m & d south on motos: ¡Colombia!

D and I were very lucky to have our friend Stephanie in Panama City to visit with while we waited through the weekend so that we could drop our bikes off on Monday and ship to Colombia. She had just moved there to work for a few months with the Smithsonian Institute digging up fossils beside the canal and so we got to explore the city together.

After an amazing weekend of beaching it, eating and drinking we headed for the cargo terminal to drop off the bikes before our evening flight into Bogota. (As I'm sure you are aware, there are no roads between Panama and Colombia - the Darien Gap looms between the two - and the only options are to either fly or go by boat. As D is not so fond of boats and we were in a bit of a rush we opted for the cargo flight.) Unfortunately, our bikes were MIA for a few days once we got to Bogota and we were told that "maybe" the plane was broken. I'm more inclined to believe that the shipping company was simply waiting for the plane to fill up before making the trip. We have read others' accounts of the same problem with this company, but no matter. The bikes finally did arrive, only a few days late, and all in one piece. We left the next day with much excitement for Cali.

The trip was long and a bit difficult in places but all in all we had a great ride. The road is one of the major arteries for shipping even though the road conditions are a bit ludicrous in some areas. There was quite a bit of construction going on, both to shore up the road from the many washouts that had occurred as well as a huge project of giant bridges being built over plunging chasms (none of these are complete and it looks as though the new part of the road will be years and years in the making but it is desperately needed). The current situation involves people standing in the middle of blind switch backs directing truck traffic for tips - many of the tractor trailers are unable to make the tight curves while still staying in their lanes. This was one instance where it was much safer to be on a moto and be able to dodge over to the side when confronted with a semi roaring around a bend in the middle of the lane, there were a few times when I swear we would have been in a head on collision if we were in an SUV or similar vehicle. It was actually a great experience though, with lots of lovely views and fun riding.

There was a military van that we kept running into on the road over the course several hours - they were faster than we were on the open road but we had the advantage of moto driving and thus being able to overtake slow buses and traffic more easily... I mention this because a bizarre camaraderie developed between us. After a couple of passes, the military vehicle started honking and waving every time they passed. At one point, D and I stopped for lunch at a small road side restaurant in the mountains and the military van passed just in time to see us getting off the motos and taking off our helmets. There were merry shouts of Vamos! Vamos! as they hung out the windows and waved us on. We grinned and waved but were definitely stopping for lunch. In the end, we actually ended up catching up to them on the steep and windy road where they had been stuck in truck traffic. As we made our way more southward, there were more and more military/police on the road sides probably because we had heard that the southern regions have had a harder time with FARC and paramilitary groups. We felt totally safe, however, and the weird and constant thumbs up that we received from these police and military men convinced us that they had been briefed in how to deal with foreign motorcyclists. This was just one example of the warm welcome that we received. I really adored Colombia and was a bit sad that we didn't have more time to spend getting to know the place and the people.

We stopped in Cali for two nights so that D could get his front forks looked at again. We had them fixed in Guatemala but the mechanic hadn't changed the seal, only added more fork oil so now it was time to get the job done completely since D's forks had been leaking again since our wild rides on the super rough and rocky roads on the island of Ometepe in Nicaragua. D had the seal and a great shop put it in early on a Saturday morning. Unfortunately, about half an hour into our ride from Cali to Pasto, D's ABS warning light came on and as we pulled over into a Mobil station to check it out we were greeted by the very uncomfortable sight of D's ABS brake cable being ground up by the disk brake. The people at the moto shop had reassembled things incorrectly after the fork job. After a bit of electrical tape to keep the cable from shorting out again (and of course reassembling the cable and fender correctly) we were ready to go. Crisis mostly averted. It's amazing how even reputable places (the moto shop that we had used had come highly recommend by locals) can really screw stuff up. Every one of our moto problems has been the result of letting someone else work on the bikes.

The countryside in Colombia is the most beautiful that I have ever seen in my life. The mountain views from the roads were simply breathtaking and I had to constantly remind myself to stop staring at the view and to keep my eyes on the next switch back. We do have a few pictures but unfortunately, none that truly grasp the magnificence of it because there was never any place to pull off and neither D nor I have the guts to try photography while riding (especially on roads like these). If we ever have the opportunity to ride in Colombia again, we'll be sure to have figured out a way to take photographs while riding.

Our last stop in Colombia was in the border town of Ipiales where the Virgin Mary was supposedly spotted not too terribly long go and a church was built over the gorge where she appeared. It's really quite magnificent and D and I had an enjoyable two hours checking it out. Everyone must walk the last bit to the church and due to the high altitude we were huffing and puffing coming back up the steps to the car park.

Then it was off to the border with Ecuador in the pouring rain..

We didn't get any pictures that captured Colombia's beauty, unfortunately

Chicken Bus passing while we took a rest

Davis disassembling the ABS sensor and front fender to survey the damage

The mechanic had routed the anti-lock brake system's sensor wire against the brake disc!

Luckily, the wire caused a short (and a warning light) as soon as it wore through the insulation - but before it cut the entire wire. Wrap it in electrical tape and continue on.