PowerCycle

10/13 Someone told me it gets as hot as 122 F in this area during the summer. I don’t think it’s been quite that hot for the last 2 days but it’s close. My goose would have been cooked had it not been for some shade trees but it’s pretty nice having some sunshine for a change. No rain since I left the city. Except for one small hill just outside Cartagena, the riding yesterday was flat with lot’s of rivers and wetlands. Today was a 2000 foot day which made for some nice views of the valleys. Mostly just rolling hills, grazing land/farms and brown rivers so no pics. Sadly, not too many trees have survived except for the ones on hilltops or areas unsuitable for farming.

The roads are certainly not what I expected. My impression of Colombia was that it had a huge biking community and the roads were set up for safe riding. The sane bicyclists are probably inside next to a fan during the day, which might be why I haven’t seen anyone riding, but the roads are some of the most treacherous I’ve ever been on. I’ve never seen so many trucks on one highway before. Sometimes there’s a shoulder to ride on but that’s the exception; not the rule and potholes/rough sections are common. It looks like they are widening/repaving the whole thing so maybe it will improve. The drivers here are as maniacal as any in Costa Rica or Mexico, especially the delivery trucks, buses and anything else transporting people. Lot’s of passing going uphill around blind curves. Military checkpoints are every 10-15 miles to keep the guerillas under control.

I broke something yesterday that really puts me in a bit of a bad spot. About 15 minutes after I filled up my fuel bottle with gasoline it fell out of the front pannier onto the road. Of course the pump snapped off and fuel was BP’ing out all over the road. There’s no way I can repair it so I’m in search of either a new MSR pump, which I doubt I’ll find, or a cheap, off-brand stove, which I *might* find if I get lucky. This is even worse now because I was hoping to be able to camp more and coffee in the morning is critical.

After riding for about 45 miles yesterday I happened upon what looked like a campground just past the town of San Cayetana. The hotel/camping part wasn’t open yet but I was welcome to pitch my tent on the back porch under a thatched roof. There was a bathroom and a place to get water not too far away so it worked out perfectly.

The guy who let me stay there didn’t speak English but his cousin was in town from Maryland and he did. We spent quite a bit of time talking about the area but it sounds like rural living in Colombia is just like every other country with high poverty rates. Having electricity is not a given (they only got it 5 years ago and people up the road still don’t), most people only have a fridge and certainly not something luxurious like an AC, indoor plumbing is rare and cooking is almost always done using a wood stove.

The poverty situation was already pretty clear after getting out of Cartagena. One of the villages I passed, Arjona, was completely flooded by the river to the point that virtually every home had water inside covering the floor. People there are too poor to move or rebuild on something like stilts so they just sleep in hammocks over the water. About the only thing not under two feet of water was the road. Even the kid’s soccer field was covered. I don’t know what kind of support they are getting from the government but I didn’t see any construction going on which makes me think they are on their own.

I was up at 5am this morning and on the road by 6:30pm. Luckily I had some bread, hard-boiled eggs (thanks Karen) and an apple since I’m stoveless. My nerves were kind of frazzled from more crazy truck traffic so I stopped in the town of Bolivar after a short day (35 miles) and checked into a quaint little hospedaje (motel in other words). OK, maybe it’s a little too quaint because my neighbors are boinking in the next room and the walls are very thin.

One thing that’s different about Colombia is that every guy that owns a motorcycle also uses it to provide taxi services. They’ll just cruise around town looking to give rides for a few pesos or hang out whistling at guys riding by on touring bikes. One thing that’s not different is if you’re around a woman for long enough you’ll invariably see her breasts. Breast-feeding–women are not shy anywhere south of the Rio Grande, they’ll pop those suckers out anywhere. The novelty has mostly worn off but when one suddenly appears in an otherwise innocuous situation, like in a store buying water, it can catch you off-guard.

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09/22 Had it not been for the constant near-death experiences (traffic) riding today was pretty nice. The last time I even saw the Caribbean Sea was all the way back up in Mexico near Tulum. I rode along beside it for many miles passing a couple quiet little villages but mostly it was just long stretches of undeveloped land. In Costa Rica I don’t think they let you buy property within 50 meters of the high tide mark which is nice because it leaves the beach area in a natural state. After the coastal riding the road turned west and I was in banana plantation country.

My plans to stop early and camp at Parque Nacional Cahuita were foiled. I was so looking forward to a nice swim too. According to the ranger they closed up the camping areas a couple years ago. Getting in still cost $10. Locals pay $2. Yet another rip-off. She said I could enter the park back up the highway at the town of Cahuita for a “donation”. Well let me tell you about donations in Central America. When they ask for one it’s not an optional thing. There’s a set fee and you either pay it or you don’t get in.

After riding a bit more I saw a sloth sanctuary that looked pretty cool so I rode inside the gate and then promptly turned around and kept riding. They wanted $25 to get in. Freaking zoos are cheaper than that.

Tomorrow Panama and boy am I glad.

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09/12 For the record, Costa Rica is not an island. You know who you are. I think people get it confused with Puerto Rico. Easiest border crossing ever. The guy didn’t ask one question and didn’t even look at me until he wanted $2. I noticed later that I didn’t get an entry stamp though. The only new stamp I saw afterward was an exit for Nicaragua. Hopefully just being in the system is enough because he definitely scanned my passport.

Crossing into Costa Rica was like someone had flipped a switch labeled “Jungle: On:. Almost immediately both sides of the road were lined by huge trees and extremely thick ground cover. Camping is going to be fun if I get the chance. I’m going to have to remember to ride with my mouth closed more. I ate like a dozen bugs today.

There are some things here I’m going to have to get used to. Apparently it’s safe to drink the tap water. I guzzled down a gallon of it already so we’ll see. That should save some money at least. The exchange rate to the US dollar is crazy. US $1 gets you about 514 colóns (the colón is named after Christopher Columbus BTW). Now I have all these bills in denominations of 10,000. I went to the bank and took out 100,000. Lunch with 2 Cokes was still US $7 though. A little pricey here.

La Cruz is in much better shape than a similar sized town in Nicaragua. The tourist dollars sure make a big difference when it comes to infrastructure. The roads in town are all paved, the sidewalks are in decent shape and the fire truck I saw looked as good as any in the States. The TV station picked up channel 10 from South Florida so I could watch some news from the homeland. I’m going to miss the food in Nicaragua though. Lunch and dinner were bland. Best food in all of Central America, including Mexico, was in Nicaragua I think.

Kids in Costa Rica don’t like getting passed on their bikes either. 3 of them were walking up a hill when I rode by. Having none of that, they jumped on their steeds and rode right behind me for a good mile before the smallest kid gave up. The other 2 didn’t last much longer. I gave them some props because they actually hung in there a lot longer than I thought.

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09/02 Back in Honduras, but only for the night. It’s a short run to the border with Nicaragua along this stretch of CA-1–most riders only ever see this little section of the country since they tend to skip the northern section and ride the PanAm all the way down. Not me though (or Karin and Marten who ride all over the place like I do). I’m out of the mountain (elev: 434 feet–been a long time) which is kind of sad.

My worries about crossing from El Salvador were unfounded. The border agents spent quite a bit of time examining my passport but they didn’t say a word about the missing entry stamp. I handed over my $3 to the Honduran customs people and sped off.

Some police stopped me at a “checkpoint” not too far after crossing. There were 2 of them but only the younger one came over to talk to me. The other older, chunkier officer didn’t get up the whole time. At first he wanted to know where I was going so I told him. Then he asked to see my passport. He flipped it open and looked at it for 10 seconds before giving it back. For the next 5 minutes he basically just looked at my bike while letting all the cars/trucks go by without so much as a second glance. I knew something was up at this point and this was confirmed when he pointed at my bike and said, “mucho dinero” and then clearly checking out my gold necklace. He asked for my passport again and read off my name for me immediately followed by a request for a $10 exit fee. I looked at his name tag and read his name (Roberto, R) and then asked if I could have a receipt. I guess saying his name and asking for the receipt did the trick because he waved me off and went back to looking for more bribe money suspicious vehicles.

Rained all day and quite hard for a good bit of it. I was warned to stay away from one motel here (Hotel Bonsai) so I found a place called Hotel Kali that is amazing. All new furniture, clean bed, great wifi, AC and friendly owners. No hot shower. Only $14 and change. The place last night was bad. Spotted 3 cockroaches, one was so big I thought it was my bike moving across the floor. The AC was horrible and I ended up turning it off at 1am because it was so loud.

I’ve been reading all these weird books lately: An Inquiry into the Nature and Wealth of Nations, The Earth as Modified by Humans, Youth, The Invisible Man and The Science of Human Nature. I downloaded War and Peace but I can’t bring myself to stare at the screen for that long. Grabbed them for free using the Stanza app for my swell iTouch. I kind of wish I had a Kindle…

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