As I left Medellin and started the three day journey to the border of Ecuador, I was thinking back on my experiences in Colombia. The country had just about everything: Beautiful beaches, comfortable cities, mouthwatering empanadas, and the friendliest people I've met on the trip. The only thing lacking was a memorable ride. Sure there were some picturesque hills around Medellin and some switchbacks south of Bucaramanga, but nothing that was jaw-dropping. The majority of the roads were either straight and boring, or curvy but with not much to look at.
On my last day in the country, I road from Popayan to Ipiales, and any feeling of disappointment I had in Colombia quickly disappeared. The ride was not only the best I had in Colombia, but was easily one of the most impressive of the trip. Each curve provided a more stunning view than the last. As I've said 100 times before on this website, photos cannot do the views justice. The sheer magnitude of the mountains made it difficult to take pictures: I simply couldn't fit enough into the frame to capture the feeling of being there. The road itself was in great shape, and I was never on my center tread for more than 20 seconds at a time. I can't think of a better way to wrap up my stay in Colombia!
I was hoping to cross the border that same day, but after checking out of Colombia, and checking myself into Ecuador, I found out that the person working at the aduana had left for an undetermined amount of time. The aduana is the office that imports the bike into the country. I waited for over an hour and eventually gave up. Even if the person came back, I would have less than an hour of solid sunlight in Ecuador. Disappointed that I couldn't cross, I road back into Colombia. I´m not sure if this was an entirely legal move on my part, but it all worked ot OK. I spent the night in Ipiales, and got up at 5:30am so that I could beat the Monday morning madness that´s found at any border. I road directly to the aduana office and was surprised to see that I was the only person there. The official took a look at my passport to check out the Ecuadorian entrance stamp I had received the day before, only to find out that I didn't receive an entrance stamp: I received an exit stamp. Even though I explicitly told immigration I was entering Ecuador, their wires got crossed and they checked me out before I had even entered. He told me to go back to immigration, where I found at least 75 other people waiting. "You've got to be kidding me!" So much for my plans of covering some ground in Ecuador today! I stood in line for a few minutes and then went back to the aduana. "The line is really big and I already went through this yesterday. Is it possible for you to talk to immigration about the problem?" He said, "No problem" and he went over and had it resolved in 2 minutes. Looks like the day wouldn't be a complete wash after all! Once the passport situation was resolved, the bike paperwork took 10 minutes, and I was on my way!
The big question most people have about Colombia is, "Is it safe?" While I was only there for a month, I can honestly say that I felt just as safe, if not safer than anywhere else I've been. Now for the catch. Unlike the other countries I've been through, where I basically went to whatever region I wanted, and road on whatever roads I wanted to ride (there are some exceptions), I was limited to the major routes in Colombia. I wanted to take a couple other roads not far from the major routes, but each time I asked the police or military about the roads, they´d thoroughly convince me that it was a bad idea. I probably could have ridden those roads without incident, but they weren't going to add enough to my trip to make it worth the risk or running into guerrillas. The Colombian government takes security very seriously, and even the smallest towns have at least a couple soldiers stationed there. Checkpoints are everywhere, and in the most extreme case I saw, there was an officer posted every 300 meters along the roadside, for a 5 mile stretch of road. As for locals, they voiced very little concern for my safety as well, but most agreed with the police in terms of staying on major roads. By far, the greatest concern voiced to me was that I would be spending the holidays alone. The majority of people I met asked where I would be for Navidad, and they thought it was a travesty that I didn't have plans. I know for a fact that if I was in Colombia on Christmas, I would be adopted and spend it with a Colombian family. My final thoughts: Visit Colombia!
As a side note, I don't have any other specific stories to tell from my last week in Colombia, but I posted some more pics and added captions to most of them.
The northern part of Ecuador was a continuation of the awesome ride in Colombia. It's been a long time since I've had rides like these. Most of Central America didn't have much to offer in the way of truly awesome vistas, so it's refreshing to be here and it has re-motivated me! It´s always amazing to see the extreme plots of land that locals cultivate. The pictures below are from Ecuador, but you can see the same thing in Colombia and in parts of Central America, namely Mexico and Guatemala. I think I'd be apprehensive to even walk on some of the steep grades, never mind haul around equipment and harvest crops. On top of that, a lot of these plots are around 10,000ft above sea-level.
I crossed the Equator today as well. It's hard to believe that I have been riding for this long and have only just hit the equator. I can assure you that crossing the equator is almost as exciting as driving across state lines, but at least I can look forward to toilets flushing in the opposite direction. There's an Equator monument in the form of a sundial along the roadside, and it's the only Equator monument in Ecuador that is exactly on the Equator. There's a guide who gives a surprisingly interesting presentation on the sundial, which includes a summary of what makes Ecuador so unique and important to astronomers. He also talks about and show´s satellite photos of ancient ruins throughout the region that coincide with the sundial perfectly. How they figured that thousands of years ago is simply amazing. I'm not going to get into the gritty details, but I can assure you the monument is worth the $1 entrance fee if you happen to be driving by.
I decided to bypass Quito. I've had my fix of big cities with Bogota and Medellin this last month, and was content to stick to the mountains. The road South of Quito is supposed to be incredible, but the imposing 16,000ft volcano on the left side of the road, was covered in dark, tornado-like storm clouds blocking my view. In addition, I was too busy thinking about the pea and corn-kernal-sized hail hitting my fingers at 65mph, to take in any of the lesser views. (I knew I shouldn´t have cut the liners out of my gloves!) The volcano is a short ride from the town I'm in now, so if the weather is better in the morning, I´m going to take a short ride north to catch a glimpse. Hasta Luego!
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