Missive #2, Sunday, January 28 to Monday, February 6, 2018
Missive #2, Sun, Jan 28th to Mon, Feb 6th
If you would like to see my hourly tracks enroute showing bike speed, lat/long and elevation info go to:
Https://share.garmin.com//nickgudewill for my DeLorme InReach readouts, it is quite interesting technology.
Missive #2, Sun, Jan 28th to Mon, Feb 6th
Day 01, Sun, Jan 28th
Day 02, Mon, Jan 29th
Day 03, Tue, Jan 30th
Cartagena is a magnificent walled, touristy city of 1.2 million people founded by the Spanish in the early 1500's. It was THE gateway to and from the America's hence it's fortification was paramount. Over time they enlarged a huge fortress on the hill over looking the city. Each time it was sacked and re-taken it was added to.
Hawkins and Drake took their turns. So did the French and the English. There is a long and detailed history to understand including the slavery of indigenous people to build it all and then African slaves to continue when many of the locals succumbed to disease and horrible conditions.
I walked the colorful, humid, inner city, walked the walls and spent the best part of a day on a self guided tour of the imposing fort nearby. Complicated and interesting naval formations from yesteryear prevail in many of thediscussions.
I arrived two days early to sight see, meet my new travelling companions and get my bike out of customs which this time was mercifully easy.
Day 04, Wed, Jan, 31st
Hotel Caribe, Cartagena to Cinco Monteria, Monteria, 279 km
We
started the day at 31.5 Deg and it was hot, hot, hot working our way
out of the Cartagena rush hour at 8:30 am, start, stop, perspire, start,
stop, perspire. For our first day on the road it was a bit of a
challenge. In a week or so it will be no big deal.
The
temperature got up as high as 39 Deg and very humid unlike Africa where
we had quite a few 40 Deg days and it was very dry. Here we were at sea
level and close to the ocean for much of the day so sweaty like heck
and lots of water needed to hydrate.
The
distance was not that bad but it was a 5-6 hour ride and a long hot day
for sure, enjoyable being on the road again but still an effort.
The
scenery does not need a lot of explaining for this day. It was lush,
green, tropical and you could be anywhere Thailand, Mexico, Africa. I
was surprised at the lack of farming maybe poor soil, no roadside fruit
stands, a bit of corn growing and some cattle grazing but pretty sparse
generally.
We
went though a lot of toll booths and motorbikes don't have to pay. The
little side paths are pretty small and hairy though for big bikes and
later in the day I had to really concentrate going through. On top of
that, this is really motorbike country, like swarms of flies all over
you. Fortunately most look to be good riders but they sure can crowd you
as everyone competes for every small space.
I
got to Monteria first and found our so-called hotel, the Cinco
Monteria. Only problem was, it was an apartment hotel of the same name
and the wrong damn place! I had to drive around a busy block twice just
to eye ball the joint. Then, with android conversation app in hand
because no one speaks a lick of English around here I had to explain
that 10 other Motorcycles would be arriving in short order. Say what
says the Senora? Not taking no for an answer I soon had my gear in my
room and a very ice cold beer in hand when in comes Helge to announce
that we had the wrong way point!
We
hired a taxi who took us single file monkey style to our planned
lodging which is outstanding. During dinner we got the heads up on the
goings on around here. Lots of excitement, big demonstrations in town
about wage issues. They were burning tires south of town and two of our
guys got held up for hours and almost didn't get here at all. What was
going to be a leisurely 6 am breakfast will now be a 4:30 am breakfast!!
Why
one might ask? First of all we have a ball buster day to get to
Medelllin which is where Pablo Escobar used to hang out and maybe some
of his cronies still do. It is a city of 2.4 mm people so twice the size
of Cartagena which was hard enough to get out of itself.
Second,
because of continued demonstrations planned tomorrow no cars or
motorcycles are allowed on the roads after 6 am, ergo we need to make
hay before the sun rises in more ways than one. This is actually a very
good plan because we have a long 10 hour ride and we might be heading
into Medelllin looking for our hotel in the middle of downtown in the
middle of rush hour.
Last
thing, an absolutely amazing discovery for this person...we are sitting
at dinner looking at a Spanish menu, double dutch to all of us, how do
you pick and choose what to eat? In no time we had a couple of our
techies help us download an app that visually translates into English
whatever the camera is looking at. Voila, (French of course!) presto,
whatever language that is and we have an instant menu in our mother
tongue. Never seen anything like it!
Day 05, Thur, Feb 1st
Hotel Cinco Monteria, Monteria to Style Hotel San Diego, Medelllin, 408 km
Needing
a little extra support for what could be a difficult day, I transferred
my dear, sweet friend Karen's clam shell in to my riding suit for the
first time. For those that remember, there was a special story at the
very end of my Africa journals called 'Providence' and I thought that
this would be a good occasion to
have a little extra Karen-Karma for a long day on the road.
Leaving
at 5:09 and the first on the road, it was pitch black; except that my
Clearwater lighting system lit up the road in front of me like it was
broad daylight. I would be able to clearly see so much as a moving mouse
200 yards away; the only trouble is that oncoming traffic also had some
difficulty so I need to figure out how to dim them manually at some
point.
It
was 26.5 degrees and muggy so nice to get going early before it got too
hot. The sun came up an hour later at 6:20, a beautiful red fireball
that I could watch for 20 minutes or so do its thing, just brilliant,
especially with the overcast and misty skyline.
This
ride was special, an 8/10 compared to yesterday's 2/10. The scenery was
not the least bit tropical but still very lush and farm like. In fact,
there was lots of cattle and horse grazing to enjoy, the smell of fresh
manure and fresh fertilizer in the air.
This
road was mostly excellent compared to the shitty conditions yesterday.
Undulating, smooth, pothole less tarmac, a real treat.
We
cruised in heaven through the tree scapes, rolling hills and beside a
lovely undulating river for several hours at 200' ASL. The traffic was
relatively light and we blasted through many small villages keeping a
watchful eye out for the gendarmes.
We then began to climb and that got interesting! It would have taken FOREVER in a car. The truck traffic both ways was intense as we rose to 8000' and then back down again to get to Medelllin. The potholes and ruts were tricky in places and I must have passed a thousand slow moving semis. It is always a challenge leap frogging these guys but our bikes are so fast and with them moving at a relative snails pace you get good at judging the risk factor. All in all a very, very enjoyable ride with lots of switch backs up and down the mountain sides to keep us entertained.
I stopped twice for about 15 minute breaks and a snack and the whole journey took exactly 8 hours.
Day 06, Fri, Feb 2nd
Style Hotel, Medelllin to Hotel Campestre Portal Del Sol, 277km
Today Luis and Moris, two of Helge's pals and helpers joined us on their BMW 800's. They hail from Bogota, helped with trip organizing and are great guys to have around in a pinch; more on that shortly!
Luis and Moris
The traffic out of Medellin was pretty ferocious even at an early hour so we were glad to ride out in somewhat staggered formation heading for the hills. Boy, were there hills! We traversed up hill and down dale, corners, turns, switch backs too numerous to mention through awesome countryside.
One of the differences here in a country of 48 mm people (GDP about $9000 US per capita but this buys goods at a factor of approx two in purchasing power parity terms) is the amount of traffic. Lots and lots of all sorts of vehicles on the road especially long haul tractor trailers. In the mountains on narrow roadways they are going awfully slowly at times so darting by at opportune times becomes an art form. It is a particular skill acquired with practice and concentration.
Today I was merrily threading my way in a passing situation and around the corner heading towards me comes the Policia, a man and a woman dressed in green and riding a green motorbike. "Guilty as charged!!" He turns around, catches up to me and I am summarily reprimanded in unintelligible, fast talking Spanish.
Luckily Luis was a short ways back as well as our driver Jairo. When they arrived there was an almighty show down for maybe 10 minutes 'forth and backs' (Helge's terminology). They wanted to impound the bike and take me to their station which would have been a big problem. I could see that the negotiations were intense so it was a bit disquieting.
I was very pleased to have the two of them pleading my case, believe me. Finally they let me go with a warning (no bribe money either) and I said to Luis in no uncertain terms to please inform the police officer: "I want you to tell this man that I am happy he stopped me, I was in the wrong and this is a good wake up call".
Truth be known any one of us could have been accosted in a similar vein, it just happened to be me. I was sufficiently humbled to slow down a bunch and stay at the back of the pack for the rest of the day.
For something to do I counted corners in 3 five minute intervals and got to an average of 50; that is 600 per hour and well over 2000 turns for the day. That extrapolates to many tens of thousands of turns for the trip.
It has never happened before but I actually scraped my pedals on a turn. That is getting to the limit of how far you can lean over the bike. The answer is to slow down a bit and take the turn more gradually. Heads up Nick this is important stuff to get right!
So the question is how safe is safe? How safe is unsafe? How unsafe is unsafe? A bit Rumsfeldian but you get my drift.
Once we got out of the mountains the going became easier on the valley floors where the roads are easier to construct. There were lots of stoppages for road work and I had a chance to take a look at the wide swaths of sugar cane growing in this very rich soil area.
A few comments:
-have seen very little bird life in a country that is supposed to be teaming with birds; actually there is world class bird watching going on just not here; I find out later that insecticides in the fields kill almost everything, there are zero bugs on our windshields or face visors; no bugs, no birds, pretty soon no bees means down the road nothing will grow, a scary cycle, thanks Monsanto;
-we stopped for lunch in what was or maybe still is a narco town; Luis explained that our lovely looking waitress had not only had breast augmentation but also butt augmentation and it was sure easy to notice! Apparently that's the style around here that the narco trade likes;
-no one smokes here;
-even though we are getting closer to the equator in Ecuador, the temperatures have been more manageable, approx 26-32;
We are staying in a shithole place in the middle of nowhere, a jumping off location on the way to our lovely lodgings coming up in Popayan to tomorrow; no soap, no hot water, bugs crawling around in the room, poor me!
Tonight we had our welcome dinner which has been postponed several times. After a few drinks and a crappy meal (lucky my lunch was excellent) we all spoke separately about our expectations for the trip. I am always moved especially listening to the newbies (5) tell us about themselves etc and Helge does a great job of orchestrating it all.
Welcome Dinner
If you would like to check on our line up of compadres on this trip go to Globeriders.com, click on the Tierra Del Fuego picture and click on “bikes and bios” to get a rundown on our interesting group. Actually, there are two late entries missing: Paul Long from Texas and Ron Wirahadiraksa from Switzerland.
New roommate Franco and old roomate Bob
Vince and Linda
Spike
Mike and Aileen
Paul
Oops, pool girl
Gk9You know who this is!
Debbie and Harrison
In capsule, we have 3 guys in their 50's called the kids, 6 guys in their 60's including our gifted rider Debbie wife of Harrison and 2 guys in their later 70's. There are two side car units and two additional ladies riding as companions so quite a socially mixed group.
A brief comment on my good fortune in room mates once again. Franco could not be nicer. He is easy going, we have great chats, there is no tension and we look out for each other in all manner of ways. It is a blessing to be able to bond with someone you spend a lot of time with. Franco's quiet manner, worldliness and Asian charm hopefully means a longer term friendship is in the making.
Moris and Franco
Day 07, Sat, Feb 3rd, Hotel Campestre, Porta del Sol to Hotel Dann, Popayan, 287 km
There was quite heavy rain to start out this morning so we all suited up in our raingear. The roads can be slippery too with surface grease and oil mixing with with rainwater so extra caution is a must.
We were on the Pan Americana highway today for sure, a magnificent, wide, median divided highway. It was a relief to relax on the road as a change from the previous two days. I travelled with Moris who, according to most is the best rider in our group. He has children in Miami and San Francisco, travels to the U.S. a lot and may come Victoria way this spring on a motorbike he keeps in Miami.
A few points;
-travelling along I noticed movement close up in my rear view mirrors; a brief panic attack ensued when it turns out to be a cop car with lights flashing; an 'oh shit moment' but when I move over he passes merrily on;
-a wide variety of magnificent huge trees grow beside and canopy over our roadway, beautiful really; one is called a Saman tree and closely resembles the Acacia tree so prevalent in Africa especially in southern regions;
Super sized, 54 wheel sugar cane trailers inch along the highway in places; 4 trailers in tandem pulled by a large tractor they are quite a sight to see;
-the Bogota boys and I arrived our nice digs in Popayan (pop. 600,000) in 4 hrs meaning we averaged 70 km/hour; we all really enjoyed 40 km of gentle up and down turns coming in to the city and I got to watch and learn from behind how these two experts do things on two wheels; said "hope I didn't hold you guys up" and they said, on the contrary that I did great which was an important affirmation of my riding skills;
-had lunch and a walking tour with Luis and Moris; both are well informed and have enjoyed successful careers in small business; Luis now spends 6 months a year in Spain so maybe there is a visit in the offing there sometime. Colombia has 11% unemployment, 4% inflation and is making progress unlike Venezuela; for years the people there have relied on easy living off their oil rich resources much like Saudi Arabia; in their highly subsidized society, nobody does anything so it is not just the government and leadership but many other problems to confront too;
-we all think our dinners take far too long, about 2 hours to arrive; also, the food is repetitive, a bit boring and not great. I am eating lots of fish. It will be interesting to soon compare the food and culture in neighboring Ecuador.
Day 08, Sun, Feb 4th, Hotel Dann, Popayan to Hotel Mayasquer, Ecuador border, 335 km
A brilliant, stunning riding day, no doubt. I started out with Luis but the scenery really caught my attention so I stopped to pull out my new Canon zoom camera contraption.
This was an indirect blessing. Luis has never seen a rubber tired vehicle he did not want to pass! He is like an Olympic downhill ski racer practicing his trade and a good one at that. Following Luis was going to be stressful and I now had a perfect excuse to ride on my own.
While we had lots of twisties in the steeper going there was lots of undulating tarmac to enjoy as well At 27 turns per 5 minutes I was doing about 30 turns per minute compared to 60 in the heavier going.
Some comments:
-my Canon zoomer takes great pics enroute and the strap system around my riding gear works perfectly;
-Bob Higdon my supposed roommate and retired DC lawyer is 78 and a member of the million mile BMW Club; he was also an 'Iron Butt' rider which I don't have space to explain and an entertaining log writer extraordinaire; he can contradict almost anything!
- there are lots of dark skinned, negroid people around here, the result of travesties of past centuries;
-there was a police checkpoint in the middle of nowhere; their job was to advise drivers of possible bandititos in the area but we saw none; didn't stop either!
-it turned out to be a longish ride; two hours from home I got sloppy and tired; it was an opportune time to take a 20 minute nap and I awoke fresh as a daisy to finish the job;
Canadian lapel pins
-in the many, many work zones, stoppages can be 5-10 minutes; we filter to the front of the long lines and get a head start when it is our turn to proceed;
-it took us 6 hours to do the 335 km including stoppages so averaged about 30 km/hr.
We arrived to our 2* hotel a stones throw from the border. The hotel folk waited on us hand and foot. They even tuned 3 of us into the super bowl in Spanish! A few beers at 9600 ASL and we greatly enjoyed an amazing victory by Philadelphia over New England 41-33, hooray!
Day 09, Mon, Feb 5th, Hotel Mayasquer Ecuador border to Holiday Inn Express, Quito, 255 km
Young lady from Peru heading North
It took about 3 hours to transit the Ecuadorian border but it went very well. The road in to the capital city Quito was something out of this world, miles and miles and millions of dollars of engineering construction to create one of the world's best roadways. Necessary toll booths, this time at a cheap fee for motorbikes kept us stopping fairly frequently.
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