Cycling through Colombia - 2022-04-05
(This is my draft post for glimpseatmyday.)
This glimpse is coming a little late, but when you read it i'll explain why.
You might remember me from glimpses of my day in Shenzhen (China) and Kamloops (Canada). Currently i am on a "hooray i turned 40 during the pandemic so 2 years later i am still unofficially 40 and having a midlife crisis" sabbatical. I am in Colombia, touring around on a cheap bicycle.
On the morning of April 5, i was in a small town on the Río Magdalena called Puerto Berrío. I've been having some odd sleeps over the past few weeks, where i'll wake up around midnight, then 2am, then 5am and so on. Sometimes i read some news or social media then go back to sleep, other times i just roll over and count sheep. I had several screenshots of different wake up times, but this is the real start of the day, around 6:30am, when i turned on the light.
After turning on the light, i went back to bed and took a selfie.
I also took a photo from the bed so you can see my small hotel room, and my bike squeezed up in there with me. Note all the clothes hanging from various pegs and nails - it's tough to dry the sweat out at the end of the day, and often i end up putting damp clothes back on the next day.
As i do most every morning, i prepared breakfast in bed and watched a show. My breakfasts on the tour are quick oats with cold water (porridge/oatmeal) and instant coffee with sugar and cold water. Since i have been in Colombia, i almost always have fresh tropical fruit to cut up and put in my porridge. Normally that's a great idea. This morning's mango turned out to be especially ripe, however, and by the time i was done with breakfast the bed looked like a juice bomb had gone off in the room. I apologized profusely to the hotel staff for the disaster.
Shortly after 9am, i started heading out of town. Here is a street scene. Notice the many dudes on motorcycles (without helmets) and the guy pushing a cart of goods.
After about 30 minutes of riding sealed roads, i turned left onto a dirt road that would take me to my destination - a village called La Sierra, close to Puerto Nare.
Here is a selfie of me greatly enjoying the ride along the dirt road. It was so wonderful to finally be off the highway and not have to hear loud trucks rumble past all the time.
Look at these blissful landscapes, crops growing in the fields, foothills of the Andes in the distance.
I wish this photo was better, but the tree on the right had the most brilliant pink/purple blossoms. It was such a delightful ride.
Oh, well, i mean, there was a bit of mud on the road, but nothing major. Right? Right.
Ah, look at the horses and cows grazing in the hills, it's so peaceful.
Out in the middle of nowhere, i encountered a construction crew filling watery potholes in the road.
Nothing to worry about, just a little bit of mud. I had to stop my bike here to fish large clumps of clay out of my wheels, since (ironically) the mud had jammed up in the mud guards.
Oh. Crap.
So, i made it through one of several puddles that turned out to be much deeper than expected. My bike was a mess, but hey, no biggie, right?
Yeah. Nah. What in blazes is this? Welcome to the swampiest, boggiest, sludgiest patch of ground i have ever had the displeasure of crossing - bicycle or no. There is absolutely no way a car would be getting over this. I met a farmer and his kid in the middle of it, the kid had dirtbiked in there, and the horse you can see was dad's. Another dirtbike dude splashed past while i was trying to navigate through it. I got shocked by the electric fence. The kid laughed and said i should've brought rubber boots. And a dirtbike. It was. The worst.
Comparison shot of my shoes after the bog.
I was soaking wet, swarmed with mosquitoes and dripping gunk at this point, and my bike was totally trashed. Front brake didn't work. Chain was rubbing and clicking. I finally got back onto a sealed road, only to find myself stopped at another corner where some construction guys were filling potholes.
I cannot tell you how happy i was to see this factory chimney that indicated i was getting into town.
The first thing i did was cycle down to the docks to make sure that the town actually had a ferry that could take me across the river back to the highway. This one was a barge being pushed by a tug - i ended up taking a smaller boat the next day that only fit bikes and motorcycles.
The second thing i did was get some food - a standard Colombian lunch. They always start with soup and a cold drink.
The main in a standard Colombian lunch is rice, beans, salad, plantain (or in this case yuca) and a piece of meat (in this case pork).
After lunch i went to a motorcycle repair shop and got them to wash down my bike.
There is a gap in the photos here, where i desperately tried to find a hotel in the village. There are several hotels listed on Google Maps, but they were either not open or fully booked or weren't hotels at all. In the end i found some old lady from across the street who took me up a flight of stairs to a no-name hotel without a lobby or reception. It took her half an hour to find the keys and i'm still not entirely sure if she was staff or just someone who knew the people who owned the joint? Anyway, there was just enough water in the tank for me to shower, but not enough to wash my hands later that night. After getting settled i went out to the town square for a beer.
Returning to my hotel room from the beer, i had my dinner/evening snack. Normally that is just a piece of fruit and some fresh bread or pastries from a nearby bakery, but today i spoiled myself and added plantain chips and caramel corn as well.
This is a little picture of my evening ritual here in Colombia. The water isn't potable in most places, so i buy a 6L bag of water, cut a tiny hole in the top, then get into the shower and refill all of my water bottles, which make up around 4.7L. The extra 1.3L i either drink overnight, or use up for coffee and porridge in the morning.
Last picture isn't a very well-lit one, but i wanted to show a small view of the weird hotel room i ended up in. Watching a show, clothes hung up anywhere i can find, facemask and bags and charging cables strewn about wherever there is a spot. End of another day on the road. Lights out by 10:30pm.
I couldn't post the pictures yesterday or this morning because the hotel didn't have wi-fi, and the cell tower in La Sierra only intermittently provided signal. Today i crossed the river to Puerto Serviez and cycled to the next town of Puerto Boyacá where i found a guy to fix my bike and a hotel with (very slow) wi-fi. Typing this up while waiting for the pictures to upload. The journey continues...
This glimpse is coming a little late, but when you read it i'll explain why.
You might remember me from glimpses of my day in Shenzhen (China) and Kamloops (Canada). Currently i am on a "hooray i turned 40 during the pandemic so 2 years later i am still unofficially 40 and having a midlife crisis" sabbatical. I am in Colombia, touring around on a cheap bicycle.
On the morning of April 5, i was in a small town on the Río Magdalena called Puerto Berrío. I've been having some odd sleeps over the past few weeks, where i'll wake up around midnight, then 2am, then 5am and so on. Sometimes i read some news or social media then go back to sleep, other times i just roll over and count sheep. I had several screenshots of different wake up times, but this is the real start of the day, around 6:30am, when i turned on the light.
After turning on the light, i went back to bed and took a selfie.
I also took a photo from the bed so you can see my small hotel room, and my bike squeezed up in there with me. Note all the clothes hanging from various pegs and nails - it's tough to dry the sweat out at the end of the day, and often i end up putting damp clothes back on the next day.
As i do most every morning, i prepared breakfast in bed and watched a show. My breakfasts on the tour are quick oats with cold water (porridge/oatmeal) and instant coffee with sugar and cold water. Since i have been in Colombia, i almost always have fresh tropical fruit to cut up and put in my porridge. Normally that's a great idea. This morning's mango turned out to be especially ripe, however, and by the time i was done with breakfast the bed looked like a juice bomb had gone off in the room. I apologized profusely to the hotel staff for the disaster.
Shortly after 9am, i started heading out of town. Here is a street scene. Notice the many dudes on motorcycles (without helmets) and the guy pushing a cart of goods.
After about 30 minutes of riding sealed roads, i turned left onto a dirt road that would take me to my destination - a village called La Sierra, close to Puerto Nare.
Here is a selfie of me greatly enjoying the ride along the dirt road. It was so wonderful to finally be off the highway and not have to hear loud trucks rumble past all the time.
Look at these blissful landscapes, crops growing in the fields, foothills of the Andes in the distance.
I wish this photo was better, but the tree on the right had the most brilliant pink/purple blossoms. It was such a delightful ride.
Oh, well, i mean, there was a bit of mud on the road, but nothing major. Right? Right.
Ah, look at the horses and cows grazing in the hills, it's so peaceful.
Out in the middle of nowhere, i encountered a construction crew filling watery potholes in the road.
Nothing to worry about, just a little bit of mud. I had to stop my bike here to fish large clumps of clay out of my wheels, since (ironically) the mud had jammed up in the mud guards.
Oh. Crap.
So, i made it through one of several puddles that turned out to be much deeper than expected. My bike was a mess, but hey, no biggie, right?
Yeah. Nah. What in blazes is this? Welcome to the swampiest, boggiest, sludgiest patch of ground i have ever had the displeasure of crossing - bicycle or no. There is absolutely no way a car would be getting over this. I met a farmer and his kid in the middle of it, the kid had dirtbiked in there, and the horse you can see was dad's. Another dirtbike dude splashed past while i was trying to navigate through it. I got shocked by the electric fence. The kid laughed and said i should've brought rubber boots. And a dirtbike. It was. The worst.
Comparison shot of my shoes after the bog.
I was soaking wet, swarmed with mosquitoes and dripping gunk at this point, and my bike was totally trashed. Front brake didn't work. Chain was rubbing and clicking. I finally got back onto a sealed road, only to find myself stopped at another corner where some construction guys were filling potholes.
I cannot tell you how happy i was to see this factory chimney that indicated i was getting into town.
The first thing i did was cycle down to the docks to make sure that the town actually had a ferry that could take me across the river back to the highway. This one was a barge being pushed by a tug - i ended up taking a smaller boat the next day that only fit bikes and motorcycles.
The second thing i did was get some food - a standard Colombian lunch. They always start with soup and a cold drink.
The main in a standard Colombian lunch is rice, beans, salad, plantain (or in this case yuca) and a piece of meat (in this case pork).
After lunch i went to a motorcycle repair shop and got them to wash down my bike.
There is a gap in the photos here, where i desperately tried to find a hotel in the village. There are several hotels listed on Google Maps, but they were either not open or fully booked or weren't hotels at all. In the end i found some old lady from across the street who took me up a flight of stairs to a no-name hotel without a lobby or reception. It took her half an hour to find the keys and i'm still not entirely sure if she was staff or just someone who knew the people who owned the joint? Anyway, there was just enough water in the tank for me to shower, but not enough to wash my hands later that night. After getting settled i went out to the town square for a beer.
Returning to my hotel room from the beer, i had my dinner/evening snack. Normally that is just a piece of fruit and some fresh bread or pastries from a nearby bakery, but today i spoiled myself and added plantain chips and caramel corn as well.
This is a little picture of my evening ritual here in Colombia. The water isn't potable in most places, so i buy a 6L bag of water, cut a tiny hole in the top, then get into the shower and refill all of my water bottles, which make up around 4.7L. The extra 1.3L i either drink overnight, or use up for coffee and porridge in the morning.
Last picture isn't a very well-lit one, but i wanted to show a small view of the weird hotel room i ended up in. Watching a show, clothes hung up anywhere i can find, facemask and bags and charging cables strewn about wherever there is a spot. End of another day on the road. Lights out by 10:30pm.
I couldn't post the pictures yesterday or this morning because the hotel didn't have wi-fi, and the cell tower in La Sierra only intermittently provided signal. Today i crossed the river to Puerto Serviez and cycled to the next town of Puerto Boyacá where i found a guy to fix my bike and a hotel with (very slow) wi-fi. Typing this up while waiting for the pictures to upload. The journey continues...