Monday
Well the first thing that could go
wrong did go wrong. When we docked this morning Fritz informed us our passports
would not be stamped until tonight and our bikes are to remain on the boat
until tomorrow morning. This means any chance of an early start for Medellen
tomorrow has been nixed. We’ll probably spend all morning getting the bikes
imported into Columbia and not get on the road until the afternoon at the
earliest!
We found a apartment, in the old walled city for the night. $24 for a 2 bedroom with kitchen and living area plus tv. It also has a balcony overlooking the narrow street we are on. We get settled in then go out to find a ATM. The narrow streets here are busy with food and merchandise venders hocking their wares. Once outside the “OLD Town” the avenues widen but still are crowded with traffic and venders. We walk to the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, a huge fort built in 1630 to protect the city from pirates. This has got to be the most impressive old fort I’ve ever seen. Unfortunatly they wanted $8 to go in so we opted to view it looking outside in. While walking around it we saw some very poor areas of town and I was wondering that maybe we best hold our wallets close. Watching some little kids play soccer Max offered up what was left of his coconut he was eating and man did they go for it! I thought he might have started a fight but as it goes the biggest, strongest kid of the bunch ended up with it. We didn’t stick around to see if he shared any of it.
That evening we went to the bar Fritz set up to retrieve our passports. It was run by a fellow Austrian who married a Colombian women and set up shop here in Cartagena. We of course got there early and enjoyed a number of cocktails before Fritz and our passports arrived. Then it was good bye to our new friends and back to our digs.
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| Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas |
We found a apartment, in the old walled city for the night. $24 for a 2 bedroom with kitchen and living area plus tv. It also has a balcony overlooking the narrow street we are on. We get settled in then go out to find a ATM. The narrow streets here are busy with food and merchandise venders hocking their wares. Once outside the “OLD Town” the avenues widen but still are crowded with traffic and venders. We walk to the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, a huge fort built in 1630 to protect the city from pirates. This has got to be the most impressive old fort I’ve ever seen. Unfortunatly they wanted $8 to go in so we opted to view it looking outside in. While walking around it we saw some very poor areas of town and I was wondering that maybe we best hold our wallets close. Watching some little kids play soccer Max offered up what was left of his coconut he was eating and man did they go for it! I thought he might have started a fight but as it goes the biggest, strongest kid of the bunch ended up with it. We didn’t stick around to see if he shared any of it.
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| The Fritz Gang |
That evening we went to the bar Fritz set up to retrieve our passports. It was run by a fellow Austrian who married a Colombian women and set up shop here in Cartagena. We of course got there early and enjoyed a number of cocktails before Fritz and our passports arrived. Then it was good bye to our new friends and back to our digs.
Tuesday Dec. 13
Up and to the docks by 7:30 to
meet up with Fritz The Cat to unload the bikes. We all got back on board and
headed to the newer part of the city to off load. Cartagena is a contrast in
architecture. The newer part is very contemporary with attractive high-rise
apartments built on the water while the older parts have building dating back
to the 1500’s. We unload the bikes and say our farewells to Fritzs and Toulay.
We all then head across town to the customs office to import our bikes. Alex
has gone through the routine before and speaks Spanish fluently. He generously
offers to act as our handler.
The Colombian Customs office is a large official looking building located at a container dock and compared to the previous borders we have crossed looks promising to be a painless procedure. We all head over to the local copy office and make copies of the usual documents, hand Alex our titles and passports and copies and wait. Alex is out in record time! The first words out of his mouth are “Do you want the bad news first or the bad news?” It seems that all of our passport stamps had been dated 2012 instead of 2011. We had to go back to immigration and get them restamped! Not knowing where the immigration office is Alex and Max grab our passports and get a cab while we wait in the sweltering heat. Fortunately it is a short taxi ride and they get there well before noon. Still they are told they would have to wait until 2:00! After some heated discussion the officer who made the mistake the day before was called back to work and stamped the passports with the correct dates. I shouldn’t be surprised at the incompetence of these government employees but I really thought it would change once we were in South America. With the properly stamped passports in hand Alex marched back into the customs office only to be told the official had gone to lunch and wouldn’t be back till 2:00! I’ll spare you the rest of the details but we finally had our bikes officially imported into Colombia at 5:30. Now all we had to do is get to the insurance office before they close (Colombia requires mandatory insurance. If you are stopped and found to not have the proper papers they can confiscate the vehicle). We were to late. We rode back to the Old Town, found a hostel with secure parking and settled in for another night in Cartagena.
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| Importing the bikes in Cartagena |
The Colombian Customs office is a large official looking building located at a container dock and compared to the previous borders we have crossed looks promising to be a painless procedure. We all head over to the local copy office and make copies of the usual documents, hand Alex our titles and passports and copies and wait. Alex is out in record time! The first words out of his mouth are “Do you want the bad news first or the bad news?” It seems that all of our passport stamps had been dated 2012 instead of 2011. We had to go back to immigration and get them restamped! Not knowing where the immigration office is Alex and Max grab our passports and get a cab while we wait in the sweltering heat. Fortunately it is a short taxi ride and they get there well before noon. Still they are told they would have to wait until 2:00! After some heated discussion the officer who made the mistake the day before was called back to work and stamped the passports with the correct dates. I shouldn’t be surprised at the incompetence of these government employees but I really thought it would change once we were in South America. With the properly stamped passports in hand Alex marched back into the customs office only to be told the official had gone to lunch and wouldn’t be back till 2:00! I’ll spare you the rest of the details but we finally had our bikes officially imported into Colombia at 5:30. Now all we had to do is get to the insurance office before they close (Colombia requires mandatory insurance. If you are stopped and found to not have the proper papers they can confiscate the vehicle). We were to late. We rode back to the Old Town, found a hostel with secure parking and settled in for another night in Cartagena.
Wednesday
Can anyone remember how our days start? Correct! I have to
tow start Max’s bike! But this time I have to do it in very narrow streets with
cars, carts and oblivious people all about. It takes two tries but we get it
going. After many wrong turns and close calls we find the insurance office
again and buy insurance. This was relatively painless but put us in the middle
of the city at rush hour. It’s always rush hour in these cities. Dufas does a
decent job getting us out of the city.
This place is as bad as Mexico City with its traffic, busses and people. We end up in a market are totally congested with buses and the traffic is stopped. I begin worrying about Max’s bike over heating and stalling. I don’t know what I’ll do if it quits in this mess. Finally we make it out of the market area and on to a more open highway. We are moving along pretty well when I look into my mirror and Max is missing! John and I pull over and I exclaimed “where in the %$$# is Max! “I don’t know, he disappeared behind a bus a ways back,” John says. Shit! I wait a few minutes and turn around to look for him. I find him pushing his bike uphill on the highway with a couple of Colombians helping him. By the time I turn back around three people on scooters have stopped to give him a hand (I don’t think you would ever see that in the states). The road is not busy and I successfully tow start him and we are back on the way. It took 1.5 hours to put Cartagena behind us but now we are riding in some really beautiful country. It’s been raining everyday since Arenal in Costa Rica and Colombia is no different. The river we are following has topped its banks in many places and we see buildings and roads under water. The rain in this region is way above normal and is causing mudslides and flooding closing roads all over the country. We are definitely in the jungle now. The trees and vegetation grows right up to the road and we are slowly beginning to climb in elevation. We stopped for lunch at an open roadside restaurant. It’s deferent here in Colombia, the restaurants are big open air places compared to Central America with its small family run shacks that line the highways. While eating our friends Gabriel and Cynthia (from the boat) drive by. We thought it weird they didn’t stop but found out later they figured we’d catch them. We didn’t see them again until the KTM shop in Medellin.
We got to Planeto Rica (the halfway point to Medellin) around 5 and found a hotel. It’s another “by the hour” hotel but is clean and cheap, even if the roof leaks. We’re all out of cash so we walk down to the city center in search for a cash machine. The Centro area is comprised of narrow streets covered with shade cloth stretched across the street from the building roofs. I’ve never seen this and with the rain hammering down some of the sheets were coming down, covering the storefronts on the opposite side of the street. We made it to the town square, found the cash machine, ate some dinner and retired back to our love nest.
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| Gas stop on the road to Medellin |
This place is as bad as Mexico City with its traffic, busses and people. We end up in a market are totally congested with buses and the traffic is stopped. I begin worrying about Max’s bike over heating and stalling. I don’t know what I’ll do if it quits in this mess. Finally we make it out of the market area and on to a more open highway. We are moving along pretty well when I look into my mirror and Max is missing! John and I pull over and I exclaimed “where in the %$$# is Max! “I don’t know, he disappeared behind a bus a ways back,” John says. Shit! I wait a few minutes and turn around to look for him. I find him pushing his bike uphill on the highway with a couple of Colombians helping him. By the time I turn back around three people on scooters have stopped to give him a hand (I don’t think you would ever see that in the states). The road is not busy and I successfully tow start him and we are back on the way. It took 1.5 hours to put Cartagena behind us but now we are riding in some really beautiful country. It’s been raining everyday since Arenal in Costa Rica and Colombia is no different. The river we are following has topped its banks in many places and we see buildings and roads under water. The rain in this region is way above normal and is causing mudslides and flooding closing roads all over the country. We are definitely in the jungle now. The trees and vegetation grows right up to the road and we are slowly beginning to climb in elevation. We stopped for lunch at an open roadside restaurant. It’s deferent here in Colombia, the restaurants are big open air places compared to Central America with its small family run shacks that line the highways. While eating our friends Gabriel and Cynthia (from the boat) drive by. We thought it weird they didn’t stop but found out later they figured we’d catch them. We didn’t see them again until the KTM shop in Medellin.
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| Fruit Cart in Planeto Rica |
We got to Planeto Rica (the halfway point to Medellin) around 5 and found a hotel. It’s another “by the hour” hotel but is clean and cheap, even if the roof leaks. We’re all out of cash so we walk down to the city center in search for a cash machine. The Centro area is comprised of narrow streets covered with shade cloth stretched across the street from the building roofs. I’ve never seen this and with the rain hammering down some of the sheets were coming down, covering the storefronts on the opposite side of the street. We made it to the town square, found the cash machine, ate some dinner and retired back to our love nest.
Thursday
We are actually on the road by 6:30. We only have to make
200 miles today but we are getting wise to this time/distance thing down here.
Almost immediately the road begins to climb, twisting it’s way up into the
Andes. This is the only road that connects Medellin with the East coast port
city of Cartagena. This equates to lots of trucks! These drivers are nuts! I
mean suicidal! Actually the trucks aren’t as bad as the buses that blindly pass
on curves betting on the unlikely fact there won’t be somebody coming the other
way. The grades are so steep that most the trucks are laboring up in 1st
gear, belching black exhaust and barely able to swing around some of the
switchback turns. We spend our time trying to safely past these vehicles,
sometimes 4 at a time. The going is slow and we don’t reach Medellin until
4:30. Dufas does a stellar job of taking us through the afternoon traffic and
finding the Moto Shop where we will drop off our bikes while John and Max has
theirs worked on. I was ecstatic when we pulled into the shop. Hopefully we
won’t have to ever pull start Max’s POS KTM again on this trip! Wishful
thinking you say? A guy has to stay positive or else the fun stops. We also ran
into some other KTM riders there. The four South African 950 riders we met in
Cartagena were there and so were Gabriel and Cynthia from the boat. Three of
the SA guy’s bikes needed work and Gabriel’s 950 quit running. Seems as though
Max’s KTM has found some friends.
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| We made it !!!!!!!!! |
After exchanging condolences we caught a cab to what will be
our new home for 6 days.
The Palm Tree Hostel is located on the other side of
Medellin, about a 30-minute cab ride. The cab costs $5 so who’s complaining.
Our friend Thomas from Skagway recommended this place and was there to meet us.
The recommendation is much appreciated, as this place is great. Friendly staff
and relatively quiet (other than the live band that showed up this night and
played until 2 in the morning!). Thomas introduces us to the Colombian Nation
drink, Aguardiente. Traditionally
used for toasting we continued the tradition well into the night!
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| Max and Thomas showing off a carton of Aguardiente |
Friday
We begin the search for the KTM parts that were supposed to
have been shipped to the hostel from Texas. Turns out UPS had delivered them
but the Hostel refused delivery. According to UPS they have been sent back to
Bogotá. After many phone calls to UPS in the states and Colombia it turns out
there is nothing anyone can do until Monday. So we change directions and plan
our flight itinerary for Cuzco.
Max and I will fly from Medellin on the evening of Wed. the 21st and
meet up with Charlotte in Lima the morning of the 22nd. Mr Briner is staying in Medellin until
the 26th and will meet up with Knicki in Lima and fly on to Cuzco on the 27th.
A Metro ride to the Motto Shop to drop off some keys, check in with the other
KTM victims, a little sightseeing and back to the Hostel for some more toasting
to Colombia!
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| South Africans KTM 950 we saw being loaded up in Puerto Bello Seems the KTM dealer here in Medellin is doing a good repair business |
Saturday
Nothing much but some sightseeing and experiencing the
Medellin nightlife. There is a guy that hangs out at the Hostel named Philippi
who is the unofficial Social Director. He also is the volunteer bartender and
unofficial ambassador for Colombia. Maybe three nights a week he organizes a
night out in El Poblado, an upscale neighborhood with 100’s of bars and
nightclubs. Tonight is one of those nights. We gather at the Hostel bar for
beers and shots of Aguardiente and around 11 Philippi begins to herd us cats
into cabs for the drive up to El Poblado. The scene there is unreal! Thousands
of young people wandering the streets in and out of clubs, the women dressed to
the 9’s. My god Colombia does have the most beautiful women although a great
many of them have had augmentation surgery I’ve been told. Around 2:30AM Thomas
and I get a cab back to the hostel. Not sure when Max made it back but a good
time was had by all. Thanks phillipi!
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| Diana, a friend of Thomas' , who helped Max with some Gluten tests |
Sunday
A bit of a blur. Watched a bit of Soccer. Went over to the
Excedo Colombia, a Wal-Mart like store that sits next to the Hostel. We spot a
UPS store nearby so I thought they might be able to help with the missing
package. With the help of my
trusty translator (actually he handled the whole thing) she looked it up on her
computer and informed us the package was here in Medellin not Bogotá! This was
huge because we didn’t think we would receive it before Wed. if it were in
Bogotá. Wait a minute….
On another screen it says it is in Bogotá. Anyway the bottom
line was she couldn’t help but did suggest we go to the UPS depot in the
morning and maybe they could shed some light on this.
Monday
Thomas, Max and I catch a cab down to the UPS depot to see
if we can find out where the package is and the best way to get it to us. First
a little history…… As you all know Max’s bike hasn’t been able to start on it’s
own since Costa Rica. We ordered parts from Texas so we could be sure they
would be in Medellin when we got there. Figuring we can leave the bike at the
dealer here in Medellin when we went down to Cusco, it would give us plenty of
time to get the work on the bike done. But like everything else on this trip it
would not be so simple. The shop will be closed from Dec. 24th to
Jan. 15 and we are planning to be back on the road by Jan. 6th. So
if we can’t get the bike fixed by the 24th our departure date from
Medellin will be delayed by a week! So getting these parts is critical.
Thomas, my translator (I mean handler) begins the process
all over again and works his magic on the cute lady behind the counter. She
starts searching the various screens then makes a phone call. Thomas over hears
her say something like “should I tell them to wait”. Could it be? Could it be
possible we could get the package today? She tells us to wait and my hopes
begin to grow. Not too much though, I’ve become very skeptical since beginning
this trip. So we take our seats and wait to see what will happen. Five minutes
go by and I see a guy come in from a back room carrying a package! Could it be?
He walks over to the girl and she looks up at us with a smile! Our package has
arrived!
Like a medical facility transporting a human heart we run out to the street, hail a cab and get the box up to the Moto Shop. They have already begun to work on the bike and have found another problem, which may explain other symptoms the bike has been having. The auto decompression mechanism on the camshaft has failed. This is a part I replaced before leaving Skagway and has, in the back of my mine, suspected to not be working correctly from the beginning. Fred, the owner of the shop, assures me he can get the new cam by Wed. and have the bike done before they close for the holidays so we leave feeling pretty good about things.
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| Our UPS Package Arrives!!!! |
Like a medical facility transporting a human heart we run out to the street, hail a cab and get the box up to the Moto Shop. They have already begun to work on the bike and have found another problem, which may explain other symptoms the bike has been having. The auto decompression mechanism on the camshaft has failed. This is a part I replaced before leaving Skagway and has, in the back of my mine, suspected to not be working correctly from the beginning. Fred, the owner of the shop, assures me he can get the new cam by Wed. and have the bike done before they close for the holidays so we leave feeling pretty good about things.
Tuesday
Medellin has a great Metro system that includes two trams
that take you up the sides of the valley to where much of the poorer population
lives. Before the trams it could take up to 2 hours to get down to the valley
where most of the jobs are.
Now it is a 15-minute tram ride. This will be a field trip today. What an incredible ride through the slums of Medellin. It’s kind of weird riding above these neighborhoods looking down on the porches and yards of these underprivileged people. It feels a bit invasive. The overall view is spectacular. At the top you can see most of Medellin from the tops of the surrounding mountains to the valley floor. Medellin really is a beautiful city. Max and I pack for tomorrows flight to Lima.
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| View of Medellin from tram |
Now it is a 15-minute tram ride. This will be a field trip today. What an incredible ride through the slums of Medellin. It’s kind of weird riding above these neighborhoods looking down on the porches and yards of these underprivileged people. It feels a bit invasive. The overall view is spectacular. At the top you can see most of Medellin from the tops of the surrounding mountains to the valley floor. Medellin really is a beautiful city. Max and I pack for tomorrows flight to Lima.
Wednesday
It’s off to the Moto Shop to pick up our bikes and put them
in storage for a couple of weeks. We found a place right down the street from
the hostel, which makes it very convent. When we get there John’s bike is still
in the shop with the tank off. This gives me time to wash out my moldy panniers
and give the GS a much deserved bath. Max’s bike isn’t done but Fred assures us
it will be done by Friday and he’ll personally deliver it to our storage before
we return. The one positive thing to say about the POS KTM is that we have been
exposed to some really great shops down here. They all go way beyond what
dealers in the states would go. Fred has allowed me to keep the GS there at no
charge for close to a week. Every morning they had to push the beast out on the
street and back in the shop at night. He also offered shop space to us if we
needed to work on the bikes ourselves. We took up much of their break room
storing our panniers, drybags and helmets. John and I ride back to the Hostel
to sort through my stuff on my bike and then put our steeds into storage for
the duration. Max and I head to the airport around 3:00(a 1hour taxi ride that
costs about $15) to catch our 7:30 flight to Lima. When we get there they have
changed our flight to 4:30, which then is delayed by an hour. The timing works
well and we don’t have to rush. We lay over in Bogotá and arrive in Lima around
12:30 am. Charlotte had arrived an hour before us and already is at the Hostel
and send the girl to come get us. By the time we settle in its 2:00 am. I set
the alarm for 4:00am and crash for 2 hours.
Thursday Dec. 22
Up at 4:00 and to the airport for our 6:30 flight to Cusco.
Charlotte has a 7:00 flight so it good by for now and see ya in Cusco. I was
looking forward to flying over the Andes into Cusco but the cloud cover
prevented me from seeing anything. At the airport we end up waiting 2.5 hours
for Charlotte. Her plane had been delayed and she didn’t even know it because
the moment she got on the plane she fell sound asleep and didn’t realize the
plan didn’t take off for another hour! Once we all met at the airport it was
off to our hostel. Not! Charlotte lost the paper that had the name. We borrowed
a computer from a tour company and she finally found the email from the hostel
and we headed out to find a cab. Lo and behold there was a woman with a sign
that read “Jewells”. Turns out an airport pickup is included in the price of a
room. Cusco sits at over 10000 feet and you can feel it as soon as you walk up
some stairs. Our hotel is up the hill from the main square and is situated in a
very old building. This is a very cool town, dripping with history everywhere
you turn, both Inca and Colonial. I’ll let the pictures describe in more detail
what its’ like here. After settling in our room we go out and explore the
neighborhood. I immediately find the Norton Rat Bar that sits right over the
main square. A guy from Iowa who loves Norton motorcycles started this place.
It is defiantly a “biker” bar with posters of old English motorcycles all over
the walls. Beer and dinner, some more sightseeing around the square and we hit
the sack for a well deserved sleep.
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