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Published: October 11th 2009
After a few days rest in Bogotá we spend our last evening at Autogermana for a press and customer event for Kevin and Julia to promote Globebusters to the Colombians. This involved me being asked to speak to the group with an intro and closer in Spanish. Although Max also spoke and did the whole of his in Spanish! Clever dick!
The ride to Medellin the next day was spectacular. The scenery was the most consistently beautiful of rolling hills and green mountains, The roads were equally entertaining and following Mauricio and Kevin for 30+ miles of bend bend bend bend was fantastic. Kevin met Mauricio in 2003 when they set the Guinness World Record for the Trans Am trip. We arrive in Medellin, in the dark at 7.30pm. The road emerges almost 1000m above the city and the view down is like that from a plane. The descent is insane as the road drops through manic dual carriageway hairpins for almost two miles to drop the 1000m. We drop the bikes into Ruta 40 which is Mauricio's BMW Bike dealership, for new tyres all round. The next day is free to explore Medellin, which we do using the over
Basillica
Medelin Cathedral, all red brick and lovelyground metro railway and taxi's. The Basilica is entirely brick construction and the effect highlights the scale of the building as the bricks appear endless. That evening is a repeat PR event which Mauricio has organised. He clearly knows every biker in Medellin and the turnout is in the hundreds. Ruta 40 normally see 10-15 foreign bikes a year so our group has doubled the foreigner turn over!
Medellin to La Virginia can't be better than the road from Bogotá.. Oh yes it can, Oh my lord what a road. We even managed to touch down the panniers in the corners which is a first for us. La Virgina to Popayan more more more fantastic roads. Popayan is the white city as everything is in white marble. We meander round the town and witness a protest against domestic violence. Although it is a lovely evening the town seems quiet, and has few restaurants or bars, among the colonial buildings and official offices.
When we leave Popayan we are heading for the border and a crossing into Ecuador. A group ride down to the border of 200 miles mean we arrive at 1.30pm. Colombian exit for us is easy
Mauricio and some locals
Mauricio from Ruta 40 BMW in Medellin and some locals.... enough but when we come to exit the bikes they say we don't have enough paperwork from Bogotá and need to go back and sort it out! Mauricio steps in and has a pointy finger conversation in rapid Spanish and they decide it is all OK. We say goodbye to Mauricio and Carlos and ride across the bridge fifty metres into Ecuador and get our passports stamped in. When we get to the little office to import the bikes it all stops. Two years ago it was hand written and quite speedy, but this has been improved with a computer and a web based system that requires every detail of us and the bike. However the internet link is so slow that it take over a minute to send each detail. It takes 20 minutes per bike to get them imported! When the first five are done (which fortunately includes us) Kevin decides we should leave as a small group to get to Otavalo and secure the hotel rooms. We ride through mountains and towns largely in the dark and arrive in Otavalo at 7.30pm. Margaret (30 years in Ecuador but an ex hippy from Pennsylvania) could not be more
WIsh you were here?
Colombian Roads being thoroughly enjoyed by Perti, Al and Andy... welcoming and we tip her staff to stay on late to feed and water the later arrivals. Last bikes in..... 10.45pm.
The next day is a short ride across the Equator and on to Quito. Pleased to say that the sat nav on the bike read South 0,000,000 as we crossed the line on the road. Getting into Quito is interesting and with the airport very centrally located we have Airbus and Boeing's going overhead at under 500 feet! We are in a couple of hostels right in the heart of the night life and bump into Brian and Sandra a couple on an R1100GS doing the same ride who shared the cargo plane into Bogotá, having bumped into them originally in Costa Rica. Small world isn't it? They are stuck in Quito for 6 days with bike problems and Friday is Independence Day so everything is shut until Monday.
A very nice evening is spent at a wine and tapas bar, which for one price is “sin limite” so we make the most of it and are all very jaded for the ride to Cuenca the next morning. This is a 350 mile mountain road day through
Simon Boilvar Plaza Bogota
They do Llama rides around the plaza... low cloud road works and Ecuadorian traffic. It sis however interspersed with the bits of road that are finish and very fine they are too. A long day and a late arrival in Cuenca leaves only enough time to go and eat at the Eucalyptus Restaurant, which is a Rough Guide and Guardian recommendation. Today a ride to the border to stay right next to it for an early crossing into Peru tomorrow, with only (!) Eight weeks and three more countries left. Hasta Luego.
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