I started and walked back to my hostel. I was thinking about packing up and getting out of here on the walk back to the hostel. It was starting to get hot and I heard there’s a 2 hour dirt road north of here to get back to the main highway. I didn’t want to gear up and sweat in all my gear for the two hour ride. I was hoping to leave tomorrow early morning so it wouldn’t be too hot. I don’t know if I can just lay out here by the pool for another day again. I need some stimulation. I’ll think about it while I eat breakfast.

I got back and slipped right in the pool. I ordered some breakfast and I already made up my mind to leave. I was getting a bit bored here. I’m loving the freedom once again to stay or leave whenever I choose. I packed up in a rush as breakfast was getting made for me and I threw the gear on the bike. I paid for my nights stay and breakfast and there my gear on. Fuck this is going to be a hot ride!

I headed into town to fill up with about 2 gallons of fuel. I didn’t want to top the bike off because I didn’t know how rough this road was going to be and I wanted it to be as light as possible. Next thing I know I’m riding on the dirt roads in the middle of nowhere surrounded by the Tatacoa Desert. This was beautiful! I was dying for scenery like this 6 months ago. Just me and my bike in another country in the middle of nowhere with no schedule. I miss this part so much. I feel like I haven’t had it in a while. I stopped a few times to take pictures and a video of me and the bike surrounded by nothing for miles. I passed maybe 2 guys on bikes in the next hour. I had a few small river crossings.

I stopped at a sign that showed a 5 minute ride to the main road heading towards Bogota. I read a bit more in Spanish and I noticed there was a ferry you could take to cross the river. Hmmm that’s a tough decision. Should I keep riding straight on the dirt road for at least another 30-45 minutes and have a blast there or should I take a small boat across the river. River boats since they are always fun! The road to the river was terrible, wet and muddy but I made it. They were just about to cross but saw me pull up. I loaded my bike on it and had to turn it around on the narrow boat. I almost snapped my kickstand off trying to spin it on it.

We took the boat across the fast flowing river. Of course the locals started asking me how much the bike cost. Yak was right. That’s a big question I’ll get asked everywhere I go. I don’t want to seem like a rich shithead on this bike so instead of telling people I paid $16k for it I tell them what it’s worth which is $8k. They seem dissatisfied when I tell them Ocho Mil most of the time.

We got to the other side and I paid my 10,000 pesos to use the boat services. I unloaded my bike and rode out to the main road. I rode north for about an hour until I got some service on my cell and found the town of Salento to go to. It was about 5 hours north of me and it was still early so i’ll get there much sooner than that since i’m using google.

I finally started to head up into the mountains which I was thrilled about because it was brutally hot the whole ride since I left the desert. I stopped for fuel at one point and when I unzipped my jacket I noticed I was completely soaked underneath my gear.

Once I was heading up into the mountains it cooled off very quickly. I went from 1,000′ elevation to 11,000′ elevation on this climb for about 15 miles. It got down to 50 degrees up there and I almost had to put gloves on.  On the way up i saw a guy riding a bicycle holding onto the back of a Semi truck getting a tow up the whole mountain! Once at the summit and I started to descend I looked out in the distance and we were above the cloud layer. So cool! I stopped for some food at the side of the road. Some meat, arepas and two small cokes. I deserved it for some reason was my excuse for the coke.

My buddy Duncan texted me and we were chatting a bit on my descent. I was just thinking of him before he texted me while crossing the Andes and how he would love this place. I slowly made my way to Salento which was down in a small valley near the mountains. I had a good feeling about this place when I pulled in. I found my hostel and immediately booked two more nights here. I was told of a cool hike to do in the area along with some coffee tours. I needed to catch up on my blog along with photos I had to edit. I haven’t really posted in three days since before the desert. The weather here was also perfect and it was sunny which I was in need of while not sweating to death.

I parked my bike and went out for some waffles and hot chocolate, followed by a few orders of mangos in a cup in the center. I went up a few hundred stairs at the end of town where I got a lively view of the whole town. I think I’ll go back up there at sunset tomorrow. I sat there for a while enjoying the view and my life before I had to go back home. I went back down to the city, had a nice dinner and then met up at a bar with people from the hostel I met. There’s a local game here called Tejo I think it was. You pour gunpowder in a piece of paper and fold it up to a triangle shape. You then lay it on a piece of round metal in the middle of a 3’x3′ layer of mud. You have two teams where you throw a heavy piece of lead at the paper from 10-15′ away and whoever hits the paper and makes it explode gets points. Well our teacher crushed everyone in there last night.

I met a girl named Ash from New York. She left a few months ago since her job went remote and I mentioned I was doing the Cocora valley hike in the morning. She mentioned she wanted to do it but didn’t want to wake up at 7 to catch the ride from town so I offered her a ride on my bike. We’ll see if she wakes up at 7:45 to meet me to head up there for the hike. I said goodbye to everyone and went home to pass out.

 

 

 

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Day 98

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Day 98  2/1/2022

Odometer  33,914 – 34,067. —-  153  Miles (11,367 Miles Total)

La Plata, Colombia – Tatacoa Desert, Colombia

I was up at about 6am today and on the road by 7am. I was excited to get to the desert so early today since I’ll have much more time to explore. I loaded up the bike as it was covered in water from a rainstorm while I slept. I didn’t put all my gear on today since I figured I’ll be sweating when I get to Neiva to exchange money and get to the desert. I started the bike up and started ripping down the twisty roads. It was barely light out and I was already having a blast. I was following a road along a river which was surrounded by lush green farms, trees and some mountains along the right side of me.

It opened up after about 20 minutes of riding and I looked ahead down the road. it was getting a bit foggy out there it seemed. Looked like rain to me so I pulled over and put my pants and boots on. Good thing I looked up because not even 30 seconds after I put my gear on it started to rain pretty bad. The rain came down for about 15 minutes and slowly dispersed. I stopped to take a little video of my bike on a bridge with a huge river passing under it. A few minutes later I stopped for breakfast on the side of the road. I got a lovely rice drink with some eggs, rice and soup. I’m over getting soup for breakfast. It’s already hot as hell out here and these guys are feeding everyone soup for breakfast all over Colombia!

Back on the bike and into Neiva I go. I pulled into the city and parked outside of a large mall. I ran inside and boom there it was. Thankfully the exchange shop was open. 3800 Pesos per dollar. Eh not great but I’ll take $300USD worth. Now I’m all set for a few days until I can get to another city and exchange some more for the rest of my trip here. Back on the road and I had about an hour until I got to Villaviejo which Is a small town right on the Tatacoa desert. It was starting to get hot real quick. The temps were rising into the 90’s and I’m stuck wearing full gear here.

The scenery went from lush green farms to desert all of the sudden. It was beautiful. I could use some dry weather. It’s been a while since I’ve had some of this. Everything has been wet lately from the humidity. I pulled into the small town of Villavieja and rode right past it into the desert. Dirt roads for a few miles until I got to my hostel. I pulled in and no one spoke English. There was a pool thankfully and only 4 other people there. I ended up getting a private room for $50,000 pesos a night. I told him I would stay two nights. The whole place runs off solar and I couldn’t use my fan until 7pm. There’s no outlets in my room either, only out in the eating area and there’s certain hours we can charge things. I unloaded all my things in my room and jumped right in the pool next to the 4 dutch people. I cooled off in there for about 20 minutes and walked right back out to my bike.

It was time for a rear brake pad change. I last changed them in Texas less than 10K miles ago. I can’t believe they’re gone in 3 months. I had another set with me but they were stolen along with my tool bag in Mexico. Luckily for me I’ve changed these things 7 times now between both bikes so it took me no less than 15 minutes. The rear cush pads were still all intact after 12k miles since I left NY. The chain was actually still in decent shape which I can’t believe my eyes. I’ve been hauling around a new chain and sprockets all along Colombia with me thinking I would have to change them by now but nope!

I put the bike back together and tightened the chain. Bike was all done being worked on. Time to cool off and slip back into the pool. I laid out near the pool for about 2 hours dozing off and waking up every so often to dip myself back in the pool to cool off. I woke up to the dutch gypsies talking about a 6 hour tour they booked tomorrow. It was a tour of the red and gray desert. I got back on my bike and rode into town to get some food and water since there’s zero cell reception where my hostel is along with zero wifi. I got into town and ordered some typical Colombian food and started some research. There’s a red desert which looks insane and a gray desert. I got 3 bottles of water, threw it in my top box and headed out to the desert to explore. I was only going to ride about 7-8 KMs east of my hostel where there was a pool overlooking the desert.

I went out there and paid for the parking and the pool. I don’t know why I even came here. It’s uglier than the pool at my hostel and I just paid 12k Pesos for this trash. Anyway I started riding east of the pool and stopped to take some photos. I also pulled out the drone for the third time this trip and got some footage.

I decided to go east more for a little more on the dirt road to see where I end up since it would be nice to ride some more dirt without the bike all loaded up. I came to a fork in the road with an actual map of the dirt road. The map showed a big loop around most of the desert. Eh screw it I said I’ll go for the whole thing now. It was probably a 50 KM loop. I started riding on the loop heading north and slowly turned west. The views were incredible. I only saw one person on a little motorcycle pass me coming toward me. I was completely alone other than the goats and horses I saw every now and then. They might have been wild goats and horses as well. I stopped for a few pictures and I enjoyed the silence other than the wind blowing pretty hard. The sun was strong here and I ended up getting a slight sunburn on my arms.

I rode through a lot of sand and almost crashed once when I hit the deep sand doing about 20. My right foot came off the bike and onto the ground since I almost went down but I saved it. I don’t know why I decided to put my foot down at 20 but I did. I came up to a few river/sand crossings covered with cow and horse shit. I was praying I wouldn’t put my foot down in this. I ended up making all three crossings without getting my shoes wet. It was pretty sketchy. I crossed through a lot of deep sand on this part of the ride and god damn I hate that stuff it’s so hard to ride in. I would hate to get stuck out here in the sun alone. I ended up making it all the way out and back at the hostel unscathed thankfully.

Once I was back home I jumped in the pool, went into town for a nice dinner with two fresh cups of Maracuya. I did some more research on my phone about the desert. I saw the gray desert but I didn’t see the red yet. I did pass a patch of the red on the way to my hostel from town but I didn’t see it going that far back. I found out there was a big loop on maps.me and I ended up running home to get my camera to do part of the trail at sunset. I took my drone as well.

When I got down to the trail I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life. The way the dirt was getting eroded and then drying up and cracking after a rainstorm was unbelievable. I took the drone out at the end before their sun was gone and once again I couldn’t believe my eyes. I took a good look at the desert from an aerial view through my drone and I said to myself no one is going to believe this. It looks so fake on my phone it’s ridiculous. I can’t wait to edit this stuff and show you guys. The drone footage of me flying over the formations are out of this world as well.

After my desert trip I went back home and laid in the hammock after getting in the pool. I read my kindle for a bit for the first time in a while, worked on the blog, charged up all my things and planned on getting up at sunrise to do the rest of the red desert walk. I’m excited for what I’m about to see in the morning. It was lights out for me at 9pm.

 

 

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Day 97

Day 97  1/31/2022

Odometer  33,666 – 33,914 —-  248  Miles (11,214 Miles Total)

Pasto, Colombia – La Plata, Colombia

Little did I know when I woke up that today was going to be one of the top 5 rides of my life.

I got up quite early and was ready to hit the road ASAP to get out of this cold boring city. I walked down to the bike garage and luckily the bike was untouched. I had a bad feeling about the place. I brought my luggage down the stairs, loaded it up and hit the road. I wasn’t sure where I was going to ride to today. I just knew I was going in the direction of the Tatacoa Desert which was about 14 hours away. On the route was a huge pass over the Andes mountains and I was a bit nervous about what It would bring.

Would I be stuck on some long wert dirt road for hours upon hours? I wasn’t sure. The road started beautifully out of Pasto. It was still very cold, foggy and wet. It was drizzling a bit but the roads were twisty the whole time and I was having a blast. I was riding through some wild roads in the mountainside but I couldn’t see over the edge because of the thick fog. I was blasting around trucks and cars going up the hill having a field day with music playing in my ears. I came around a corner and the clouds broke. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I pulled over on the side of the road to snap a few pictures. Rolling hills thousands of feet high in elevation with roads carved into the side of them with a river at the bottom. The clouds were burning off slowly and the view was opening up. I sat there in awe for a few minutes letting all the hard work I just did passing the slow trucks and cars pass me while I was staring at this view on the side of the road. I got back on my bike and just as I took one last look the clouds burned off even more. I jumped off the bike and took some more pictures.

I got back on my bike and less than 1/4 mile later I saw an even nicer view so I pulled over again. As soon as my tires hit the drainage part of the side of the road my bike started sliding like it was on ice on a hill. My tires hit the curb and the panniers hit the guardrail making the bike lean over hard and I couldn’t hold it up on that angle so I jumped off. I hit the kill switch and just left the bike there while I took a video and some pictures of the view, with the bike on the ground. Everyones going to laugh when they see this one! Not a bad Monday morning view before I even had breakfast at 8AM. I got the bike standing upright and kept riding. It was a long way down the valley and I crossed over a gorge. The clouds were finally starting to let up and the sun was poking through a bit. I crossed through a small town and decided I would get breakfast at 9am. I pulled over a little shop and got a typical Colombian breakfast. Eggs, rice, coffee, a chicken wing, some salad and beans. While I was eating I was pouring sweat. Holy shit I finally made it out of the cold weather! It was about 85 degrees and early in the morning. I kind of wanted the cold air back. This was brutally hot and humid.

I got on the bike and kept riding. I stopped for a pee break on the side of the road and took a video of the view. A pee with a view! I was riding twisty roads for hours and hours with a little bit of rain here and there. The temps were warming up and cooling up the whole time. I started climbing up a huge mountain and decided to stop for a fresh cup of juice. I got two cups of grapefruit juice for 15,000 Pesos. I might have overpaid but I’m ok with it. It was delicious and refreshing. It was a small town called Sotara in the Mountains. I still didn’t get to Popayan as I was riding through it to get to the Andes. I was contemplating stopping there as I didnt know how long the ride over the mountains would take but I decided to go for it today.

It was at this moment I realized my trip is almost over. I think I have about a week left of exploring before I’m back in Medellin for ten days or so, loading up my days with Crossfit and salsa lessons before I go back to New York. I’m going to be back at the union gig waking up at 4:30am real soon so I better start enjoying every second of this. I truly started to live in the moment more than ever before on this trip. I was appreciating every single turn, every smell, every little town, everything. I’m going to miss this for sure. This week is going to be full of fun and adventure which I haven’t really had in a while. No rush to get anywhere. Wherever I end up I’m happy and I will continue on the next day.

I got to Popayan and started up route 25 which would turn into 26. I opened up IOverlander and checked the route. Shit not one person has a restaurant, hotel or campground checked off on this ride over the Andes. I hope I get through this and out the other side. I started up the mountain as it got cold and started to rain a bit. I pulled over to throw my gloves on and I was happy to see a few cars and bikes going up the same route but there still weren’t a lot of them.I was still having a blast with the music playing in my helmet ripping around turns. I got to a roadblock where they were doing construction. I got off to pee and while I was doing that I said to myself let me check IOverlander to see if anyone left any comments about the road. Suddenly a little hazard symbol popped up.

Someone was here three weeks ago and said they waited 2 hours for the road to open up due to roadwork. Shit I hope I don’t have to wait two hours right now. I read some more and people were saying there’s 20 miles of dirt roads between here and La Plata. They were saying the roads are trash in the rain and it’s a one lane road for most of the time. They also noted how the Colombians were terrible drivers. I waited about 20 minutes and they opened the road. I got right on it. I was ascending and descending into thick thick fog not being able to see more than 50 feet in front of me, it was raining and the roads were slick. I had a mix of paved and trash mud roads. I was having a blast and not too worried. This was part of my last adventure before I went back home craving this all summer.

Icame out of the fog into some more roadwork and the view was breathtaking as people said it would be on IOverlander. I stopped for a few photos by some parts of the road that had a clear view of the mountains across the valley. I had a blast descending down the dirt road. As I got to the bottom where I had maybe 15 miles left of dirt roads to get to La Plata there was a dog in the road so I had to stay in the middle. I looked up and there was some local idiot looking at the mountains on a motorcycle. We were both doing about 40-45 on a dirt road. This guy wasn’t even looking forward. I got on the horn and just at the last second he looked up and with no helmet on I saw the expression on his face. He was about to hit me head on and possibly kill us both. I couldn’t swerve because of the dog to my right. He turned at the last second and clipped my pannier with his knee. I heard the impact and felt it a bit. I looked In my rear view and his leg came flying off the bike and he almost flipped off the other side but stayed on. He stopped and I kept riding. Fucking idiot almost killed me.

I got off the dirt road and the bike felt so smooth after hours of riding in the dirt coming out of the Andes Mountains. I had a lovely ride next to a huge river for about 45 minutes before getting to La Plata. The roads had tons of debris and rocks from mountains next to the road where there were landslides occurring weekly from what I seemed. I found a little hotel on IOverlander and it was $35000 pesos for a private room. Not bad, I took it. I brought everything into my room and went into town to get money exchanged because I was running low. I walked around for about an hour but no luck. The ATM broke when I was waiting in line for it and there were no exchange stores in the town. I went back to my hotel and ordered two dinners at the restaurant. I watched some Netflix in my room and researched what tomorrow’s ride might be like, what to see in the desert, how to get out of there with the dirt roads going to the north and just about anything else I might encounter there.

I didn’t have much internet as it cut out at 9pm and I just went right to bed hoping I could sleep through the night. It was finally hot and I only had a fan in my room with no windows.

The view I had before i even ate breakfast.

Juice stop in the mountains for lunch.

Road block that took about 20 minutes as they were building a road for us to cross

Waterfall in the Andes Mountains

It was quite foggy for part of the ride over the Andes.

Descending out of the Andes

Right before I almost got into a head on collision

Only picture I took in La Plata while looking for an ATM machine.

 

 

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Day 96

Day 96  1/30/2022

Odometer  33,435 – 33,666.   —- 231  Miles (10,966 Miles Total)

Quito, Ecuador – Pasto, Colombia

I got up pretty early after another bad night of sleep from the elevation. It’s just so damn hard to breathe all the time. I went down the street to Freddys house and paid him the $40 I owed him for storing my bike in his house. Freddy’s friends with the hostel owners so i’d rather give him money for storage then the parking lot since it’s so damn expensive here. I pulled the bike up in front of the hostel and loaded it up. When I tried to put the right side pannier on I hit the bike with it a bit and it tipped right over in front of the hostel. Great way to start the day, it made me laugh. I took a picture and put it right side up.

I rode over to Ecuador Freedom which is a rental company for adventure bikes who we got the helmet rental from and I dropped the helmet off at 8:30. The roads were surprisingly pretty dry but it was still cold with low clouds and fog everywhere. Once I got a bit out of the city it started to rain. I pretty much took the same exact route back to the border for the next 4 hours. I actually didn’t even remember half of it at all which was weird. I saw a couple on a Ecuador Freedom motorcycle rental and slipped them my card while we were riding.

We got caught at a light though. The guy driving was from Hungary and the woman on the back was from Poland. Once the light turned green I was gone. They were riding pretty slow. They might read this though so hi guys if you checked out the blog! A few miles up ahead I saw a guy on a motorcycle t-bone a car blowing a red light and I’m pretty sure he died. So many bike accidents I’ve seen on this trip it’s disturbing. The ride was pretty low-key until the border. I stopped at the same breakfast place I stopped at on the way to Quito. I drank the cup of coffee in a minute since I was quite cold. I was too lazy to put my winter gloves on.

Most of my ride I was contemplating what my options were once I got to the border to see how long of a Visa they would give me for my bike. I guess I’ll have to see what happens when I get there. The more I think about it the more I want to go home sooner and work a bit extra so maybe I can come down sooner at the end of the year. On my ride to the border I have been talking to a friend I made in Colombia that’s from New York but spends a lot of time down here. She told me t0 ask her boyfriend some questions about my visa issue I’ll be encountering. He told me he didn’t quite know much about it but all he told me was to make sure I have the SOAT insurance when I’m in Colombia or my bike will get impounded if I get pulled over and don’t have it. Well I made it a month without having it which was pretty lucky so I guess i’ll try to get it at the border today.

I pulled up to the border and closed out my visa at immigration and aduana fairly quickly on the Ecuador side which was nice. It’s very frustrating doing this, not speaking any Spanish and having them not speak any English. Once I got to the Colombia side I got checked in with a 90 day visa for myself and when I went to Aduana they said I had to upload a few things to their website but since I had no service the guy working around the window said he could upload it form his phone for $10 USD. Asshole. I gave him the 10 bucks and he uploaded it all from his phone. 20 Minutes later I was good to go with another 90 day visa.

As I was crossing the border a guy from ADVRIDER, which Is a forum, messaged me and told me his ordeal at the border two years ago. I ended up sending him a message on WhatsApp since his number was listed on his email. He ended up telling me he overstayed his visa two years ago and all he did was check out of immigration and skipped Aduana. When he got to the Ecuador side no one checked if he closed out his Visa for his motorcycle. Now that I think about it I had the same thing happen to me when I crossed over a week ago. They only checked my passport at immigration on the Ecuador side to make sure I closed out my personal visa from Colombia. So I think I might be in luck to just leave the 90 day visa for my bike, let it expire and then when I come back in November just do what he did.

An hour later someone else replied to my thread on the forum and said that it’s a $700 a month fine for overstaying the motorcycle visa. Well shit that sounds like a big fine to pay for 7 months. I’ll have to figure out what I’m going to do pretty soon when I get to Medellin. I also got motorcycle parking figured out in Bogota at my friend Daniella’s place.

I went into a SOAT office at the border after that was all done and they said they couldn’t give me insurance because my VIN number was having an issue in the system. Fuck it im not getting the SOAT insurance if they can’t even give it to me. I typed in Pasto in the GPS and rode in there booking a hostel to call it a night. The views from the border to Pasto were beautiful. I took the same road there on the way to the border but it was pouring out the whole time and low clouds so I couldn’t see much. This time it was raining just a bit with some clouds so I stopped for a few pictures at a huge waterfall. 15 Minutes down the road I realized I left my sunglasses on the back seat and didn’t put them on my face. I rode all the way back and somehow they were sitting on the side of the road unscratched. That just made my day since I already wrote them off on my way back to look for them. I pulled into Pasto at 3:30pm. nice and early so I can relax after that long cold ride. I brought my bags up 2198 flights of stairs and put my bike in a parking garage.

I went out looking for a supermarket to buy food but they had nothing and since it was Sunday most restaurants were closed. I found a little hole in the wall shop that served me soup and grilled chicken. I went back to the hostel and pulled an MRE out of my paneer bag and made a nice bag of lasagna. I’m gonna have to buy more of these for when I come back they’re super tasty. After I had dinner I just got lazy and watched a bunch of movies on my computer keeping my brain numb since i didn’t want to think about the Visa situation anymore. My brain was fried.

Whoopsies

Some high elevation riding all day

Cool valley south of Pasto

 

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Day 94 & 95

Day 94 & 95  1/28/2022 – 1/29/2022

Odometer  33,430 – 33,435 —-  5 Miles (10,735 Miles Total)

Quito, Ecuador.

I’m going to add both days together here since not much happened with this horrible weather and all the warnings were getting all day everyday about how dangerous it is here.

We got up and it looked nice out through the windows from the hallway so we rushed downstairs to get breakfast and we planned to check out the middle of the world city where the equator passes through. Once we were done eating we went to the front door to get the bike and ride out to the monument but it was raining pretty hard out. We were so bummed. We decided to call an Uber and paid $9 to get a ride to the Monument. The monument was pretty cool but I had a feeling when they built this thing in 1930 it was off. And sure as shit I was right. The real equator line was about 200 meters off to the North. I checked it with my Garmin Inreach rescue beacon. I can’t believe these people don’t tell anyone that it’s all bullshit. Instead they just keep it a secret and make everyone think it’s the real equator line. We walked over to where the gps said we were on the equator line and I took a video to post on social media about how it’s a fraud line they have!

We got an Uber ride back into the city and had some food and walked around the rest of the day and got warned about 15 times by civilians and police about having our phones and cameras out.  We were going to take the gondola ride up into the mountains but it was so cloudy and rainy we wouldn’t see much from up there so decided to just play cards at the hostel and do nothing.

1/29/2022

We woke up and had breakfast. Surprisingly it wasn’t raining very hard so we got the bike and took it up to the statue behind the hostel again to take some pictures. Once we did that it started to rain a bit so we took the bike into the city to get Jacki a Covid test so she can go home tonight. It started to rain pretty hard so we dropped the bike back off at the hostel and went out for some coffee and snacks. We bought some coffee for her to bring back home and walked around a bit. Again got warned by a bunch of cops about the same thing. The cops were so sweet about it every time it was very kind of them. We had some dinner at a place we ate at last night and then called it a night. She got an Uber to the airport and we said our goodbyes.

I feel like my trip is coming to an end soon. I feel very stagnant about it. There’s not much more to explore in Colombia and the weather sucks in Ecuador right now with my riding gear failing. I’m sick of hearing how dangerous it is. I made the decision today to ride back to Medellin over the next few days starting tomorrow morning. Once I get there I’ll do some salsa classes for about a week or two and while I’m doing that I’ll start looking into extending my visa for the bike as long as I can. It will be either 90 or 180 days. Either way I’ll have to fly back down here once or twice to extend the TVIP if it’s even possible to keep extending it. I have a few leads on bike storage so i’ll have to take care of that and confirm it all. I think I’m going to go back home in late February or the first few days of March.

I feel good about this decision. I should probably get back to my union job for a little while to keep my health benefits back up along with getting a few hours in to get my pension credit for the year. So I’ll probably go back home and work the union gig for a month or more. I’m bummed my Yamaha Tenere 700 won’t be in now until early summer as the dealer told my friend that called for me. It looks like I’ll have to go buy my other dream bike. A Vespa 300 GTS Sport so i’ll have something to ride around until the Tenere comes in.

 

 

 

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Day 93

Day 93  1/27/2022

Odometer 33,425 – 33,430  —-  5 Miles (10,730 Miles Total)

Quito, Ecuador.

I slept like shit last night and I’m pretty sure it’s because of the elevation. I’m at almost 10K feet elevation and I’m confident that’s why. Breathing here is definitely affecting me. I walk up a few stairs or up a steep street and I’m hurting for air right after. We had a few things planned for the day so we got right to it. We had a quick little breakfast downstairs in the hostel and went out for a little walk around the main plaza down the block.

I heard this place was pretty dangerous this morning. Well shit I had no idea this place was that bad and now im having second thoughts about being here. After hearing this I don’t even want to be here any longer than I already am, especially because of the expensive parking overnight for my bike.

We were going to check out the 7 churches on the main strip the hostel was on. Immediately after we got two blocks away and I pulled out my nice camera we got too much attention so I put it right back in my backpack. Within minutes we were warned by many people about having our cellphones out and my big camera. I’m going to skip ahead here a bit and just mention it now but every single time we had our phones out we were warned by cops and civilians about getting robbed. I’ve been in some sketchy areas but to be warned this many times a day by many different people about even our cell phones is a bit disturbing. How fucking dangerous is this place?

We walked a few blocks away and stopped at a little shop for chocolate and coffee and made our way down to a huge beautiful church. We took some pictures there and then called an Uber to take us to a motorcycle rental shop where we could rent a helmet for Jacki. When we were there the owner, who was from Texas, mentioned the sketchiest place in Quito is the old city center which was exactly where we were staying. They said don’t even think about taking my bike out in the daytime and parking it out of my sight because it will get robbed. Well fuck. I don’t want to be here at all if I can’t even take my bike anywhere.

We got in an Uber and went back to the Hostel so we could take the bike out to a big statue on a huge hill behind the hostel. We got on the bike and started heading up there when I noticed some clouds. I ignored them thinking Jacki would mention something about the rain if she thought it would rain since she’s a pilot. Nope. We got to the top and it started raining pretty hard. We got a cool view from the top of the statue of the whole city and then we ended up waiting there for almost two hours for the rain to stop while trying to call her an Uber to get a ride back to the hostel with no luck because we had no service. I’m sick of this rain already. An Uber finally showed up and I rode my bike back to the hostel. I was wet so we waited around a bit for my clothes to dry and then we went for a little walk around the nearby area to get some food.

We got some shitty pizza and then went to a little bar. We got warned once again by a bunch of people about our cell phones and at this point I want to see someone try to take it from me. I need to let some anger out and kick someone’s ass. I’m sick of the rain stopping us from doing what we want.

We planned on taking the bike to a huge crater with a lake in it 2 hours south of the city for a big 6 hour hike but I decided I didn’t want to go because she didn’t have proper gear and i’m not riding 2 hours in the rain each way to do a hike at 14,000′ in the rain. I don’t think she understands what it’s like to be on a cold bike ride for 2 hours. It’s the most miserable feeling in the world. It’s exactly why I took winter waterproof gear on a trip to a place with hot temps. The last thing I want to do is be on a bike and cold. We decided to figure out what we would do in the morning when we saw what the weather was like. That was the day. I hate you rain.

 

 

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Day 92

Day 92  1/26/2022

Odometer 33,255 – 33,425   —-  170 Miles (10,725 Miles Total)

Ipiales, Colombia – Quito, Ecuador.

Country #40 Via Motorcycle

I didn’t sleep at all last night with all the anxiety about this border crossing and my pillows were also made out of plastic pretty much along with the 14 plastic covers on this rock solid bed. I got up at about 7 and took a shower. I packed everything up and got out at 8AM to get the fake covid PCR test printed out. I found a little shop in town that I walked to a few blocks from the hostel. I got 2 copies printed. I have so much anxiety about this thing working to get me across.

I went down to the parking garage and got my bike out, parked it in front of the hostel and then loaded the bike up. All my gear was still wet along with everything else that was exposed to the rain yesterday. I got on the bike and rode down to the border about 15 minutes away. As soon as I parked a fixer got all over me and my patience was already running thin. He made me follow him to a building a little far away so I went back to put the locking straps on my panniers just in case. I got back to following him to a small building that said money exchange. I called Alex to translate but I had no service. I was getting frustrated because he kept telling me I need a PCR test along with the Colombian Check Mig form filled out online. I showed it to him and he brought me to the immigration building where I showed the man working the door the same paperwork and he let me in. I got inside, showed them my passport and I was done in about 1 minute.

I was pointed over to the Aduana building which is Customs. The woman at the counter was a miserable asshole. Not one person spoke any English yet. She kept yelling at me in Spanish like I was magically going to understand her. She threw my bike TVIP paperwork back outside the window about 45 seconds after I gave it to her and slammed the window shut. Ok I had it with this place already. I didn’t give a shit if my paperwork wasn’t all cleared up to leave Colombia. I’m out of here. I’ll deal with it when I get back.

I got on my bike and rode over to the Ecuador side. I see the doctor in the middle of the border checking the Covid tests like Dan said it would go. I parked and gave the doctor my test. He took a good look at it and I just played it cool. About 10 long seconds later he grabbed the stamp and I was all clear to go. Thank god that worked. $50 was well spent and I didnt have to wait 38 hours for a real test. I made my way over to the Ecuador immigration where the woman did my paperwork in about 5 minutes, then I shot over to Aduana which took about 20 minutes maybe and I was all clear to go. As I was waiting in line for Aduana into Ecuador I got an email from Colombia saying my TVIP was closed for my bike in Ecuador. Wow so she really did her job and in about 45 seconds. Way faster than most border crossings i’ve done which took 2.5 hours minimum.

I took a picture of myself in front of the Ecuador border and tied up half my wet gear to the panniers so they would dry on the ride to Quito. It was quite cold at 59 Degrees this morning but it was partly sunny. I’m happy with it. I got on the road and started my 4 hour ride to Quito. The views were incredible right off the bat. I had a good feeling about this country. I texted Jacki to let her know I made it into Ecuador and ill be in Quito in a few hours. She was planning on landing at midnight in Quito. I wanted to stop every 5 minutes to take a picture of all the rolling green hills loaded with farms. I pulled over for breakfast around 10-11am. I found a nice little restaurant on the side of the road. I got a lovely breakfast and juice for $3 along with the best coffee I’ve ever had in my life. I was really happy at this moment!

I got back on the road and in 30 seconds I had to make a u-turn to take a picture of what I saw. I got back on the road listening to music and having a great time. I was getting pretty dry and it was getting a bit warmer out. It was perfect. The next 3 hours were some of the nicest riding I’ve done on this trip. So many mountains everywhere, rolling hills with farms everywhere, low clouds out in the distance that I somehow never rode into. I was praying I didn’t hit any rain anywhere and I didnt. I got close to Quito and decided my bike and panniers needed a wash after all the filthy mud and rain I rode through last week.

I stopped over at a little car wash and they cleaned my bike and chain up for $4 so I wouldn’t make the hostel a mess when I walked into it. All the guys at the car wash had so many questions about the NY plates. I got back on the road and about  50 minutes later I parked in front of the Hostel I booked. I unloaded all the things off my bike and took a hot shower. I met the owners of the hostel and they gave me a rundown of the city. I took a walk into the city and went looking for a haircut. This place was cold since we were at 10K feet. I was getting looks from everyone and after a few minutes I noticed I was the only white person around and also not wearing a mask. They’re all pretty crazy about covid here it seems.

I found myself at a barbershop. $4 for a nice haircut along with my first straight razor shave as well. I was shaking and terrified of this guy cutting my throat open with the razor. Never again will I do that ever again. I stopped for some food on the way back to the hostel which wasn’t great at all. It was interesting to see how there were barely any tourists here. I must have seen maybe 3-4 in the few hours I was out around Quito. I got back to the hostel and went out looking for a place to park my bike with one of the hostel owners friends. It was quite expensive at $1 an hour. I’ve been paying $2 a night my whole trip. I’m pretty bummed it’s so expensive. When I got back to the hostel with Freddy he told the owners I could keep my bike in his garage for $10 a night around the corner. Still super expensive but I’m glad I could give the money to a regular person and not a company. I took my bike over to his place and worked on my blog for a bit.

After some time I went downstairs to hang out with the owners and they gave me a small tour of a map on the wall for things to do over the next few days. Well he gave me a ton of things to do! In the middle of the conversation he had I noticed how many times he told me how dangerous it was here and how I shouldn’t take my bike anywhere in the daytime because it’ll get stolen real quick. I disregarded all of that. I’ve heard it my whole trip. He told me not to take my phone or camera out on the streets as well since they will get taken from me very quickly.

Jacki was gonna land at midnight and then take an Uber over to the hostel. I texted her and told her to call me if anything was going bad for her since I was going to bed at 10. I was beat from the long day of stress at the border crossing and I also had no sleep last night. I told her I was upstairs in the dorm room and I’m sure the owners will tell her which room we have.

I clocked out in seconds after working on the blog.

 

 

 

 

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Day 91

Day 91  1/25/2022

Odometer 33,119 – 33,255 —– 136  Miles (10,555 Miles Total)

Mocoa, Colombia – Ipiales, Colombia

I woke up excited for this ride I’ve been hearing about for months. I packed up my stuff since I didn’t get to do so last night. It was already hot and humid in the hostel and I couldn’t wait to get up in the mountains to cool off. I paid for my last night, loaded up my bike and went into town for breakfast. The bike always feels so heavy with my gear after riding it for a bit without anything on it. I had the same breakfast as yesterday but doubled up my eggs since I was starving along with a huge cup of fresh squeezed OJ. I opened up google and typed in a small town right after the death road. Once I got close to the beginning of the road it said 70 KM’s which is about 40 miles. So 40 miles of dirt roads climbing to 11,000′ sounds like fun.

I filled up with about 3 gallons of fuel so it was enough to get me over the mountain. I didn’t want to fill up and carry all that unnecessary weight of fuel with me. Once I got near the start of the dirt road I hit reset on the odometer. About 3 minutes into the ride up the dirt road I had to stop for some construction workers clearing out a pile of dirt next to the road. We waited about 30 minutes for them to play their games. I was covered In sweat already and I could feel sweat dripping down my stomach and legs. Finally they gave us the thumbs up to continue. I took a small video a minute later of the clouds and mountains I’d soon be driving up. I went through a huge deep water crossing on the road since there was a huge waterfall right there on the road. Wow I thought to myself. This ride is going to be beautiful and wild. 1 minute. 1 fucking minute later the ride was paused again.

So since I got to Colombia I can’t believe the bullshit I’ve seen these drivers do. A week into being here I was convinced these people are the worst drivers I’ve ever been around in my entire life. And no Americans aren’t the best. Germans. These guys win 100%. Anyway the road was obviously dirt so no one was speeding. The road is also narrow where two cars can’t pass each other. But somehow these two fucking morons somehow hit each other head on. No, the road wasn’t on a curve. These idiots had about a 500′ stretch of straight road in front of each other before they hit each other. Everyone was stopped, there was a long line of traffic waiting. Another guy on a bike started chatting with me in Spanish. I asked him what they were waiting for. He said the police are 15 minutes away. I know what a Colombian 15 minutes means.

These guys didn’t want to move their cars until the cops showed up so they could take pictures. So great, now we all have to suffer because these clowns don’t want to move their cars before the cops come. A few guys were pretty interested in my bike. I took some photos of them. They wanted some photos with me. We kept each other occupied for the next 70 minutes while the cops came and wrote down a few things and then made them move their cars. While we waited the clouds rolled in and it was pretty thick. It brought a light drizzle with it. I was just praying I could go down this road without rain. It would make me very happy. My tires have nearly 10k miles on them by now and they’re getting really low. I’m trying to not replace them until I come back in November to finish the trip. And no one down here carries the tire I want so I’m not going to spend $450 on tires that won’t make it to Argentina when I get back.

Anyway I started out the ride. My GPS said 70 Kilometers. It was now 11:15 or so and I burned nearly two hours so far. The road wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Pretty bumpy but after riding the last dirt road for two hours this was much better and I feel more comfortable taking my bike down these dirt roads from hell. Not because I’m scared for myself,  but because I’m terrified that my bike will break or the panniers will fall off or some crazy shit! I kept passing the other guys that left on the ride with me when the accident cleared. I would stop for photos, they would pass me, a few minutes later I would pass them since they were riding slower. We were all beeping and laughing when we passed each other.

I stopped at one point about halfway through the ride. I had a lovely view of the road wrapping around the side of the mountain with the clouds just rolling off the side of the mountains nearby. The peace and quiet up there was beautiful. I was 11,000′ above the sea and I couldn’t see the ground. How the hell did humans carve this into the side of the mountain this high up so many years ago. Juan passed me on the scooter beeping at me with his wife on the back. She was holding her phone up recording the view as well even though they have driven this road countless times so far on their little Chinese 150cc motorcycle.

I got back on the bike and passed them a few minutes later beeping giving them a thumbs up! I started ripping through turns now. On one side was no guardrail and a drop a few hundred feet down, a few seconds later a waterfall on the side of the road. I was beeping coming around corners so trucks would know I’m coming and getting scared when one would pop around the corner locking up my back wheel. I stopped for another picture of my bike as I walked up the side of the mountain to get a better angle. I take a few shots and sit there taking it in. I’m doing it. I’m up here on the Trampoline Del Muerte by myself 10,500 miles from home. This is wild. A few seconds later Juan passes me with his wife beeping the horn. I drop the camera and snap a few pictures of them riding past. I’m having such a great time.

I get back on the bike again and I’m driving on the dirt roads even faster. It reminds me of when I took my bike up in the mountains to my grandparents house in Serbia having a blast until I went down. I slowed down a bit and calmed down. I thought about grandpa Yak who did this trip 5 years ago. I remember sitting with him at the carpentry shop I was a foreman at before I left and he told me to ride this road. I took out my phone and typed in Trampolina Del Muerte on google maps and hit save. And here I am now riding it. He took this road late at night because he’s getting old and delusional and had to camp at the top of the mountain sleeping inches from the road where trucks drove past him all night. I thought about how crazy it is that he was here by himself 5 years ago riding on this same dirt road in the middle of nowhere and here I am as well 10,500 miles from home. Such a wild thought that were both here so far away from home.

I was nearly out of the valley when I was thinking about this. I was pulled over by a cow grazing some grass on the side of the road and took out my phone to send Yak a message. I just started to record a video with my emotions and thoughts for about a minute and sent it to him. I’m pretty sure it made his day when he got it. He said he remembers the same emotions and feelings when he was almost out of the road looking down over the small city under the death road where I was at. We became stronger as  people during this trip. Nothing can stop us and we can figure out how to get around so many obstacles. It’s a great feeling. Life at home will be so bland after this trip. No more stress at home since it will be too easy.

I got back on the bike and rode into town. Well that ride was too easy after all the stories I heard about it. What a letdown. I pulled over at the first place I saw for food. I got a delicious meal with some fruit juice. It was very fairly priced. I left a generous tip since I was so happy. A few people I passed on the road pulled in when I was leaving and I said goodbye! I typed in Ipiales which is near the Ecuador border on my GPS. 5 Hours. Eh. I switch over to Waze and it says 3:30. Waze knows how I like to ride. Maybe a minute later it starts to rain and we’re pretty high up in elevation. I pull over and take out my winter gloves along with my balaclava. Bring on the rain.

Well fuck the rain did come bring the heat. It was down pouring and the road had more turns than I could ever imagine for the next 100 miles. I would be in heaven if it was dry out but no it was one of the most slippery roads i’ve ever ridden in the rain. I figured out a boot test now. If it’s raining I drop my boot on the concrete and see how slippery it is. It’s been working out really well for me. The road was almost like black ice in spots. My backend kicked out a few times around turns but I kept it under control. The views on this road were insane. I wish I could have stopped to take some pictures but not with the rain I wasn’t.

Some more bad news. My Rukka gear I bought two years ago is starting to lose its waterproofing. This is the second set of pants and jacket I bought from them that’s losing its waterproofing. I sent the last one back and I got a full refund 4 years later. Hope they hook it up again this time. So now my arms and crotch are wet. I’m not happy. Anyway I kept riding and stopped for some pictures when the rain let up a little bit. I passed two bikes from the US on Harleys going the other way. I made my way to Santuario de las Lajas. It’s a church built as a bridge in a huge valley with a river under it. I pulled into the parking lot taking my wet gloves off and I saw an Africa twin with Mosko Moto bags. He pulls up to me and he looks familiar. He only knows Spanish. He was with the group I saw in Panama and Cali. I was so tired when I pulled into the parking lot that I passed the whole group and didn’t even see them. Wow.

I walked over to them and told them I just booked an Airbnb and it can sleep 8. I gave them the number from the owner and they would call him since they were staying in Iaipales as well for the night. I told them I’m gonna walk down to the church and they can go check in at the airbnb.

I went for my walk down the hill and this church was insane. I have to come look at it again in the daytime when it’s not raining and at night time. It looked fake to me. Yak called me on my walk back up the hill and I was huffing and puffing. I checked my watch and I was at 9K feet. The altitude was really taking a toll on me. I talked to Yak for a bit and then made my way back to the city to meet the guys. Long story short the Airbnb owner picked up and then never called us back for 90 minutes. We gave up on him and got a hotel for $12 each in our private rooms. We parked our bikes and cleaned up. We all went out for some food. While at the hotel checking in the owner told us there’s a place across the street that does PCR tests for the border crossings. BUT, of course there’s always a but. The results take 38 hours exactly. Well fuck that’s not going to work. We all started scrambling to get fake tests done. Next thing I know it’s 11pm and their guy wasn’t making any progress so I got in touch with a friend of a friend and boom I was set with mine. I just had to print it out. I worked on my blog for a bit and the anxiety kicked in hard for the border crossing. I haven’t done one in over a month and I forgot how stressful it is. The bed I was in was rock solid with literally plastic pillows. I found a place to get my PCR test printed before going to bed on Google maps and was praying I’ll get across the border with everything.

The church, I have to go back and get better shots.

The church is built over this valley.

Somewhere along the way.

Juan and his wife!

I stopped here for a few minutes to think about where I was and the ride!

Were all waiting for the police to show up.

We had fun chatting till the police showed up.

 

 

 

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Day 90

Day 90  1/24/2022

Odometer  33,101 – 33,119  —– 18 Miles (10,419 Miles Total)

Mocoa, Colombia

A few minutes after I turned the light off to go to sleep last night I moved my leg and hit something that wasn’t there before. It scared me since it caught me off guard. I flipped my phone light on and it was the cat. She loved me so much she wanted to cuddle more. She pushed on the door until it opened I guess and crawled into bed with me. She curled up between my legs and started purring in seconds. I wish I could take her with me.

I got up today and it took me a few minutes but I decided to stay here another day. It was pretty hot and humid straight away. I walked into the bathroom to take a shower. Yeah I’m not expecting any hot water in this small town but when I turned the knob no water came out at all. I went downstairs and mentioned it to the hostel owners and they said the water will be on in a few minutes. I haven’t had a hostel experience like this yet. I was about to take my towel and walk down to the raging river to shower in there. I love it!

Daniella told me about a few things to do here yesterday which is why I stayed, along with me being very tired from 16-17 hours of riding in two days and getting murdered in a salsa class in Cali. I got on the bike at 8AM and headed into the city for breakfast. I found a place and ordered something with eggs and coffee. When it came out it was eggs with plantains and some bread. I’ll take it. It was so hot and humid here. Everyone in this small city was looking at me . I felt like an outcast here. It reminded me of those movies where the opening scene is a white guy with long hair in a button up shirt half open sweating like crazy deep deep in the jungle of some wild country and everyones looking at him. Yeah, that’s how I felt today. I was pouring sweat just sitting here ordering breakfast. I did a little work on my bike while I was waiting for breakfast, tightening up my crash bars since they rattled loose a few days ago. I worked on the blog for a bit and edited pics.

Daniella told me about a huge waterfall that’s actually right next to my hostel. It’s called the end of the world waterfall. Interesting. I got back to my hostel and the owners told me I can walk left 200 meters and pay 30k Pesos to walk 1.5 hours each way or walk 1200 meters to the right and take a cable car for 25k pesos and walk for 50 minutes. I liked the idea of hiking but this cable car sounded sketchy and I was into it. I also dont get why the quicker option with a cable car was cheaper but I was about to find out. I packed up my bag and headed over to the cable car. The thing looked pretty sketchy. We jumped in it and it was loud as hell making its way 100′ over the raging river below us. I got dropped off on the other side and he told me a story in Spanish about how to get to the top maybe? Daniella told me there’s people up there waiting to put a harness on you so you can go to the edge of the waterfall and not fall off.

I started cruising up this mountain. The guy told me an hour to get up there. 22 Minutes into the climb and I was at the top covered in sweat. There were a few people up there waiting for a few guys. I passed a few minutes before I got to the top. We waited for them and we headed over to the waterfall. It was a 5 minute walk down wet slippery wooden stairs where half the people ate shit and lost their water bottles. We got down to the edge of the big waterfall and waited for the harness’. I got mine and got some cool shots next to the edge. After he took the harness off the guide pointed to where I could go swim. I grabbed my stuff and went over in a hurry jumping right in with all my clothes since they needed a wash for sure. I got some other clothes I brought along and washed them in the pool of water under a smaller waterfall. It started to rain really hard and I just sat there in the water taking it all in. I’m in the middle of the jungle right near the Amazon jungle swimming in a river next to a 200′ waterfall in the rain. I was loving every second of this. I must have spent 1 hour sitting next to the river enjoying the view and the noise from the rain and waterfall. I wish I could record this and listen to it when I go to sleep. This was the moment I’ve been waiting for while covered in sweat hiking up here. After sitting there for a while I packed up my bag which was wet at that point except my camera. I put my backpack on and started hiking to the cable car.

Halfway there I remembered the guide told me he will radio to the cable car driver to come get me so I have to tell him when I go back. Well I didn’t. I made the hike back to the cable car in the pouring rain, I slipped twice and ate shit, covered in mud. I was playing music from my phone, singing and bouncing around the jungle. I was having a blast. I felt like a little kid without a care in the world. Wet, muddy, warm, and having a blast.

I got to the cable car and barely had any service. I called the hostel that owned the cable car and with my terrible spanish the woman had no idea what i was saying. 5 Minutes later the cable car started to come over and grab me. We took the car back over the river and didn’t die. Great Success. I rode back to my hostal without a shirt on since I was completely soaked and the hostal was 2 minutes away. I got right in the shower with my shoes and all. Once I was dry I headed into the small city to get some food. I went to a restaurant Daniella recommended and I couldn’t believe how good it was for the price. It’s one of the best meals I’ve had in Colombia so far! After that I went back to the hostel to work on the site for a while and chill out. I layed in the hammock for a few hours on the website and I finally figured out two months later how to make all the pictures bigger. I’m so happy you all can see pictures now in their full glory instead of squinting at every picture. But who am i kidding there’s probably 2.5 people reading these posts from now on.

After that I went back out to the city for a nice slab of grilled chicken with potatoes and a salad for dinner and some ice cream. Grandpa yak was telling me that when he got here on his trip in 2017 it was the day after a huge landslide killed about 1000 people. I googled the pictures of Mocoa, Colombia and I couldn’t believe how bad the landslide was. It looks pretty good here 5 years later!

I got back to my hostel and took off a kickstand extension from Touraracket (Touratech) since it bent when I crashed and it’s been rattling ever since. it actually never fit right because they claim all the welds are different on each kickstand. They suck. I’m gonna try to have the lower piece welded on by a shop in the next few days. I lubed my chain and held off on cleaning the chain since it will be dirty tomorrow on the death road ride. Now I’m hanging in the hostel waiting for my cat friend to come over and snuggle. I’ll finish the site up and pack up so I can hit the road tomorrow morning. I’m sort of thinking about holding off on leaving here so early since it’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow. It was supposed to rain all day today too but it cleared up in the evening and it was very sunny.

Lunch

The view near my hostel

The hike in the jungle to the waterfall.

In my element!

Had to wear a stupid harness.

View from the cable car.

Breakfast

Morning view from my Hostel.

Little waterfall next to the big one.

Heaven

Dog hanging out at the big waterfall.

 

 

 

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Day 89

Day 89  1/23/2022

Odometer  32,836  – 33,101  —– 265  Miles (10,401 Miles Total)

Cali, Colombia – Mocoa, Colombia VIA Amazon Jungle

I was ready for a long day of exploring today when I woke up and I’m sure glad I felt that way for what was coming up. I got out of bed at about 7 and loaded up the bike. I typed in Mocoa on google maps and it was 10.5 hours away. I put it in my head last night that I wouldn’t try to make it there today. I would take my time enjoying the view  and stop maybe halfway. 

The ride started out pretty nice through some small towns and nice windy paved roads. It felt good to be back on the road again. I was riding and saw a few motorcycles loaded up with a bunch of gear at a little restaurant on the side of the road so I decided to join them for breakfast. I ordered some breakfast and one of them spoke great English so we chatted for a bit. They were all pretty young and lived in Medellin. They just started their trip yesterday leaving home and heading to Argentina as well. Fresh on a new journey I loved it. One of them scared me saying the death road I wanted to take by Ecuador was really bad and I shouldn’t take it. His buddy immediately told me to disregard it a minute later! We chatted about bikes for a bit and their plans. I told them how a guy I knew made it from Colombia to a small city in Brazil via the Amazon river for about 10 days and then riding from somewhere in Brazil to Bolivia. They kept it as an option for when they get turned away at the Peru border. They’re going to the Peru border anyway to give it a shot and see what happens.

We parted ways and started riding. I forgot whether I read something or heard something but it talked about living in the moment. Something about appreciating doing the dishes, feeling the water running over your hands, the temperature, the satisfaction of cleaning a dish and getting food off of it. I was thinking about it during my ride after getting breakfast. I was really enjoying every second of the smells, the scenery, the nature, the temperature and everything around me. It made the ride so much more enjoyable than ever before. I wasn’t thinking about tomorrow or yesterday or anything else. Just now. It was lovely.

That was just a thought no I won’t be writing about how im finding myself on this trip now! Haha 

 Fast forward an hour later and I was in a small valley with beautiful landscapes all around me. I couldn’t believe how beautiful it all was. The road was going back and forth between dirt and paved roads. There were waterfalls all around me every few minutes. I stopped a few times for some pictures. Slowly the road became top notch and I came around one corner to find a massive waterfall. I parked my bike in front of it and snapped a few pictures while the mist was covering everything nearby. There was a group of people taking pictures too, a family I think. One of them saw my license plate and at the same time another tried to talk to me. Word spread quickly how I was from New York and next thing I know I’m surrounded by 10 people getting asked 100 questions. It was pretty funny. They thought I was nuts for traveling alone and I said to one of them, yeah it’s so dangerous down here to be surrounded by people like you! Hah I snapped some pictures of them with my 5D and told them I would email them the pictures.

I got back on the bike and the next corner was even nicer than this one I just came around! I literally felt like I was inside a picture and someone was editing the colors of the green hills loaded with cows grazing the grass while a crystal clear river was flowing through the middle. It felt like Switzerland. It actually looked nicer than Switzerland where I was. I don’t ever remember green grass and trees being as bright as this my whole life. I sat there on the side of the road for a few minutes taking it all in getting some shots of it all.

 Maybe 5 minutes later the road started to climb and the next scene blew my mind. Long running green hills with Colombian houses on the meadows with a huge cloud formation creeping in behind them. The clouds were touching the ground as it was creeping in thousands of feet over the houses. I sat there in the strong winds and took some pictures as well. 

Back on the road suddenly 15 minutes later I came to a roadblock for road work. A red truck pulled up next to me asking me something in Spanish. They asked me where I was from. I told them about New York. They were interested in my story. Next thing I know they were asking me why I didn’t take the highway to Mocoa and my reply was because it’s boring. They laughed. I didn’t ask them where they were going, which I regret. When we were allowed to pass through the roadblock the road turned to dirt, and it stayed like that for the next two hours. They passed me at one point. The road was terrible and I wish I asked them how much longer it would be like this for. It surely couldn’t be this way for the next 150 miles….or could it? Well I wanted some adventure after leaving Medellin and I’m sure I’m getting it now. My bike was rattling like crazy over the rocks, dirt and mud. I don’t know how the hell these things last as long as they do. I’m putting it through hell and back.

I kept riding and riding and next thing I know I see tons of cars coming my way along with 18 wheelers, tour buses and you name it I saw it on the road. The trucks were nearly running me off the roads. I stopped maybe 20 times to check if I had a flat because my bike was riding like I did. The dirt road was so wet and muddy my tires were slipping off everything with zero traction. God I hope I don’t get a flat here! I stopped to take some stuff out of my top box because I was worried that the metal plate holding it to my bike would crack with how long this road might be. I eventually came to a road block where there was maybe a mile long of trucks and cars waiting because an 18 wheeler broke down on my side of the road. Did I mention it was raining pretty hard the whole time? What a day to go from the most beautiful road I’ve seen on this trip possibly to this hell?

I caught back up to the red truck with the guys I spoke to in the beginning. I asked them how much longer the dirt road was for and they said about another hour. I made a funny face, said thanks and kept moving. Now i’m wondering if he told me an hour for himself or did he shave some time off for me since im moving quicker on a bike? Oh well, it’s too late now. I kept an eye on the clock and was hoping I would be out of here in an hour. About 30 minutes later I looked back and my aluminum top box plate was cracked in the middle by a bolt. I guess when I get into town somewhere soon I’ll have someone weld it back together if anyone can even weld aluminum here!

I finally came out of the clouds at one point and was descending down. I stopped two people on mountain bikes that were on a big trip since their bikes were loaded up. They were from Holland and we chatted for a bit. I asked him how much longer it was going to be wet mud before it turned into paved roads and he said about ten kilometers. Well fuck. I’m already an hour into the ride like the guy in the red truck said. I kept an eye on the odometer now and one mile took a damn long time compared to riding on paved roads. As the odometer hit 2 the road was finally back to normal. That guy was way the hell off. Once I was back on paved roads my bike never felt so smooth.

I was ripping now, having a great time. I rode through some small towns with some more dirt roads but it was all dry mostly and I could see the sun popping out here and there. I came around some twisty roads and saw a truck that did not look like it belonged here. It was a pickup truck with a camper on it but it looked European. It was on the side of the road and the door was open. They were cooking lunch. I passed them, turned around and saw Swiss plates. I almost went back to chat with them but I had to keep riding. I came up to a small roadblock next to where the military was checking some guys’ cars in front of me. They usually let me pass but they had me stop this time. A guy went through my panniers seeing what I had in there and then noticed the big knife on my tank bag. He called another guy over to look at it. I told him I eat with it when I camp. He pulled the knife out of the holder and said it was illegal and had to confiscate it. I pulled my phone right out and started to bullshit him. I told him it was a gift from my brother who passed away recently and ill do anything to keep it. I made a sad puppy face look at him and he said I can keep it. hah. Got ya!

They asked me a few questions and I walked behind my bike and pointed to the line I wrote in marker. New York to Argentina 2022. They all were blown away, took some pictures with me and let me go on my way. I rode through a small town and stopped for a plate of heavy meat. I think I’m done eating red meat. It’s just too heavy for my stomach lately and I feel it for sure when I eat it. I continued on with my ride and google took me down some more dirt roads as a shortcut to another main road. I had three hours left to get to Mocoa if I even wanted to make it. I started out the ride saying I won’t make it today. I need to ride slow and relax but here I am shaving a ton of time off while stopping for pictures. I was having so much fun riding today I just couldn’t stop. I rode hard and ripping through all the twisty turns through the mountains. I was having such a good time. My GPS told me I would make it at 7:35pm when I left this morning but now it looks like my arrival was 5:40pm. I can’t believe I’m making it before sunset.

I stopped for some shots of the sunset with a beautiful house surrounded by tall trees on a small hill with the sun setting behind it with the mountains. I eventually made it to Mocoa and checked into my hostel. It was barebones with one other guy staying there from California. I went across the street to get some fish for dinner and then I went back to edit photos for a while and work on the blog. This place was pretty nice and quiet. No cell reception, just WIFI. I stayed up till 10-11 working on the computer and then I clocked out. I was exhausted after today’s ride.

The sunset shot I tried to take. Heaven

A little bridge with a huge river flowing through it.

Clouds rolling over a small meadow with houses.

So Green!