[YEAR 7!] Quit our jobs, sold our home, gone riding...

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/143.html on February 24th, 2014

I've been experiencing a bit of a problem on my GS:

Wanna see a magic trick?

Note: As of the time of writing this entry, I've gotten the problem resolved. If you're having the same symptoms, email or PM me, I can point you to a thread that has a few solutions you can try out.

And this is one of the shorter wait times for the electronics to come online after I turn the key on! It happens consistently first thing in the morning and the delay lasts anywhere from 10 seconds to just under a minute. It has me a bit worried, especially after the EWS stranded me in El Salvador.

I did a quick check online, there were some others with almost the same symptoms, but no resolutions. Although the bike always starts up 100% of the time, I felt like I needed to get this attended to for my own piece of mind. We weren't planning on spending a lot of time in Cali, but since it was on our way, we stopped into the BMW dealership to see what they could do. They told us to leave my bike with them and they would run some tests on it.

Our large displacement motorcycles are among the fastest bikes in Latin America.
They'll pass anything on the road... except for a BMW Service Center...

Cali BMW is the latest in a long line of BMW Service Centers that we've visited in Latin America. Looking back, I don't think we've passed one without stopping in. I feel like I should have a booklet with stamps that I collect from all the LA dealerships. And then as a reward when I collect all the stamps... they'll give me a new booklet for the journey back up again.

FML.

Walking around downtown Cali

Cali is about 260 kms south of Manizales, much of the ride was spent on the highway. We're descending a bit from the hills of the coffee region, from about 2100m (7000 feet) to 1000m (3300 feet), and the temperature rises to what you'd expect of Colombia and being this far south. We're very surprised that it's still rainy here, which makes Cali very hot and humid. The guy running our hostel says it's unusually wet right now, and it may be related to the Polar Vortex that has had most of North America buried under snow.

It's a big city, third in size behind Bogota and Medellin. I'm not sure we're ready to spend time in a large city again, but we've got to get my bike attended to before we go any further, so we decide to make the best of it.

This guy looks as impressed with the big city traffic as we were

We made our way down to the historic centre of the city by bus, expecting some touristy old colonial buildings painted in pastel colours. However, what we found was was a very run-down, dirty downtown. Maybe it was the area we were in, but of the three major Colombian cities, Cali was definitely not the nicest. I make fun of GringoTrail towns all the time, but Cali was really depressing in the other direction.

I think what we were also feeling was a fatigue of sightseeing. How many churches, buildings and city streets could we see before it all started to melt into each other? We desperately needed a change of scenery. Much as we always value our "take our time, smell the roses" approach, perhaps this is a sign that were ready to leave Colombia.

Homeless problem is a bit more pronounced in Cali than Medellin or Bogota

Cool looking necklace!

Neda trying out Guarapo - a mix of freshly pressed sugar cane and lime. Very tasty!

Christo Rey in the background

We had big plans on hiking up the mountain to see the 26 meter-high statue of Christ that overlooks Cali. However the skies were threatening rain again and by this time we were so bummed out about how dirty and grimy the downtown was that we just hopped on the bus back to our hostel. Being in the city is really getting us down.

Running errands in Cali

Although sightseeing turned out to be a bit of a bust for us, we took advantage of Cali's extensive infrastructure and amenities by getting some paperwork done. It's getting really close to the end of the month and our insurance is running out. We're not sure how long the service will take to fix my ignition, so just to play it safe we venture out again on Neda's bike to buy another month of insurance. I remember last month when I wrote, "Surely we won't STILL be in Colombia in April". Hmmm...

Breakfast is included at our hostel. Not a big fan of arepas, so I end up playing with my food.
I used to do the most epic mash potato structures when I was... um, last week...

Everyone labels their food in hostels. So we're relaxing in the evening with a Neda Modelo...

We don't go out too much into the city after that. The rest of the 20-somethings in our hostel think that we're very strange for staying inside as they go out exploring Cali during the day and flirt and dance and try to pick the locals during the evenings.

Well actually, we do leave the hostel for food. There's a fish market in Cali not too far from our hostel, so we hopped on Neda's bike, rode over and tried some cazuela, which is a bubbling broth of coconut milk full of different kinds of seafood. It was delicious!

Haven't been posting any local food pictures, so here's a video instead!

When we first arrived in Latin America, we really enjoyed all the variety of tacos and the spices of Mexico. However, after many months of traveling further south, the variations of corn breads, beans, rice and meat have become a bit monotonous, so we find ourselves craving more international foods. The seafood broth was a good changeup, but what we wouldn't do for a large platter of unagi sushi and softshell crab roll!

Outside, Neda's bike waits patiently for us to finish our broth. The restaurant owner
covers it with some cardboard so the seat doesn't get too hot from the sun. How nice!

Prepped and ready to perform major surgery on this poor pollo

Okay, I do like that there is a lot of fried chicken in Latin America. However, I've noticed my clothes seem to shrink after eating too much of it, so this is a rare treat. I also love how all over Colombia they give you plastic gloves so you don't get your hands all greasy when you order fried chicken. Neda wants me to steal more gloves so she can use them to lube her chain. I offer to save her some chicken grease as well...

Her eyes narrow and she replies dryly, "Just the gloves will be fine."

Come on! It'd be great lube for such a poultry sum! We can call it KFC: Kentucky Fried Chain! It's Finger Linkin' Good!

Speaking of final drive, ever wondered what the inside of a shaft drive looks like? Don't worry, not mine...

The service centre was taking a long time trying to fix my ignition issue. Neda called them a few times during the week and all she got was, "Mañana" (tomorrow). We're told that this is a very typical Latin American response. So she said we should just go down there and show our faces to inject a little urgency into the situation.

When we arrived, the bike was in exactly the same condition as we had left it. Nothing was done to it. Neda had a few words with the service advisor and before we left Surprise, Surprise, the tech was busy taking apart my bike. Neda is becoming quite savvy in the ways of Latin America.

The next day, we got a phone call. The tech ran a bunch of tests on the computer, which reported no faults even though the problem could be replicated. They hooked up a new battery and still the problem persisted. They told us that they couldn't isolate what was causing the startup delay, but according to the diagnostics, the bike was perfectly fine. So a whole week waiting around in Cali and nothing to show for it? Not impressed...

We picked up my bike that afternoon and made plans to put Cali behind us, with my ignition issue still very much on my mind. I just hope that this isn't a case of, "We'll know what the problem is once it completely breaks"...

A bit of advertising in exchange for a picture of the two of us...

Wow, whiny blog entry... Better days ahead!

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/144.html on March 4th, 2014

Every morning before we head out to our next destination, we check our day's route on Google Maps. Then we corroborate it on our GPSs. We have two of them loaded with two different map providers, so we can cross-check our routes with each other when they don't match up. You'd think with all these checks and balances, we'd have very little problems with navigation. That is, if we'd bother to do any of the above...

Following our GPSs east

We've gotten very complacent with our GPSs. Cali south-east to La Plata seemed pretty straightfoward. A quick glance at Google Maps confirmed 180 kms on secondary roads. Okay, 180 kms, we can leave a bit later in the day then. Heading out of Cali was a bit hectic, but we soon shed the heat and the traffic and were out on the main highway heading south and all seemed well.

The main road eastwards starts at Popayan. Unfortunately, one of our GPS had calculated a "short-cut" before we hit Popayan and the other GPS didn't even have any roads east of the city! If we had bothered to check our route beforehand we would have noticed all these discrepancies...

Nice shortcut! Enjoying the twists and turns in the road.

The road started out great! Colombian roads have really surprised us after the very mixed bag in Central America. As a secondary road, the pavement was smooth and twisty and as far as my GPS was showing, the path wound its way around the hills like this all the way to La Plata. Sweet!

GPS doesn't actually show you what the road conditions look like...

As we rode further east, the pavement got a bit patchier. Nothing too alarming, or anything to indicate that we should turn back and seek another way. It also started raining a bit. We've discovered that our Heidenau K60 tires don't do really well on wet pavement, as Neda has had her rear tire step out a few times under acceleration. So our pace slows down to a cautious gallop.

Past the town of Totoro, the pavement disappears. It becomes a gravel road that's soaked by the constant rain coming down on our helmets. We do a little conference call in our helmets: Do we turn back? We're over 20 kms into this road, GPS is saying another 80 kms... Decisions, decisions. It's only wet gravel, so we decide to forge ahead.

Next come the potholes. Little ones at first, then they grow larger - large enough to swallow the bottom thirds of our wheels. You know when the road is so bumpy, your tits start to hurt? And I don't even have tits! We slow down even further to a crawl, picking a good line to avoid the holes in the road. We pass through areas of construction where the road is either being built or repaired. By now the rain is pelting down full bore and the potholes are becoming tiny lakes. At this point, we've ridden too far into the road to turn back. Surely there can't be anything worse ahead...

It got worse.

We must be at a fairly high elevation as the fog has become so thick we can't see 50m ahead of us. The rain has turned the road to muck and while we were riding through a fairly large construction site, RIVERS of dirty mud run sideways across what used to be the road. I watch Neda negotiate this "river crossing" and wait till she's safely on the other side to proceed. On my turn, the mud has pushed my line into a deep pothole and when I come out the other side, my front wheel hits the far edge wrong and gets deflected sideways. I lose all momentum and the bike is leaning precariously to the left, so I put a foot down to dab myself back up so I can throttle out. But all my foot touches is air.

With no momentum and the bike falling Oh. SO... SLOWLY.... past the point of no saving, all I can do is resign myself to watching the mud on my left get closer and closer. It seems to take a lifetime. I have all the time in the world to hop off the bike as it *sploooshes* down, drenching me in wet mud even though I try to distance myself from the timbered Bavarian lumber.

I tap on my communicator, "Um..."

Neda replies, "Really?! Seriously!?!?"

Drenched.

Thankfully, a construction guy has seen my clownish attempt at the mud river crossing and he comes over to help pick up my bike, so I call off Neda's assistance over the radio. With a mumbled "Gracias", I thank the guy as he shook his head and wondered what the hell we were both doing out here...

I called out to him and asked him how much further the mud went on for. He replied, "5 kms".

Quick calculation in my head: we can't be crawling more than 10 km/h so maybe another half-hour of this? Doable? I guess. Enjoyable? Ah... no.

Further on down the road, I come across this...

So, a couple of things about this particular off: 1) Neda is pissed. But not because the bike is down, but over the communicator I hear, "But I just washed it!!!!" She's angry because her bike is dirty. Yep. 2) She tells me that she didn't go down because of the mud, but because there was a fly on her nose and when she went to swat it off, she didn't notice the rock next to her on the right side of the picture. So while she was dealing with the fly, her right pannier hit the rock and knocked her bike around and then down.

"*$#%^&*!!! I JUST WASHED IT!!!!!"

If my bike could talk, it would be saying to Neda's bike, "LOL, you fell too..."

Now I know my Spanish is bad, but when I asked the construction guy how much further the mud went, there's absolutely no mistaking "cinco kilometres" with "quince kilometres"... But the mud did indeed stretch on for more than 5 kms. An additional 10 more, in fact. When our tires did finally hit wet gravel instead of thick, goopey mud, we stopped to survey the aftermath...

Damn you, you dirty GPS!

Might need another bath..

...and a new rear mud deflector...

Part of the reason why we stopped was that I heard a weird dragging sound underneath my seat. Thankfully we were going so slow, because when we pulled over, I found my rear mud flap had dislodged from all the mud that was collecting between it and the rear wheel, and it had ripped right off and found a new home right below the subframe.

I did some research later on and found out that this is common problem with the R1200GS and mud, and many people just go flapless. It's a good thing Neda leads most of the time, or I'd be constantly roosting her with all this bad weather we've been riding through.

It's kind of funny now that we've ridden through stretches of slippery mud, we're flying over the wet, potholed gravel roads, like it's nothing. Even my tits feel good. It's taken us over twice as long as we thought we'd needed for the day, but if the road stayed like this, we might make it to La Plata before sunset.

Or maybe not... Another obstacle.

This truck was towing a construction vehicle around a tight hairpin. The trailer was too long and couldn't make it around the turn without
touching the concrete guardrail. And by touching it, I mean absolutely destroying it! Pieces of the guardrail were falling into the valley below. And the funniest thing was the guy on the right was pouring motor oil on the guardrail to help lubricate the trailer's progress. Check out the picture above: a sledgehammer is going to help more than any lubricant will!

It took about 45 minutes for the truck to get far enough so our bikes could squeeze past him. As we rode by him, we noticed there was another turn just as tight right after this bend, but we didn't stick around to see how well he negotiated the next one! Too scared that guy would hit us up for our motor oil... LOiL!

Another break to check out the awesome scenery!

A bit of company on the road

Kawaii!

We pulled into La Plata just as the sun was going down for the evening. It wasn't long before we found a cheap but nice hotel right downtown and while we were busy unloading the bikes and checking in, Andrea the receptionist really wanted to get a picture with me. Not too sure why. I was covered head to toe in mud, stinking of sweat, rain and exhaust... I'm guessing they don't see a lot of Asian people in La Plata. So when she put up the bunny ears for the photo, I followed her lead - I'm not really that kind of Asian, but I tried to do my best Kawaii imitation for her. Forgot to wink though...

Another tldr video... Special thanks to Spyhunter.

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/145.html on March 6th, 2014

North again. Our aimless wanderings are revealing a distinct aversion to the southern hemisphere...

From a rainy morning's start in La Plata, we are going to descend from the foothills of the Central Andes (Cordillera Central) down through the valley of the Magdalena River through the city of Neiva and finally end up in the desert outpost town of Villavieja.

Our ride to Neiva follows the Magdalena River

Across the river we see the foothills of the Andes in the distance, lush green velour carpeting the mountainsides like an EcoElvis has gone crazy decorating the landscape.

Neda is trying her best to ignore the mud on her moto

Neda likes things clean. Clean clothing. Clean motorcycle. It's just a personal pet peeve with her. So when we rode through yesterday's mud bog, it was really bugging her to be carrying all this excess weight. So as we approached the city of Neiva, I spotted a gas station where a truck was being washed. Our bikes and luggage got the royal treatment as they were power-hosed and detailed while we had a snack break.

So clean and sparkly! Neda is happy once again! I forgot how good (um, less ugly) the R12GS looks without luggage...

Villavieja is on the outskirts of the Tatacoa desert. It's one of the most distinctive areas of a country that is dominated by the colour green. We booked into a hostel that was not as comfortable for the pricetag. The actual town was not that interesting as well, so after one night, we decided to ride out into the desert itself (only 15 minutes away) and rough it.

Riding out to Tatacoa: grass becomes less green, air becomes much warmer

I've really begun paying attention to the elevations of where we are and where we ride through. You'd think being this far south in the northern hemisphere everything would be muy caliente, but the effects of riding up and down the Andes have us alternately shivering in the clouds and boiling in the valley. The Tatacoa Desert is at 500m (1600 feet) above sea level and it is hot, hot, hot!

One of the first sights that greet us. Astounding!

Neda is loving both the colours and the heat!

Riding around, trying to find a place to stay

There are several farms doubling as hostels as we ride into the Tatacoa. We find one that's gotten good reviews and booked a few nights to explore and live the desert life.

Our hostel is a goat farm called Noches de Saturno (Nights of Saturn)

We rented a little rustic cabin sheltered by a hot tin roof

Our first day we didn't do much exploring, just caught up on a little light reading on the porch of our cabin and really savored the dry desert heat after all the cold and rain we'd been experiencing lately. The desert is wedged between two mountain ranges which rob it of most of the rainfall passing through. Or so we've been told. Because this is one of the area's two rainy seasons, we listened to the smattering sounds of a thunderstorm hurling huge drops of rain on our tin roof in the darkness (no electricity) of our first night there.

Under the mosquito net, hiding from desert bitey-bugs

In the morning, we awake with the rising sun and peer outside. The water on the ground is quickly evaporating and if we had woken up any later, the only evidence that it had ever rained would be the memory of the sound of rain pattering in the darkness just a few hours ago. A sweaty, little stroll outside in the increasing heat quickly evaporates that memory as well...

Goats being herded through the desert

Young goat herder on horseback

Aloe vera therapy. No, we didn't get sunburnt, Neda has really itchy mosquito bites

These parrots kept us entertained for a good long time!

In the evening, we headed out to the Tatacoa Observatory, which is less than 10 minutes walk away from our farm. On the way, a scooter passed us and these girls stopped in front of us. They had recognized us from the farm because they were using its swimming pool during the day, so they pulled over and chatted with us. It turns out all they really wanted was a picture of us (of me, I suspect).

We've been getting many, many requests for pictures, so what I'm going to do is also ask that they take one with our cameras as well from now on!

Tatacoan Celebrities

Tatacoa Observatory

This observatory is situated in the desert because of the clear sightlines around the horizon, almost 170 degrees of skyline! In the non-rainy season, the skies are free of clouds and the dry desert air gives amazing clarity to the constellations and other heavenly bodies.

Did I mention we were here during rainy season?

This is actually our second time visiting the observatory. Last night it was too cloudy to see anything so we postponed our trip till tonight...

So tonight, we paid our admission fee and were slightly disappointed because:

We didn't actually get to go inside the observatory (in the background)
They wheeled out these smaller telescopes on the roof of the adjoining building...

Our astronomer/guide gave us a seminar on astronomy and the constellations of the night sky. In Spanish. Great.

The telescopes weren't bad though, through the lens you could get great captures
with an iPhone or other point+shoot camera

Saturn! The capture didn't quite get the rings but we did eventually get to see them. Very cool!

I've got quite an interest in astronomy from ever since I was a little kid, so with my limited Spanish vocabulary, I could piece together what our guide was telling our group by certain words that were the same in English. However, doing this kind of hurt my brain, so at one point I gave up pseudo-translating and just stared up into the sky in wonder.

Every once in a while, Neda would translate an interesting fact I did not know like:

- Subaru is the name of a 6-star configuration in the Taurus constellation. The car company Subaru's has these 6 stars in it's logo. Neat!
- The Southern Cross constellation was pointed out to us for the first time. You can actually see it anywhere south of the Tropic of Capricorn at any hour of the night very easily.

This is when my concentration just snapped...

All this time my focus was pretty good, trying to glean any additional information I could from our guide's Spanish seminar.

And then he brought out his laser pointer, shooting it up in he sky like a green lightsaber, slashing away at the stars...

All of a sudden his Spanish words sounded like the excited natterings of a Jawa who's just captured a droid wandering in the middle of the desert. I was so focused on the green beam slashing back and forth across the sky that my ears were instantly filled with John Williams' regal trumpets and the sharp electric hum of lightsabers cutting through the air.

I wanted that lightsaber.

In my mind, the guide and I were locked in mortal Jedi combat, his green weapon inches from my face as I tried to wrest the deadly sword from his clutches. The beam danced back and forth in front of my eyes and I could hear Princess Leia's voice inquire out of the darkness, "Gene, are you okay? You look kinda spaced out and bored..."

Perhaps it was time to leave and explore the rest of Tatooine the next day.

 

[Wainiha]

Living poor in Hawaii many have tin roofs. Loud enough you have to shout when it rains. I sleep well when it is pounding....If I have a new tarp on my roof...

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/146.html on March 7th, 2014

Colombia is dominated by the colour green. From the green carpeted mountains of the Caribbean coast to the rain-forests and jungles of the interior, you can't entirely escape from the colour of lush nature and fertility. That is, until you venture into the Tatacoa Desert.

Welcome to the Tatacoa Desert!

Today we're exploring Red. Or what the fancypants called Ochre. The Martian-like landscape of dry, cracked red soil is concentrated in the area of the desert called El Cusco, which is hard to miss because it's right at the entrance to the park and it's one of the first things you see. It's right across from our farm, so one evening, we hired a guide who worked at the farm to show us around.

Nacho (short for Iganacio), our desert guide

Maybe he was pulling our leg, but Nacho had never heard of the Mexican food "Nachos" before. In Latin America, they're called tortillas.

High atop the Laberintos (Labyrinthe) de Cusco

They say the Tatacoa Desert was a result of a lake that dried out. Within the shapes of the labyrinth, you can make out the areas where water once flowed to sculpt these weird stone shapes that we were walking around and on top of.

Desert is host to a lot of wildlife. This cactus bears fruit to feed thirsty motorcycle travelers

The inside is juicy and tart and full of black seeds

After Neda is done, there will be none left for the rest of the wildlife in Tatacoa

Nacho explained all the different species of trees, plants and cactus as we walked past them. We had a bit of a laugh because everything he pointed out had "medicinal" properties. It sounded like you'd never need to go to the doctor if you just ate everything in the desert every day!

Colours are so rich and vivid, very different from anything we've seen in Colombia

A lot of it reminded us of the red rocks we had seen in Utah

Every morning, the goats in the area are let out to feed.
They've learned to find their way home by themselves when it gets dark

Goats are ravenous creatures and will eat anything. It was quite a selling feature of the Tatacoa Desert to see these goats eating the leaves of these trees, because the branches are so thorny. Over time, the goats have learned to eat around the thorns to get to the juicy leaves.

How do goats eat these leaves? Very carefully!

You can picture where the water once carved through the area

Proof that I was there too...

Easy to map a way out of the maze when you're standing above it!

American Kestral (Sparrow Hawk) watches us warily out of the corner of his eye

Descent into the Labyrinth

Last look around before it got too dark

Nacho points out more interesting, nature-y things to Neda. I just take pictures.

Hiking around the desert was a very nice change of scenery from all the cities and towns that we've been in, and the hot and dry days were welcome after enduring the rains around the Andes mountains. Tomorrow we're going to shift away from Red and explore the Gray of the Tatacoa. With our motorcycles!

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/147.html on March 8th, 2014

Less than 10 kms east of the El Cusco (the red desert) lies Los Hoyos, the grey desert. For this trip, Nacho suggested we take our own bikes, which saved us a bit of money for the tour. There were two other French tourists staying at our farm, so Nacho took one of them on the back of his scooter, and another guide came and picked up the other one and off we went!

Our bikes looked like land yachts compared to Nacho's scooter and his friends motorcycle

The red rocks and sand slowly turned to grey as we rode further east

We made a pit stop at a point called Las Ventanas (The Windows)

Nacho explains more nature-y stuff to Neda while the bikes pose for a picture

Smiling for the camera in front of Las Ventanas

More bikes join us! It feels like a Tim Horton's parking lot now!

Still the fairest of them of all...

About 8kms into the desert, we stopped at a small pullout at the side of the road and hiked down a valley. The rocks here were slate grey and seemed a lot more dusty and powdery than the red rocks we saw yesterday at El Cusco.

Walking along a dry riverbed

"Los Fantasmos" (The Ghosts) of Los Hoyos

Neda captures some interesting details in the grey rock

All I need is a grey bedsheet and I could blend right in

We were staring at the walls like it was an art gallery

Closeup, we could see the area was formed over distinct time periods
Layers of pebbles separated the different periods that the rock was laid down

Most of the grey desert formed "recently" over the last 2.6 million years in the what's known as the Quaternary Period

These formations look like tall stone mushrooms. Very trippy!

"One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small..."

These two bikers joined us on our tour of Los Hoyos

As we walked back to our motorcycles, we found out that they were from Bogota and were on a two-week tour of their own country. They were very impressed with how much of Colombia that we had already seen and we felt very privileged and lucky as we described the rest of our trip. Their sporty street bikes modified for touring kind of reminded us of how we first started with our trips around Southern Ontario!

Come a long way since touring around Ontario on an old Suzuki GS500!

Group ride with our new motorcycle gang!

The grey desert of Los Hoyos was kind of interesting, but definitely anticlimactic after the red rocks of El Cusco. The best part of the trip was riding through the desert with our makeshift motorcycle (and scooter) gang. Unfortunately, our time in the dry and hot climate was coming to an end. I could sense the rest of rainy Colombia waiting to greet us just outside the park's boundaries...

 

[profdlp]

Bonus points for the Jefferson Airplane / Lewis Carroll reference! :victory:

 

[Wainiha]

...And the ones that mother gives don't do anything at all. Go ask Alice...


I like those two different sections of desert. How far away is the red from the grey? Different ancient rivers/lakes I guess?

I always thought Columbia was all green.

 

[lightcycle]

I like those two different sections of desert. How far away is the red from the grey?

Less than 10 kms.

The red section is a tiny part of the desert, maybe 10%. The entire place is mostly grey.

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/148.html on March 12th, 2014

And we're doubling back again. If we were to plot out our route in Colombia, it would probably look like a bunch of random squiggles scribbled on the map... We're going to be meeting up with the Pan American Highway at the town of Popayan, passing through La Plata. And this time, we're going to do extensive research to make sure we don't swim through mud again!

Fantastic scenery through some not-so-fantastic roads

So after all the research, we plotted a route through what looked to be a main road on Google Maps and on our GPSs. However, when we got there, we were faced with a gravel road. Memories of mud bogs filled our heads. We asked someone if this was the way to Popayan. They said yes.

By now, we've learned our lesson about asking for directions in Latin America. If someone doesn't know the way, they'll usually make something up or give us a guess instead of saying, "I don't know". So we employ our "Best Of Three" methodology: ask three people and if two or more give you the same answer then that's *probably* the right way. Well, all three people we asked told us that this gravel road was the most direct way to get to where we wanted to go... and it was unpaved for pretty much all the way... Great.

The scenery through the mountains was spectacular. We were going slow enough that we could appreciate it...!

A few kms later, we pass a bus coming in the other direction. This made us feel a little better that we were on the right track. Later on we would find out that the major highway that runs between Neiva and Popayan does a huge detour south, bypassing the mountains. That's the route the truckers use, so while this road was a bit rough, at least it was less distance and no trucks! We'll take No Trucks over Crappy Roads any day of the week!

We were passed by a lot of vehicles. This bike was the only one we managed to pass. Yay! Totally Winning!

A lot of adventure riders like to stand up on their pegs anytime the asphalt disappears underneath them, fantasizing that they're Marc Coma riding the dunes in the Dakar Rally. We've certainly done some of that in the past. However, while we're pretending to be all Long Way Round, there'll always be a family of 3 or 4 crammed onto a 125cc motorcycle passing us like we're standing still. Then they'll look over at us while passing with a puzzled look on their faces wondering, "What the hell's wrong with their seats?"

So we sit back down and ride the roads like the locals do now...

The rough road winds it's way through some beautiful green canyons

Over the canyon, we can see where we're going to be 15 minutes from now

Towards the end... sweet, twisty pavement!

Pictures don't do the ride justice, so here's a short video

Finally reached our destination - Popayan

We rolled into Popayan in the late afternoon and after knocking on a few doors, found a cheap hostel. The town is quite pretty: cobblestone streets lined with colonial buildings all painted white. It kind of reminded us of the white towns in the south of Spain that we had ridden through a few years ago.

Neda is happy that there's a kitchen she can use

And, just as we predicted, rains in the afternoon.

Depressing

We know, my friend. We know...

Things have come to a boil in Neda's mood. Once again, we were in a city wracked with congestion, the sounds of traffic and car alarms piercing the air. She's very sensitive to noise and every time a loud diesel truck passes by, I can see the vein in her temple throbbing like it's going to explode. Her annoyance is mixed with a bit of malaise, as the rains have dampened her spirits and she tells me that unlike me and the blog, she feels like she doesn't have a project to keep her occupied. I know how critical this is for someone like her who's very energetic and driven - quite the opposite of how lazy I am. This lackadaisical pace which suits me seems to be eating away at her.

I think we're going to have to change up our schedule somehow.

Not everyone was miserable though. This little guy had a great time driving up and down the rainy streets!

Cool helmet!

My own woes centered around the same bike issue that's been plaguing me for a couple of weeks now ever since leaving Cali. My ignition delay problem, although not worsening, was a constant worry to me. Every morning, I'd count the seconds between turning the key and the electrics coming on. 10 seconds one day. 30 seconds another. Would the bike refuse to turn on when I was in the middle of nowhere?!?

Then one day, the delay was almost 60 seconds. That was the last straw, there was absolutely no way I could continue traveling this way, no matter what assurances the BMW Service Centre told me that there was no problem. I scoured the Internet message forums for other riders having the same symptoms. There were a couple of promising leads, pointing to replacing the ignition housing.

I emailed a few places down the line. BMW Ecuador was unresponsive, BMW in Cali said the part was not in stock and would take a few weeks to ship. From many recommendations on ADV, I contacted an independent bike shop in Cali and was pleasantly surprised that they were very helpful and responsive. They too said the part was not in stock (since they got it from the same place as the dealer), but they told me to come in and they would take a look at it.

Cali was only two hours away from Popayan up the highway, so we made an overnight trip out of it.

Overnight in Cali. We didn't have to travel to Morocco to stay in Casa Blanca!

A lot of these hostels have the right idea. We don't have many pictures of the two of us, so the hostels make sure they always get a photo of their motorcycle guests with their sign in the background, and for sure, that photo will be plastered on blogs and forums all over the Internet. Free advertising!

Jorge at Asturias Motors diagnoses my bike

We dropped into Asturias Motors and were greeted by Jorge, the owner. He wheeled my bike into the service bay and immediately started diagnosing the problem. "I have the same bike, same model", he told me. I looked over at Neda and I knew we were both thinking the same thing: this guy knows his motorcycles. We had a much better feeling now than when we were at the official BMW shop.

Because the problem only manifested itself when the bike was cold, Jorge told us to leave it overnight and to come by in the morning.

My bike is hooked up to a computer using GS911, an On-Board Diagnostic adapter

I have to get one of those GS911 cables. Then I can talk to my bike. It'll probably tell me, "Quit friggin' dropping me, jerkoff!" On second thought, maybe I don't really need that cable...

We totally don't mind advertising Asturias Motors!

The next day we popped in. Jorge said he couldn't duplicate the problem that morning, so it seemed alright. That was good news, because it would have been the first time in over a month with no ignition delay. He told me all he did was clean the contacts on the ignition housing, which seemed to clear up the problem. This made some sense. While the folks on the Internet bought new parts, those new parts would have clean contacts, so Jorge saved me from buying a $130 part.

When I asked him for the repair bill, he replied, "Nada". No charge, he said. That was super nice of him. We stayed awhile and talked to him and wife Sory. They both came from motorcycle families and you could tell that they were very passionate about bikes and travel, having done trips all over Colombia and South America. If you're in Cali and need anything done to your bike, definitely stop by Asturias and see Jorge. He really knows his stuff!

On the way back to Popayan, someone places a box of chocolate wafers on my tank bag at a stop light and walks away. What the..?

Traffic in Colombia is such a funny thing. Vendors will place snacks on your windshield at a red light. Before the lights turn green, they'll pick them up again, unless you want to buy it because you've been staring at it for the entire duration of the red light!

Also, the Colombian drivers play a fun game at traffic lights. It didn't take me very long to work out the rules of the game. It goes like this: When everyone is waiting at the red light, the millisecond the light turns green, then the first one to honk their horn wins. At every traffic light, this game is played - light turns green, someone honks, then they win. So I decided to join in on the fun! I sat at the next red light, with my thumb on the horn waiting for it to turn green. As soon as it did, I mashed the button with competitive fervour, and to my delight I was the first one to let out a loud BEEP! I looked around at my fellow motorists expecting them to congratulate me on my triumph, but they just stared at me with quizzical looks.

I had just learned a new rule of the game. Those at the front of the line, don't get to play...

 

[bdp1978]

This is such a fantastic thread. Thank you for taking the time to document for all of us.

Your writing makes me laugh with every new entry and I always look forward to the posts.


Safe travels!!!!

 

[lightcycle]

Thanks, we really appreciate the well wishes!

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/149.html on March 16th, 2014

We fall into the typical pattern of waking up early and doing all our sightseeing and activities before the afternoon rains arrive. We find ourselves staring at the calendar impatiently. There's got to be an end to this eternal rainy season.

Iglesia San Francisco (Chruch of Saint Francisco)

We decide to tour on two wheels of a different kind!

Neda found out that our hostel rents out bicycles! So we leave our motorcycles parked for a few days and explore the city via pedal power! Although I'm not one to needlessly expend calories (they are a precious commodity!), I think this exercise really helped burn off the excess energy that Neda had.

Sometimes certain things remind me of home...

I spent a while studying the details of the toy bike. Other than our friends and family, I don't miss many things from back home, but my old sportbike is high on the list. When we find a place to settle down, Neda wants a dog. I want a Ducati 999R Xerox Edition.

Indigenous woman selling fruits outside a restaurant

I find the features of the indigenous people so fascinating. It's like a living history lesson of the migration of human beings from Africa. This woman retains many of the same Mongoloid features from when her ancestors left Asia to cross the Bering Straight and down through the Americas.

"Como se Llama?"

Bicycle hooligans outside of church

Popayan is one of Colombia's most preserved colonial cities

Much of the town was rebuilt after a huge earthquake in 1983, which really brought home the point that not many buildings and edifices can stand the test of time and Mother Nature, and that given enough time, all the original cobblestones, bricks and other materials will have been replaced such that almost nothing of the original still stands. In fact, all these buildings were painted white only after the earthquake - they weren't even that colour 30 years ago!

Beautiful colonial architecture. But what did it look like 500 years ago?

Park break outside our hostel

The next day, Neda finds more interesting stuff to do on two-wheels. For a small fee, a truck can haul our bicycles up the mountain to the next town over. Purace is well known for it's natural hot springs and pools. After a soak, hop on your bicycles and enjoy the 30km ride back to Popayan, which is almost all downhill. "Downhill?", I repeat? "SOLD!"

The early morning truck ride takes us up through the twisty mountain roads outside of Popayan. I stare out the window, imagining rushing downhill on the bikes , which were tucked away in the back of the truck. Then a few times, the truck dipped as it drove downhill in sections. My mental abacus was clicking away overtime: "We're driving downhill now, so on the way back, I'm going to have to pedal... UPHILL?!? WHAT THE....?!?!

Every kilometer the truck descended, my sense of dread increased. I was counting off the potential uphill mileage...

Outside the town of Coconuco near the hot springs

The truck let us off just outside the hot springs and we parked our bikes, breathed in the rotten-egg smell of sulfur and jumped in the very hot pools, tinged light green from all the minerals in the water. No sooner had we gotten in, the sky opened up and poured cold rain on us. It wasn't even noon yet! Stick to a schedule, Mother Nature!

Agua Hirviendes Hot Springs in the pouring rain!

Locals are unfazed by the downpour. I don't think I'll ever get used a place where it rains everyday for 6 months straight!

Well, we had nowhere else to be, so we might as well stay in the water. Thankfully, the rains didn't last too long. In the meantime, we (I think me) were quite a curiosity. People would glance over surreptitiously as I waded by in the pools. There was a group of girls that followed us as we went from pool to pool trying to find a comfortable temperature. Neda decided to break the ice and approached them, and then there were a million questions: "Where are you from?". "Where are you going?", "How long are you traveling?"...

It's tough being a celebrity.

These girls were very curious about us

They were selling bottles of this yellow sulfury goop at poolside. They advertised that it was good for all sorts of skin ailments like acne. It smelled pretty vile, so we just took pictures.

This pool was a more comfortable temperature

We waited for the rains to clear. Remarkably, the sun came out as well too, which signaled a good time for us to leave. Back on the bikes! We've done this so many times on motorcycles, it felt weird throwing a leg over a bicycle.

Dual sporting away from the hot springs

I can imagine traveling on a bicycle, watching the scenery move past you at such a languorous pace. Your heart pumping, muscles working hard, the only fuel you burn is whatever you last ate, and time dilates in such a way that the horizon only looks attainable at the end of the day.

I don't like it.

Taking one of many breathers on the "mostly downhill" ride back

Stopping to admire the waterfall? No. Out of breath. Have to stop.

As expected, the downhill sections were exhilarating! Like a chicken, I had to apply the brakes often to stop from achieving terminal velocity - emphasis on Terminal... However, the uphill sections were grueling. I must not be doing this bicycling thing right, because even in the highest gear - the one where despite pedaling like a maniac, you can still only measure your uphill progress in centimeters per hour - I found it was much easier just getting off the bike and walking it uphill.

Neda waits for me at the top of each hill and then we speed downhill together again

Along the way, we pass a small village and some women eating some yummy looking popsicles. We asked where they got them and they pointed further on down the road. When we got to where they indicated, we looked around for some kind of convenience store but didn't find anything. And then this little old lady popped out of a nearby house:

5 cents each!

Two-wheeling around Popayan!

 

[AZ ADVenturist]

You two are great! An inspiration for all wannbe Adventurers. Hope you plan to do a book. Stay safe, have fun & keep writing.

 

[Aubrey]

Glad its all fun. Glad nobody got banned on the bicycles again ...did note the helmets. Very fashionable

Keep going and keep safe!!

Cheers from Africa

Aubrey