10/27 Met a couple other touring riders from Spain on the road. Oddly enough the didn’t even know each other and happened to meet up in Bogotá where they started their trip. Not too much else happened. Getting ready for a huge climb in 2 days. I heard it was 7500 feet from Barbosa to Tunja. Not sure if I’ll be doing that all in one day since there’s a place I want to see before Tunja.

My hotel picking skills need some work. For the 3rd night in a row I’ve picked a place that has construction going on. Not sure why they keep sticking me right under where they are working either. I could ask for another room but they don’t start making noise until I have everything unpacked.

It got cold last night. Glad they had blankets instead of a sheet. I’m down at 4000 feet tonight so it should be warmer.

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10/15 I don’t consider myself a very emotional person but today sure tested that. Woke up to steady rain at 6am so I laid back down until 8am. Things had slowed to a drizzle by then which made for some very welcome cooler riding temperatures.

Heading out of San Pedro was nice and quiet. I made it to Magangue in no time. Magangue sits next to the massive river, Río Magdalena so my first order of business, after finding a bank, was finding a bridge. After riding around for 20 minutes trying to find one I finally broke down and asked for directions. 3 minutes later I had my cash and went off in search of a bridge. After weaving in and out of heavy motorcycle traffic I ended up at the riverbank… and my jaw dropped.

The sheer volume of water rushing by, separated from the city by at most, a three foot wall, made me take a step back. It was obvious that the river was at a pretty significant flood stage based on the branches and brush floating by. How the city was not completely flooded I still don’t understand. There were some trees a 1/4 mile away on what was probably the other side but they were under water up to their lower branches. Water stretched out beyond that as far as I could see.

Looking back up the river toward town I couldn’t see a trace of a bridge so I figured there had to be some boats to go across. There ended up being a whole lot of boats waiting to ferry passengers/cargo across. I bought a ticket for $3 and watched as they loaded up my bike and gear on top of a boat so small that I thought for sure I’d never see my bike again. The ride over was a bit nerve wracking. I kept waiting for a log to ram into the side of the tiny boat. Our fearless captain ended up getting slightly lost and had to head back upstream for a ways. People on the boat were ribbing him about it. They wanted another $3 for the bike when we arrived which was fair because it actually made it across.

Immediately after docking it was obvious how bad the flooding was. The only thing above water was the road and that wasn’t by much, and in some places, not at all. After saying goodbye to the 20 odd people standing in a half circle watching me pack my gear, praying that there wasn’t something stuck in my teeth the whole time, I set off for the town of Mompos.

Nothing changed all the way here. Virtually every house was in water over the doorstep. Makeshift bridges ran from the road to each house. Sometimes there’d just be a little wooden boat and people would use that to get to their front door. If the water was too high the house sat abandoned. What used to be farmland was underwater so cows, horses and pigs, so skinny that their ribs were sticking out, were forced to graze for what little grass remained next to the road. In one town the graveyard was underwater. So was the church and the school.

The hardest part was how the people reacted to what I saw as complete devastation. Families sitting on their raised front deck, completely surrounded by water, would wave and I’d wave back. Others would give a thumbs up or call out some word of encouragement that I didn’t understand but kind of did. Kids body surfed in the water that gushed out from one side of the road to another, laughing like they didn’t have a care in the world. Men fished, women washed clothes and life just went on.

In a tiny village I ran into a little civil disturbance. A couple dozen people were standing in the road holding up a rope so cars couldn’t pass. A delivery truck was allowed through before I got there so I figured they’d let a gringo go by. The leader, a guy who seemed pretty pissed off about something, started giving me the story but I just kind of gave him a “hey, I’m really sorry but I don’t have anything to do with this” look, said I can’t speak Spanish and asked if I could go by. He told the people holding the rope to let me pass.

Mompos appears to have survived the flooding although some of the streets have a lot of standing water. After checking into a motel for 2 nights I went over to a bike shop to see if they could fix the shifting problem. The owner was an older guy and it was obvious derailleur adjustments weren’t his thing. Shifting is kind of better but I think it was more luck than anything. We’ll see how riding is on Sunday. My dumb move of the week was taking my filthy bike to the river to wash it off a little. After stepping with my bike over the tiny (leaking) wall that separates the town from the river I nearly slipped and went for a swim. Luckily my shorts only got a little wet because my iTouch was in the front pocket. At least my bike is clean now.

Staying at the Hotel Villa de Mompox for $14 a night (TV, AC, priv bathroom, no internet). There were 2 hostels in town. No one answered the door at the first place. The second place wanted $50 a night!

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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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Been a few days so as to not worry anyone I’m safe and sound in Mompos. It’s a little south of where I was intending to cross but it worked out well. No wifi so pics and full posts might take a few days. Flooding in this area is severe and it’s been hard seeing how people have to live. Still everyone waves and smiles when I ride by. Pretty amazing.

Sadly, I think Antigua, Guatemala might lose the top spot on my list of most beautiful cities. Cartagena has everything: cobblestone streets, buildings dating back to the 17th century, Spanish forts, tree-lined plazas and lot’s of interesting things to see on the streets. Last night we went walking around and ended up at a small plaza where some kids were playing soccer (on one end 2 statues were used as goal posts). Lot’s of people just hanging out enjoying the cooler temperatures. A TV news crew even made a visit, presumably just to catch the local happenings around town.

The city is very safe and a strong police presence, especially in the touristy areas, helps keep it that way. Almost every other corner has a police officer on it. Several other corners also have some “ladies of the night” who do a cute little dance if they see you. I think it’s a good sign that the police aren’t packing huge machine guns like they do in… well, everywhere else. All the ones I saw just had a night stick and a handgun. The gringo presence here is still very small for such a large city (pop. 1.1 million). Hopefully it picks up because it really is an amazing place.

Karin and Marten leave for their home in the Netherlands tomorrow and won’t be back for a few weeks. I’ll miss them and it’s going to be strange not seeing them all the time but I’m happy they are able to make it home for a family visit. I still have to plan a route through Colombia so that’ll keep me busy tomorrow. Not too sure which roads I want to take south but I’ll stick to main roads due to repeated warnings about FARC activity further south and into the jungle areas on the other side of the mountains. I’ll look to head out Tuesday morning.