Day 102 - Bogota Liming

Well, there had to be some reason that so many people come to visit Bogota. I didn't get any sense of it my first 2 days here, but today was quite different.

We spent a large part of the morning trying to source some rear tires for the KLRs. We'll have to go tomorrow to actually see what's available. Our tire of choice (well, Troy's tire of choice), the Avon Gripster, is only available on a 1-week special order for a whopping $COP 375,000 (pesos) ~ $200 USD.

And that's per tire.

So clearly, that's not going to happen.

It looks like we may end up with some Pirelli's. That will have to wait for when we visit the shop.

Just before noon, a new friend that Troy made last night at the pub, May, showed up at the hostel with her friend Elkin. They're both originally from Barranquilla, but Elkin has since moved to Bogota, and May is just visiting here for the long weekend.

Tim, Troy, Elkin, May and myself spent the rest of the day wandering about Bogota. We didn't go to any of the official tourist sites, but simply walked around checking out the city.

We had a lovely lunch at a small restaurant. The soup starter was hearty and excellent, though with a touch too much coriander for my tastes. The rest of the crew had no such complaints however.

We all (except for Tim -- he's hyper-allergic and has a very restricted diet) ordered the local speciality "Bandeja Paisa". It's a full lunch plate with white rice, a fried egg, baked beans, fried plantain, ground beef, and a dumpling-like thing I couldn't handle :)  Excellent overall.

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering about snapping pictures. There's quite a strong tradition of graffiti in this city. Enjoy some of the pics.. more have been uploaded to my Flickr photostream -- just check the narrow column to the right of this text.

We found a guitar shop and Elkin tested their handiwork.

The verdict? Too 'tinny'

This is bar. Who sits up there?

Elkin testing some guitars. The man can play!

Hi!

 In the evening, Troy and I rode Elkin and May back to Elkin's place where we chilled for a bit. Troy got a chance to play on some excellent guitars.

I can't believe I didn't take a pic. The man had a perma-grim plastered on the whole time we were there :)


We were also introduced to some great music from their home city.

Then we took May to the airport to catch her flight back to Barranquilla. I have never in my life seen such grid-lock. Maybe my friends living in LA are used to it, but last night was ridiculous. It took us well over 90 minutes to do a 20 minute trip.

We did manage to get her on flight just in the nick of time though.

Word to city planners in Bogota and elsewhere -- do NOT rip up ALL of the highways AND major roads at the SAME time. It's just plain dumb!

Temp fix

Coming home from the airport, my right rear pannier broke loose. Troy was behind me, noticed and frantically signalled to me to pull over. The main support bolt that runs through the bike's existing luggage rack is broken, so I'm not sure how this thing is ever going to carry much load again. A quick application of some tie down straps got us back on the road temporarily. I'll deal with a proper fix tomorrow...

Day 96 - Almost to Panama City

Dateline: 80 kms from Panama City

The riding today was fairly easy. The traffic on the roads was light and fast. The highway passed through mostly lowland plains, where we saw acres upon acres of sugar cane and maize being cultivated.

Coming home from a river lime

The roads in Panama are in excellent condition, and so far we've been fortunate to avoid any delays at the many random police checkpoints we cross each day.

I'm happy to report a significant presence of dark-skinned people here. My Granny Rhoda was born in Panama, just after the opening of the canal. Her father, along with thousands of other Caribbean men came to build the canal from 1904 to 1914.

We're staying at a motel (Hotel Canadian) run by Canadians (they're everywhere!) just off the Pan-American highway. They took us to their favourite Thursday night lime at a restaurant/bar called La Ruina.

We were given a short history of the place which is lined with great old historical photos of the area before the damming of the river to help create the Panama Canal.

As a nice treat, I ordered off the menu and asked for the same plate the owners' son was eating quietly by himself at the bar. A nice dish of white rice, stewed chicken and stewed lentil peas. It looked, and tasted exactly as if it came off my own Mother's stove.

I must be getting real close to Trinidad.

Uhhh.. that's not right!

I had a slow speed dump of the bike while trying to bring it into the hotel compound. The guys are still laughing at the video. I'll post a link to it once it's uploaded.

Sadly, I warped the left side rack, so we'll have to unmanagle it using a vise before I can get the panniers back on.

Crossing the Gap

The southern portion of Panama borders along Colombia. However there is no regular traffic between the two countries along this border. The land is an undeveloped, essentially un-crossable area of dense rainforests and swamp called the Darien Gap.

Years of civil unrest, guerilla warfare and narco-trafficking in northern Colombia have dissuaded the Panamanians from developing any roads through the Gap. Even the great Pan-American highway, stretching from Alaska to the tip of Argentina, takes a 200 km break around the Gap.

So travelers such as myself must either fly or sail around. We had hoped to sail, but the wait for boats is long, and growing. Flying is a faster option to get to Cartegena. But the final decision won't be made until we speak directly with some agents and have firm dates and quotes in hand.

Right now, I'm keeping an eye on costs, and hope to keep them to a minimum. I'm so near the end of the journey, but there are still some significant hurdles along the way...

I need to buy a new rear tire in Panama. I'll need about $1200 to get me and Rebecca around the Gap. And I still have to cross the mountains from Colombia to Venezuela, then traverse that large country and book passage on a ship to Trinidad.

Close, yes. Finished? Not by a long shot.

Still having fun though... :)

Stay tuned :)