Current location: Cuenca, Ecuador
After leaving Salento, I detoured over to Bogota with a motorcade riding for Peace and Liberty, but specifically to raise awareness for the plight of the kidnapped in Colombia. A bus accompanied the 15 day tour of Colombia, full of ex-kidnapped and their families. Each stop was quite emotionally charged with personal accounts, and speeches. Police escorts, good company, and lots of delicious food, too! They were happy to attach a flag and pick up another rider. From Bogota, I headed south, to Mocoa, then up over the Andes to Pasto, where I crossed into Ecuador. A night in Otovalo, and then down to Cuenca, via Quito and Riobamba. Tomorrow, I hope to cross into Peru.
The goal is Ushuaia for New Year's Eve. About 11,000km in a month. Why do I have to go and make everything so difficult?
By the way, I crossed the Equator today.
After leaving Salento, I detoured over to Bogota with a motorcade riding for Peace and Liberty, but specifically to raise awareness for the plight of the kidnapped in Colombia. A bus accompanied the 15 day tour of Colombia, full of ex-kidnapped and their families. Each stop was quite emotionally charged with personal accounts, and speeches. Police escorts, good company, and lots of delicious food, too! They were happy to attach a flag and pick up another rider. From Bogota, I headed south, to Mocoa, then up over the Andes to Pasto, where I crossed into Ecuador. A night in Otovalo, and then down to Cuenca, via Quito and Riobamba. Tomorrow, I hope to cross into Peru.
The goal is Ushuaia for New Year's Eve. About 11,000km in a month. Why do I have to go and make everything so difficult?
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| Sprockets imprinted in the sidewalk in Salento |
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| awesome Land Cruiser, eh? |
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| getting off to a muddy start |
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| joining the bike rally for freeing the kidnapped |
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| a round the world biker showed up on his Yamaha. |
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| the line-up |
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| showing off my new dome protector |
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| hogging the highway with a police escort |
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| arrival with much fanfar in Ibague |
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| lunch stop at the army base. tamales! |
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| there were quite a few characters present |
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| Rafael says thumbs up to free gas courtesy of the Colombian Army |
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| we rode through torrential rain, a beer truck crash, a landslide, and heavy traffic. then there was a big moth on my tire. Pirelli Scorpion for all you tire geeks out there. |
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| meet the press. with fantastic extensions. everyone though rafael and i were brothers, despite the fact that he is swiss and i am american. |
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| it's 2am and we are at a mcdonald's in bogota, still in wet riding gear. WTF? |
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| at 3:30, we finally got to sleep in the barracks of the presidential guard. too bad they rise and shine at 4:30 |
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| skirting the edge of the Tatacoa desert |
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| tree tunnels remind me of indiana |
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| death roads remind me of the andes, which is where i am |
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| welcome to high altitude |
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| approach blind corners slowly |
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| yeah, it's like that |
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| fast descent into a bucolic valley |
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| terra cotta roof is par for the course |
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| last sunlight of the day! time to camp |
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| good morning colombia! |
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| a rare blue sky |
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| the line-up at customs. my DR200 dwarfed the Honda Transalps and Kawasaki Versys |
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| hello Ecuador. you are brown. |
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| Ecuadorian Dodge Power Wagon |
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| Good morning Ecuador |
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| passing glance |
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| beetles in the urinal at the gas station |
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| most of ecuador looks like this so far |
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| high visibility |
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| finally got out of the fog this afternoon. smooth sailing on the Panamericana. |
1 comments:
christania’s “rent christania bike” bikes are rolling across the city. The system, less than a year old, is funded by christania’s municipal government. It is currently only in one of christania’s 22 administrative districts. Although a 2nd generation system, there are 12 “Houses” in this district, each with around 40 bikes. The yearly subscription cost is the equivalent of $2 US, and allows the use of a bike for up to four hours at a time. In less than a year, there have been 6,000 subscriptions sold. There are larger 3rd generation systems in the world, which do not have a subscription to bike ratio as big as that.
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