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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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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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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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.

Long day riding even though I was planning on stopping early. The weather was too nice so I just kept pedaling. I was kind of impressed with myself because even with some big hills at the end of the day I didn’t even feel tired. Bummed that I have yet to see the Pacific Ocean even though I was less than a mile from it. Trees blocked my view most of the time.

I saw something pretty sad and even though I strongly dislike dogs now it still bothered me. The highway, for some bizarre reason, merged from 2 lanes to one right before town so traffic was a bit chaotic. While I was watching for cars and potholes I looked over in the middle of the road and saw a black dog laying there with its head up looking at traffic coming toward it. At first I thought it was just stupid since I see them laying/sitting in the road all the time but when I looked closer I could see blood running out of its nose. I think someone hit it and it was either too hurt to move or maybe it was in shock. Cars were slowing down to avoid it and some people looked like they were waiting for traffic to break so they could help. The worst part was confused/scared look on the dog’s face. Brutal.

Since I’m closer to Panama City than I expected to be today I’ll stay here tomorrow and ride into the city on Monday. Karen and Martin are there so I’ll stay where they are until they leave on Wednesday. They found a bike box for me too so I don’t have to worry about that now. They are so good to me. The only things I have to worry about now are finding a huge bag to pack all my stuff in and hoping that they let me on the plane because I don’t have proof of onward travel. Many other cyclists have flown into Colombia on one-way tickets so its probably not an issue but still I worry.

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I kind of hate staying in hotels now. They are expensive at ~$30 a night but it’s so much less aggravation for me. Camping spots are almost impossible to find and I’m by myself so the idea of sitting in my tent twiddling my thumbs from noon, which is when I finish riding for the day, until I go to sleep at 10pm is very unappealing. I’m really hoping things are different in South America.

Panama sure changed a lot from up north to where I am now. In the last 2 days I started seeing subdivisions with houses that rival what you’d see in Boca Raton. Security is still a concern for homeowners. It’s not uncommon to have a nice house with bars on every window and a chainlink fence topped with razorwire. The cars are also getting newer and flashier. Saw a BMW yesterday and a couple other pricier models ripping down the highway. Rode by 3 different motorcycle cops looking to bust speeders with their radar guns. That’s something I haven’t seen in a long time (Mexico?). Most of the medium-sized towns have a McD’s or a KFC. No Dairy Queen though.

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This route was my attempt to get off the PanAm highway as much as possible and it’s working out great so far. My map showed the road being paved all the way but that’s not quite true. Maybe 15 years ago it was all paved but now only about half is. The sections of gravel were easy enough even in the rain but I had to avoid a lot of potholes. The five notable climbs were OK but I had to walk up the only unpaved hill because the rocks were so loose. The gringo effect was in full force. Whenever I pull up to any store it goes from being just me and the owner to at least half a dozen people within a couple minutes, all of whom stare at me rather intently. I never even see these people walk up–they just kind of appear. Everyone I saw today waved and kids ran up to the road to watch if they saw me coming. It was pretty cute.

Last night I booked a flight for October 8th that will get me into Colombia. The bicycle tourists out there already know this but at a certain point in Panama the highway ends and there’s no way to drive (or ride) into Columbia. The area where overland travel is next to impossible is called the Darien Gap. OK, technically overland travel is possible using footpaths and a lot of boats but you’d probably be killed/kidnapped by the Colombian guerillas, bandits or smugglers that inhabit the area. From what I’ve read its probably one of the most dangerous areas in the world.

People riding bicycles to South America (or to CA if starting from the south) typically hop on a plane in Panama City and fly into Cartagena, Colombia. There are also chartered boats that you can book passage on for about $350 but I’d rather just get it over with in a day vs. the 3-4 day boat trip. There are no direct flights so I have 2 stops. The worst part is I get into Cartagena at 10:30 at night. I’ll try to book a hotel so at least I have a place to go (via taxi).

I’ve never taken a bike on a plane so I’m freaking out a little. The bike packing part I’ve been prepped for but I just know it’s going to be a big, stressful mess. I gave myself 3 days after I get to Panama City to find a bike box and a huge duffel bag to throw my panniers in.

Funny story but it’s at the expense of my friends but they’ll forgive me. About a month ago Karen and Martin were riding a few days ahead of me. They told me about this hotel to stay at so when I got there that’s where I stayed too. It was probably even the same room. Not long after I got there I started hearing this really loud noise that sounded like someone playing an 80’s arcade game. The bling beep bling noise went on non-stop for half an hour before I realized it was probably birds. Well, I found out much later from Martin that they were so annoyed by the noise when they stayed there that they were yelling into the next room to turn the volume down. Finally they went over to owner and he told them what was making the noise–frogs! While I was riding today I heard them in a ditch next to the road so I made a little video to remind Martin of when he yelled at the frogs to shut up.

09/29

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I didn’t beat the rain today even though I was on the road at 7am and only stopped for 20 minutes. The worst part is having the sweat run into my eyes and almost blinding me. It’s still coming down now.

The shoulder on the PanAm is amazing. It’s usually at least 4 feet wide and there are no potholes. There’s a bit of glass to watch out for but nothing too bad. I’m glad it was pretty flat today because my knee is a bit sore from yesterday.

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The girls staying here left this morning but not before a German couple arrived last night. It’s fine hanging out with a bunch of crazy backpackers in their early twenties but it would be nice to run into a solo female adventurer a little closer to my age bracket. The resident drug dealers on the island have been good company for my walks around town (no, I haven’t been a good customer but my nickname is “Miami”).

Everyone else that lives here kind of just does their thing and doesn’t pay too much attention to the gringos wandering around. Aside from the people that work in the tourist sector, everyone else makes their living by farming or fishing, which is to say that they have very little money. Hopefully things don’t get out of hand with tourism like it did in Costa Rica and ruin their culture (and environment). Foreign companies love to come in to places like this so they can take advantage of the economic situation. That’s already happening with a huge, and very controversial, beach club they are building on the other side of the island.

The famous palm-fringed wilderness beaches can be reached by following a narrow path for about a mile through the jungle. Yesterday I walked over to Wizard Beach and went for a swim. It’s a popular surf spot and swimming is mostly just bobbing up and down while the waves break over you. Rip tides are pretty common so you can’t stray out too far.

Tomorrow I’ll take off again and start riding over to the Pacific side of Panama and then heading south to Panama City where I fly out to Columbia. There’s a range of mountains in the middle which I’m looking forward to.