I have just arrived in Bogota Colombia.
It took us three days to get here from Quito. The first day we had boarder formalities that took a little longer than hoped, so we stopped in Pasto at the same hotel as we did on the way south. This was the hotel we had the "noisy night" in but we were smarter this time and took a room on the top floor. It was also a Monday night and it was far quieter - Much more sleep was had by all :)
The second day we made good progress and made it to a town called Palmira, but we took a risk and stayed in a fancy looking Motel just out of town. The security at the place was quite surprising till we figured out what it was all for. There was a large bared gate at the entrance and communication was through a mirrored window and intercom. they let us in and we asked to see the accommodations. We walked over to one of the doors and on the way immediately noticed that every single room had private parking with big metal doors to close the vehicles in, and the only doors to the rooms were from the garage (ie behind the double steel doors). This all seemed rather "over secure". Not to worry, we went in and had a look at the room which was large and very clean and tidy and even had a gym bench in there. It was then that I noticed the instructions for the gym bench on the wall ... It indicated about eight different "arrangements" for two people to "use" the bench!
Smiles were stifled and a request was made for a simpler and cheaper room which was then provided.
Then the next little surprise was that the staff wanted to lock us in for the night! It turned out that the garage doors could only be opened and closed from the outside! It also turned out that the only way to get in or out or any sort of service was by using the phone and that if you ordered from the menu in the room, the requested items were delivered via a little metal box inserted in one wall. There was a door on the inside of the box and a door on the outside of the box...
And a closer look at the menu indicated that there was a section titled "extras" with some very exotic items available!!!
So, it was quite clear what this place was mostly used for... People could drive up in a car with tinted windows and get a room and any needed supplies via phone service and then depart when they were finished without anybody ever having seen their faces. Likewise, other people in the motel would never get to see them or even see their car or number plates. So it was not so much secure as "Private". Regardless of the uses other people put the place to, the room was very clean, very large, and very quiet and so I think it was good value for money :)
Another good nights sleep was had by all.
Day three was spent heading East to Bogota. The road goes through two very large mountain ranges (at right angles) and the whole day was spent either climbing or descending on very twisty mountain roads. These are not hills but real mountains. The scale is like Switzerland and the GPS showed that we had over 3000m of height difference between our high and low points. It was baking hot down in the valley and freezing cold at the high points of both mountain ranges.
The traffic was more or less as expected and we were either fighting our way up past strings of very large trucks crawling up the switchbacks or we were coasting down the same sorts of roads just waiting for the face to face confrontation as the big trucks decide to pass each other on the way up in the other direction and take absolutely all of the road up when they do. We had several exciting encounters but we are both experienced riders and it was really just another day on the roads down here.
Then we arrived in the outskirts of Bogata and I have to say that the traffic here is probably the most chaotic that I have ridden in on this trip. They really have no idea about driving in lanes, and the rules for merging and changing position on the road are different but quite simple = If you can see a gap in front of you and you can get to it then do! Don't worry about what is going on beside or behind you and if you do it reasonably slowly then you can assume other drivers will avoid you. It seems to work OK.
The city its self is the most crowded that I have been in so far (both pedestrians and vehicles) and the roads are confusing too. So we ended up following a taxi to a hostel that had been recommended to us. This also worked fine.
Safe in Bogata... Tomorrow figuring out about flights to Guatemala and Panama for people and bikes.
It took us three days to get here from Quito. The first day we had boarder formalities that took a little longer than hoped, so we stopped in Pasto at the same hotel as we did on the way south. This was the hotel we had the "noisy night" in but we were smarter this time and took a room on the top floor. It was also a Monday night and it was far quieter - Much more sleep was had by all :)
The second day we made good progress and made it to a town called Palmira, but we took a risk and stayed in a fancy looking Motel just out of town. The security at the place was quite surprising till we figured out what it was all for. There was a large bared gate at the entrance and communication was through a mirrored window and intercom. they let us in and we asked to see the accommodations. We walked over to one of the doors and on the way immediately noticed that every single room had private parking with big metal doors to close the vehicles in, and the only doors to the rooms were from the garage (ie behind the double steel doors). This all seemed rather "over secure". Not to worry, we went in and had a look at the room which was large and very clean and tidy and even had a gym bench in there. It was then that I noticed the instructions for the gym bench on the wall ... It indicated about eight different "arrangements" for two people to "use" the bench!
Smiles were stifled and a request was made for a simpler and cheaper room which was then provided.
Then the next little surprise was that the staff wanted to lock us in for the night! It turned out that the garage doors could only be opened and closed from the outside! It also turned out that the only way to get in or out or any sort of service was by using the phone and that if you ordered from the menu in the room, the requested items were delivered via a little metal box inserted in one wall. There was a door on the inside of the box and a door on the outside of the box...
And a closer look at the menu indicated that there was a section titled "extras" with some very exotic items available!!!
So, it was quite clear what this place was mostly used for... People could drive up in a car with tinted windows and get a room and any needed supplies via phone service and then depart when they were finished without anybody ever having seen their faces. Likewise, other people in the motel would never get to see them or even see their car or number plates. So it was not so much secure as "Private". Regardless of the uses other people put the place to, the room was very clean, very large, and very quiet and so I think it was good value for money :)
Another good nights sleep was had by all.
Day three was spent heading East to Bogota. The road goes through two very large mountain ranges (at right angles) and the whole day was spent either climbing or descending on very twisty mountain roads. These are not hills but real mountains. The scale is like Switzerland and the GPS showed that we had over 3000m of height difference between our high and low points. It was baking hot down in the valley and freezing cold at the high points of both mountain ranges.
The traffic was more or less as expected and we were either fighting our way up past strings of very large trucks crawling up the switchbacks or we were coasting down the same sorts of roads just waiting for the face to face confrontation as the big trucks decide to pass each other on the way up in the other direction and take absolutely all of the road up when they do. We had several exciting encounters but we are both experienced riders and it was really just another day on the roads down here.
Then we arrived in the outskirts of Bogata and I have to say that the traffic here is probably the most chaotic that I have ridden in on this trip. They really have no idea about driving in lanes, and the rules for merging and changing position on the road are different but quite simple = If you can see a gap in front of you and you can get to it then do! Don't worry about what is going on beside or behind you and if you do it reasonably slowly then you can assume other drivers will avoid you. It seems to work OK.
The city its self is the most crowded that I have been in so far (both pedestrians and vehicles) and the roads are confusing too. So we ended up following a taxi to a hostel that had been recommended to us. This also worked fine.
Safe in Bogata... Tomorrow figuring out about flights to Guatemala and Panama for people and bikes.
