Ephemerica

Our first day in Bogotá was a Sunday, where their weekly event known as Ciclovia meant most of the main streets were severly restricted to car traffic and open instead to bikes. We had hoped to participate, but since my pedals were missing after the flight from Panama, we couldn’t. It turned out to be for the best as there was a huge parade celebrating solidarity through out the country and the roads were too filled with people to be able to bike through them anyway. We had heard about Bogotá’s promotion of bikes for transportation and were excited to ride the numerous cycle paths throughout the city. It wasn’t quite as spectacular as I had imagined as the paths were also open to pedestrians, which limits the usefulness of the trails.

We spent several days in Bogotá, getting the bikes ready to ride and enjoying the city life and museums. We also took a day trip to the town of Zipaquirá to see the Salt Cathedral, an underground cathedral built into a salt mine. We felt right at home in Bogotá, thanks to our wonderful couchsurfing host, the rainy, Seattle-like weather and all the yummy coffee. There were even a couple areas of town that reminded me of Seattle. It was nice to be home

Our original plan was to bike from Bogotá to Cali and then bus to Quito (Ecuador) from there. However, we realized that we were kidding ourselves after looking over our proposed plan consisting of 5 straight days of riding around 100 kms each day with a couple of days of significant climbing thrown in. We have been practically biking-free for almost two months—we thought it prudent to start a bit more slowly. So, we ended up bussing from Bogotá to Armenia which eliminated most of the climbing on the route. We also decided that we would bike from Armenia to Cali, then possibly on to the next big city of Popayan before hopping back on the bus.

We were a bit nervous starting out riding again, but soon settled into a rhythm and were able to enjoy the beautiful countryside. The end point for the first day was Tuluá, which is a relatively flat 90 km from Armenia. We felt pretty good at first and it felt great to be riding again, but we realized that 90 km for a first ride was a bit ambitious as we were running out of energy about 20 km from town. Luckily, two passing cyclists slowed down to chat, which made the ride go much more quickly. They were mountain bike racers and had ridden to Armenia from Tuluá the day before and were now making the return trip. Despite the increased energy from meeting the cyclists, we were going more and more slowly and eventually were going too slowly for the Colombianos who rode off ahead of us. We perked up again, though, when we saw them waiting for us on the edge of town. They said they would show us some hotels in town then help us find some food. One, Juan David, led us to a hotel, while the other, Jonathan, went to check on another. Crazy as it may sound, there turned out to be no hotel rooms available in Tuluá that night due to a transportation conference in town. So, Juan David brought us back to his house, where his grandma cooked us some lunch and we were able to shower. Jonathan came back later with the news that his mom said it would be okay if we stayed in their spare room for the night, so we headed over there and spent the rest of the afternoon talking to Jonathan and his parents about the wonders of Colombia and answering their questions about the US and our trip. We met up with Juan David later to go to a music festival at the local university where we saw some local music and dancing and also sampled some chicha (yummy!). We slept very well that night after an exhausting day of riding and speaking Spanish.

The next morning, we awoke to breakfast and chilled bottles of sports drink for our bikes! Jonathan and Juan David decided that they would take a recovery ride with us to the town of Buga, 20 km south of Tuluá on the way to Cali. We started the ride off without Jonathan as his girlfriend (a world-class mountain biker training in Italy) called just as we were leaving, but given our slow pace and his claim to regional champion working his way to national champion, we knew he would have no trouble catching up to us before Buga. Our legs were quick to tell us that they had worked hard the day before and weren’t up to another 90 km to Cali that day. So, when we saw lots of hotels lining the streets of Buga, we decided perhaps 20 km was good for the day and we would tackle the rest the next day. After showing us the town’s famous basilica and helping us find a hotel, Juan David and Jonathan set out back to Tuluá with much gratitude from us. Colombian hospitality is talked about a lot on the internets, but we really couldn’t believe how lucky we were to have met Juan David, Jonathan and their families.

The rest day was just what we needed. We felt great on the ride into Cali. Being on the bikes again is invigorating and makes traveling all the more exciting and fun. We found our hostel in Cali without too many problems, that is until we started unloading the bikes and realized that one of my bags was missing! I vaguely remember bumping into a pole on that side of the bike, though I thought I had checked to make sure everything was alright afterwards. Perhaps the bump loosened the bag, which then fell off when I hit a bump later? It seems unlikely that someone could have take the bag off of the bike without me noticing, but who knows? Luckily, the bag didn’t contain anything that can´t be gone without or easily replaced. My bike looks pretty sad these days with one lonely pannier where there used to be four!

Given the difficulties of finding a bus big enough to fit the bikes and the extra hassle of loading them up, we decided we would bus from Cali, where we were certain to find a big bus, all the way to the border town of Ipiales in one long ride, though it meant skipping a couple towns and sites that we would have liked to have seen. We did manage to see the Sanctuary of Las Lajas near Ipiales with our last 16000 pesos ($8) before heading to the border. There are no busses which cross the Colombia/Ecuador border, so we had to ride 2 km from Ipiales to the border then 6 km from the border to Tulcan, Ecuador where we were able to catch a bus to Quito. The border crossing was hassle-free and fee-free as well. At the Ecuador immigration post, I waited with the bikes while Matt went in to get our passports stamped. While I was waiting, a friendly border guard struck up a conversation. I thought I was doing fairly well in Spanish without Matt’s assistance, though the guard had to repeat most of his questions at least once. However, when Matt came back out and understood the first thing the guard said to him with out a problem, the guard exclaimed, “Oh, you understand much better!”

We were sad to leave Colombia and to have missed so much of the country in our rush to get to Quito in time for the Galapagos trip. Everyone we spoke to was so enthusiastic about their country and the great beauty that it holds. We definitely plan to return in the not too far distant future.

Tomorrow we leave for the Galapagos Cruise. The last couple days in Quito were spent picking up the tickets, and buying some last minute items that we will need for the trip (I had to replace yet another pair of shoes from the lost bag!) We also found the South American Explorers Clubhouse where they let members store stuff (our bikes.) They also have a huge wealth of information on South America, free coffee, and a library where we were able to check out some reading material for the cruise. In Quito, we were also lucky to find a bike touring enthusiast who can make me a new pannier (they are impossible to find here otherwise) in just a couple days after we return. We had been thinking we would have to have one shipped from the states and were not looking forward to waiting around for that to happen. All in all, we are doing well—excited for the Galapagos and getting back on the bikes without too many delays when we return.

Posted by cindy on September 8th, 2007 | Filed under: Colombia, Ecuador