57. Colombia - high jinks on the road south

First of all, thank you for the generous donations that have pushed my OXFAM total above the £2000 target. I've thrown in a bit of my travel budget as pledged and set a new target of £3000. An ambitious goal maybe but then some people told me I wouldn't get as far as South America on my bike! My time in Colombia has filled me with positivity and I feel more determined than ever to keep fundraising and complete the ride through The Andes.

 On Sunday I was brimming with pride with this major milestone reached. I don´t normally keep a running tally of miles, I just do an end of month count, but I knew I was nearing the 10,000 mile mark. A quick milegae check told me that 14 miles into my Sunday ride I´d be hitting 10,000 miles. It felt great!

 Picking up from the previous blog things had not gtone well with my stay in Buga. Another debillitating bout of food poisoning left me weak and enfeebled, it was all I could do to post on social media to share my misery and hope for messages of support. Thanks for delivering on this!

Nevertheless, in a miserable days riding I rode on Cali. Unlike some minibuses I´ve driven, I found I could get quite far running on empty and 45 thoroughly unenjoyable miles later I made it to Cali, Colombia´s third largest city.

 The only bright moment of the day was arriving in the barrio of my host Ernesto and bumping into him by chance in the street. Sometimes that last step in the homestay arrangements, finding the house or host, is the hardest. He was decorating his flat in Cali ready for rental, I kipped on the floor of one of the empty rooms. I told Ernesto I was tired and needed a little siesta before we went out for dinner. 13 hours later I woke up well on the road to recovery.

 Wow, Ernesto, what an incredible guy. A great host and a wonderful human being. I spent four days in his company and enjoyed every minute. His cheerful disposition and relentlessly positive outlook on life made a real impression on me. For all the goofing about in the photos below the surface lies a very serious and principled person who is passionate about travelling and treating people in the right way.

 We spent a couple of days at his flat in Cali, taking it easy so I could recuperate from the food poisoning and visiting various restaurants and street stalls in the barrio.

 I also ventured into the city centre, about 5 miles from Ernesto´s flat.

  Street stall selling sugar cane juice. The fruit juices in Colombia are even tastier and the range of climates found across the country supports a wide variety of fruits, some you´ll never see in a UK supermarket.

  Downtown Cali.

  To be honest, in recent weeks my appetite for sightseeing has diminished slightly. The beauty of this trip for me is firstly the ride. To be out on the bike riding through villages, passing through the countryside, enjoying the downhills, attacking the climbs, that is when I find myself 'in the moment´ appreciating the trip the most. The second most important element is the contact with people, very easy in Colombia. And then sometimes, as in this picture, it´s just nice to find a quiet moment in a cafe and catch up on some reading. Sightseeing gets pushed down in the list of priorities.

 With the flat spruced up Ernesto freed up some time to visit his hometown of Jamundi. So, in the evening rush hour, I biked the 12 miles south following Ernesto on his motorbike. Don´t try this at home kids, but once we´d left the city limits and the horrendous traffic, I got a turbo boost by hanging onto the back of his motorbike. We were in Jamundi in no time at all!    

 The evening rush hour. Time for some assertive cycling.

 Ernesto´s home in Jamundi adorned with stickers and flags of all the places he´s visited. On his motorbike and as a backpacker he´s travelled across most of South America and Mexico. Lots of sharing of travel stories during my stay. 

 The central plaza in Jamundi.

 Ernesto´s partner, Beatrice. Another wonderful person! She works in the nursery I´m visiting in the picture. We talked late into the night about the challenges of education in our respective countries.

 The entrance to the nursery.

 Moving on from Jamundi I decided to take the minor roads towards Popayan, avoiding the heavier traffic of the Panamerican Highway. Fantastic scenery along the way and I had the pleasure of Ernesto´s company for the day. Emboldened by the success of the previous days assisted journey, I spent much of this day desperately hanging onto the back of Ernesto´s motorbike! It was surprisingly tiring, like being tortured on a rack. My arm was to ache for days afterwards.

 River Cauca

 Views of the reservoir from high up the valley side. Although the dragging from the motorbike was agony at times, Ernesto helped me cover 60 miles and 3000ft of climbing.

 Lunch stop - soup and main course for $1.50.

 And the farewell moment as I rode on to Popayan, pictured below, and Ernesto returned to Cali to meet prospective clients for his flat. An incredibly rich four days of sharing stories, sharing food and simply sharing each others' company. Ernesto´s next adventure is a trip to Europe, I hope to see him in Oxford. 

I stayed in Popayan for one night with Sergio, a friend of Ernesto´s. I arrived in the pouring rain but was immediately warmed up with a tasty dinner. The next day I embarked on a three day journey to the next major town, Pasto.

More help from Ernesto, he recommended a restaurant with wonderful views and free camping. Below was my home for the night, a roof over my head, water source, electricity, I was as happy as a pig in a pigsty.

 Again branching off from the Panamerican Highway I took the longer, tougher route to Pasto through the mountains. Not many cyclists make it this way so every time I stopped inquisitive people would approach me asking about my journey. To be honest, sometimes you just want to sit down and take a breather and have some time to yourself. Fat chance! But, be a good ambassador and give people the time of the day an you´re treated handsomely. This day riding through villages I was given free bread, a free lunch, free coffee, a free beer. Some guys even tried to drag me to a bar to watch the football in the evening but I was exhausted and had to take a breather, Shockingly I actually had to pay for a hotel on Sunday night, all of $4. However, coming up to three weeks in Colombia and I´ve only paid for accommodation three times, $16 in total. This is why I can afford to sponsor myself!

 Mountain views over La Union, a major coffee producing region.

 Friendly folk who invited me in for lunch and a chat.

 Early morning vista, riding above San Pedro de Cartago. The picture below shows a frequent problem on the roads in these parts, a landslip. Somehow I´ve managed to dodge the rain in recent days.

 Can you make out the road cut into the hillside above? That´s where I was headed. In theory this could have been a tough ride, I don´t know how many thousand feet of climbing but plenty. However, the scenery, the people, the hospitality have imbued my trip with such positivity that the journey flew by.

Month #8 is up, a measly 810 miles covered (I had a week off the bike while in Panama and Bogota), the grand total is 10,081 miles. I´m now in Pasto, in theory just one days ride from Ecuador. However, I´m looking to stay on a few days extra here in Colombia, mostly because I´m enjoying my time here so much but also to give more time for a pair of tyres I´ve ordered to turn up in Quito, Ecuador. 

All in all, I am living the dream!

56. Colombia - la ruta de buen café y buena gente

I've got to give Colombia an early shout for the highlight country of the trip. I am having such a wonderful time here, every day is a gift!

 Julio, my host in Honda, saying goodbye as I rode on last Wednesday. His colonial home was a 5 star Warm Showers experience.  I knew I had a tough day ahead of me but had tried not to overthink it nor over research it. If I had this is what I would have found...   

 ...a profile of supposedly one of the toughest climbs in the world! I didn't know this until the next day when I'd completed the climb and descended when a Colombian cyclist congratulated me on achieving this demanding feat.   

 Ignorance is bliss, I just took my time with the ride and tried to enjoy it. I've done plenty of 'glory rides' in this trip and invariably I end up at my destination exhausted, kind of frothing at the mouth, semi-hallucinating. I didn't want this experience today so paced myself, took hourly breaks and paused for photo stops when the scenery called for it.                     

  I was frequently passed by road bikers tearing up the hills. Come on guys it's a marathon not a sprint. Clearly they've not heard the fable of the hare and the tortoise...

 Magnificent views were afforded with breaks in the cloud. 

 It was pretty misty and a little chilly as I approached the summit.  

  I ended the day a few miles short of the top of the climb and with light fading I decided to call it a day. Although I'd not reached the summit I was glad to end the day in a lucid and coherent state and was able to negotiate a $3 room from this guy. 

It was a record breaking day for me with a cumulative ascent of 10,935ft or 3333m or just over 2 miles. 

 This is what $3 gets you, a very basic room but a heavenly refuge when you're tired. I rolled out my sleeping bag, lay back and drifted off into a deep and contented sleep.   

 The next day I made it to the top near Letras, after two hours riding. This was a new highest elevation for me, just below 4000m.                   

   Geography   teachers of a certain vintage will know all about Nevado del Ruiz which erupted in 1985. If my memory serves me correctly it led to around 30,000 deaths as lahars swept into the valleys below. 

At this point I could have chosen to sweep down the main road into Manizales, find a nice cafe and enjoy a well earned coffee and lunch.  

 So of course I took the side road back up the valley to explore the highlands around the volcano. In the process I reached a new high, this equates to just over 4000m.  

 A wonderfully natural and wild place, I saw few other people up here but did encounter hummingbirds and plovers flying overhead.  

 As I started the descent the mist and upland landscapes reminded me of the Lake District and Snowdonia before...   

   ...the dirt track led me through dense jungle with towering palms and enormous ferns. It was like a scene from Jurassic Park.                 

 The day ended in Chinchina, deep in the valley , how I enjoyed the roads that swept down to my final destination for the day! I stayed in a  bikers house with three other British bikers also on their way south to Peru. We had great conversations, mostly in Spanish out of politeness for our Colombian host Hernando. One of the lads cooked a spag bol and a convivial evening was enjoyed by all! 

  The road out of Chinchina, leading into the heart of Colombia's coffee producing region. In truth this was not the best day in the saddle, I got a soaking! It was raining heavily so I had to wear waterproofs but the humidity meant I was getting drenched from the inside too by sweating so much. Yuck! 

Passing through Pereira, a large town, heavy traffic, heavy rain, lane changes, poor visibility, was not pleasant. I got through in the end albeit with frayed nerves.

 All the rain does wonders for the coffee plantations which line the western slopes of the Cordillera Central, the mountain range which I'd climbed over.   

 My next Warm Showers stay was at another Hernando's place, this time I stayed in a cosy room in a house constructed of guadua and bamboo. After five days of pretty tough riding I was really grateful to be granted an extra night at Hernando's and a Saturday rest day.  

  Hernando is a very creative guy and his home is full of his artwork. On top of that he is a great cook and runs a restaurant next door to the house. Though he was clearly very busy during my stay he made time to chat with me and prepared delicious coffee and breakfasts.     

  On Sunday morning Hernando and his wife Eliza joined me for the first ten miles of my ride towards Sevilla. Great hosts, two of the coolest, most laid back Colombians you could hope to meet.   

 I was staggered by the number of cyclists on the road on Sunday morning. Hundreds of bikes passed me as I rode on to Sevilla.  

 Would this happen in the UK? Halfway to Sevilla I stopped in Caicedonia and looked at my map to find the town centre. A guy on a motorbike stopped and asked me, "Where are you going? What are you looking for?". "Coffee and Wifi!" I replied. "Follow me..." 

So Hector led me to a cafe, I got my caffeine and social media fix and had a great chat in the process. Of course Hector wouldn't let me pay for the coffees it was clearly very important for him to be a good ambassador for his town. Incredible hospitality is the norm in Colombia.  

 I made it to Sevilla mid-afternoon and hooked up with my next host, Mauro. Another fantastic person! He's a young guy, still working out what his future will be and he's got some great ideas.   

  Mauro's Pedalling Coffee project involves him riding from finca to finca (coffee farm) trying different coffees, roasting, branding and selling the best ones. I bought a bag of this coffee grown in Filandia. It will be sent home ready to be sampled at the end of June.

 My brakes have been getting a bit loose and the pads needed replacing. Me and Mauro had a go at fixing them but really they needed stripping and re-greasing so we took the bike to a local shop for some professional attention.    

 The brakes are now as good as new and the mechanic charged 2000 pesos for his time, about 60p! And I couldn't even pay that, before I'd got my wallet out Mauro had paid. Again, the kindness and hospitality I'm receiving is almost overwhelming. 

 Riding on this morning. What a beautiful sight, washed socks drying on the bike! I've now dropped down on to the plains in the background of this picture. A few days riding on the flat is most welcome.   

 Low flat ground and warmer climes means sugar cane cultivation not coffee.

 Tonight I'm resting up in Buga, a small town with some impressive colonial architecture. I've decided to stay in a hostel tonight because, quite frankly, I'm exhausted by all this socialising and hospitality! It's lovely to receive and great for my Spanish but some time to do this, the blog and just to read is overdue. However, tomorrow night I'll be hosted again, in Cali. 

Fundraising update, I'm just £61 short of my £2000 target and two weeks short of my 40th birthday (not a target). Remember my pledge, if you help me to hit the target by my birthday I'll donate £200 of my travel budget to OXFAM. With the famine and starvation crises in Africa and Asia our help couldn't be more timely.