We had two rest days in Medellin (in the middle of Columbia) which is a large and very modern city. The hostel (Casa Kiwi) that we stayed at was a very nice place (although a bit crowded) and was in a quiet neighbourhood, but the city seemed rather soul-less to me. There was plenty of clubbing for the younger crowd, but there was no atmosphere and it felt just like any modern Western city.
When we went to load our bikes up to depart, we discovered that the garage door had been sprayed bright orange the day before and that the bikes inside had only partially been protected with drop sheets. There was quite a bit of overspray and the bikes had a light coating of orange all over them. This was very annoying to say the least. It may or may not come off with time!
So we headed out of the city and immediately got lost trying to get on the big freeway headed south. It took us about an hour to work our way out since even when you get on the freeway, it will spit you off without warning or recourse if you happen to be in the wrong lane at the wrong time. After we were out of the city and on the right road, it only took about another half hour before we were headed completely off route again (according to the GPS). We had seen no turn-offs and don't know how it happened but there was little to be done about it.
I also had a very close call with one of the local dogs! They are not always that "road-wise" and this one was very distracted by something. It moved right into my path and seemed to ignore my blaring horn completely. I slammed on the brakes and ended up giving the poor animal a firm but glancing blow on the backside with my front wheel - got my pulse up a bit though :)
We continued riding on more minor roads in the hills South of Medellin and I have to say that the countryside was absolutely beautiful, so I'm not actually complaining about getting lost. We rode through regions of forest and farm land. There were rolling hills covered with long green grass and cattle grazing on the hillsides. There were lots of big eucalyptus trees too, so it really felt like riding through dairy country in southern Australia. We also rode through lots of coffee plantation areas and the sheer amount of it explains why Colombia is a very large exporter of this the worlds most traded commodity (I read that somewhere).
Eventually (after a few back tracks and redirects) we came out at a river crossing and a junction with a larger road. This the locals assured us would get us to where we wanted to go, and another bike rider (on a very nice KTM sport bike) we met said we should stick to the route along the river. This we did and it was well and truly worth it with very nice riding.
With all the wrong turns and small windy road riding we took, we didn´t get very far and we stopped in the smaller city of Armenia overnight. The city is small and bustling and not at all historic (All the old buildings get regularly destroyed by earthquakes). That said, the people there were very nice and , more interestingly, fascinated by us and our large touring bikes. We had already found that there were a very large number of motorcycles in Colombia but they are mostly small (125cc or less).
In Medelline I found them very frustrating when I was struggling in traffic since all the bike riders tend to cluster around the big bikes so they can get a good look and ask some questions when we stop at lights. This is flattering and they are all very nice people, but they are invariably right in the way when I need to have space to make a sudden avoidance manouver or impromptu change of course (like I need that exit ramp that I have just about passed!).
In Armenia we parked in the dense city heart to find a cheap hotel and it took about two minutes for us to be surrounded by about a hundred people on the footpaths. They were very curious and the odd one or two who spoke some English got to be stars for the crowd as we were debriefed with all the usual questions. There was even one mum making her little girl (must have been about 8yo) try out her English from school on us - she did very well and the crowd was very pleased :)
So, we survived our day of wanderings and found a hotel for the night. Parking was not possible in the hotel though but that was no problem since we had about three or four people (including a very friendly police officer) all happy to walk us to a local parkade where we deposited the bikes for the night - albeit at a slightly inflated price as it turned out ;).
When we went to load our bikes up to depart, we discovered that the garage door had been sprayed bright orange the day before and that the bikes inside had only partially been protected with drop sheets. There was quite a bit of overspray and the bikes had a light coating of orange all over them. This was very annoying to say the least. It may or may not come off with time!
So we headed out of the city and immediately got lost trying to get on the big freeway headed south. It took us about an hour to work our way out since even when you get on the freeway, it will spit you off without warning or recourse if you happen to be in the wrong lane at the wrong time. After we were out of the city and on the right road, it only took about another half hour before we were headed completely off route again (according to the GPS). We had seen no turn-offs and don't know how it happened but there was little to be done about it.
I also had a very close call with one of the local dogs! They are not always that "road-wise" and this one was very distracted by something. It moved right into my path and seemed to ignore my blaring horn completely. I slammed on the brakes and ended up giving the poor animal a firm but glancing blow on the backside with my front wheel - got my pulse up a bit though :)
We continued riding on more minor roads in the hills South of Medellin and I have to say that the countryside was absolutely beautiful, so I'm not actually complaining about getting lost. We rode through regions of forest and farm land. There were rolling hills covered with long green grass and cattle grazing on the hillsides. There were lots of big eucalyptus trees too, so it really felt like riding through dairy country in southern Australia. We also rode through lots of coffee plantation areas and the sheer amount of it explains why Colombia is a very large exporter of this the worlds most traded commodity (I read that somewhere).
Eventually (after a few back tracks and redirects) we came out at a river crossing and a junction with a larger road. This the locals assured us would get us to where we wanted to go, and another bike rider (on a very nice KTM sport bike) we met said we should stick to the route along the river. This we did and it was well and truly worth it with very nice riding.
With all the wrong turns and small windy road riding we took, we didn´t get very far and we stopped in the smaller city of Armenia overnight. The city is small and bustling and not at all historic (All the old buildings get regularly destroyed by earthquakes). That said, the people there were very nice and , more interestingly, fascinated by us and our large touring bikes. We had already found that there were a very large number of motorcycles in Colombia but they are mostly small (125cc or less).
In Medelline I found them very frustrating when I was struggling in traffic since all the bike riders tend to cluster around the big bikes so they can get a good look and ask some questions when we stop at lights. This is flattering and they are all very nice people, but they are invariably right in the way when I need to have space to make a sudden avoidance manouver or impromptu change of course (like I need that exit ramp that I have just about passed!).
In Armenia we parked in the dense city heart to find a cheap hotel and it took about two minutes for us to be surrounded by about a hundred people on the footpaths. They were very curious and the odd one or two who spoke some English got to be stars for the crowd as we were debriefed with all the usual questions. There was even one mum making her little girl (must have been about 8yo) try out her English from school on us - she did very well and the crowd was very pleased :)
So, we survived our day of wanderings and found a hotel for the night. Parking was not possible in the hotel though but that was no problem since we had about three or four people (including a very friendly police officer) all happy to walk us to a local parkade where we deposited the bikes for the night - albeit at a slightly inflated price as it turned out ;).
