Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

As with our stay in Bogotá, here in Medellin we're due to start the day with a short ride round to the dealer, Ruta 40, where we will meet up with Mauricio (now I know how to spell his name) and Carlos for a photo-call and then we'll all head out together on the ride South. For some reason, despite being up at 6am, by the time I'd written the blog and got my packing done, and put the armour back in my jacket and trousers once again, I was running late, being the last to leave the hotel garage, all in a fluster. But I soon calmed down once on the bike and moving, even if it was only a short ride round the corner. We caused an even bigger stir than in Bogotá, with even the local TV crew turning up to film our little gathering (they were there at the presentation last night, but I forgot to mention it). I wandered off to get some bottled water, so missed most of the pictures, but the bikes certainly looked good, lined up outside what has to be my favourite BMW dealer...





Once we'd had our photos taken and posed for the TV cameras, it was time to head out of Medellin, riding in a huge group headed by Mauricio and with Carlos sweeping up the rear, and with a number of other local riders that we met last night interspersed amongst our group of 20 bikes... we made quite a spectacle, as we weaved in amongst the rush-hour traffic on the two-lane dual carriageway out of the city, then trying to get past endless lines of trucks labouring up the hills on the outskirts of town. It seemed to take an eternity to get clear of the traffic and out onto the open road, but eventually we did, the group spreading out a little as the roads cleared, the twisting road winding its way high into the mountains.

Columbia is full of surprises, not least the absolutely stunning scenery. I don't think I've ever been to a country that has more beautiful countryside, all hills and valleys, everywhere coated with bright green vegetation (and no, it's not cocaine plants!). There are banana plantations, coffee plantations, bamboo fields, sugar cane fields, fields of various food crops (ok, so I'm not a botanist!), and interspersed amongst them are the homes – not the ramshackle wooden homes of Central America (although there are still a few of them), but beautiful houses with neatly trimmed gardens. The walls are not rotten wood, but pastel-shaded concrete or orange brick; in the gardens are swimming pools and children's play things, and the children themselves are better dressed. Whether this is simply a factor of the route we're taking and not representative of Columbia at large I don't know, but it doesn't feel as poor as some of the countries we've been through recently.

Whilst the scenery was fantastic, the roads were even better, at least for those on motorcycles, that is. They were a never-ending stream of bends, winding up and down one hill and then the next, left, then right, then left again, all requiring maximum attention and a significant degree of lean. So much so, that Richard was grinding bits of his bike away on every corner, and then decked his panniers in front of me, a little puff of plastic smoke coming from the corners. That's a long way over... Me, well, my bike rides higher and my panniers are narrower, so I didn't scrape anything except my pegs and my boots...

We stopped for a small lunch at a beautiful roadside cafe, set in fantastic tropical gardens with a swimming pool and views all down the valley. Lunch consisted of the highly recommended fruit sundae topped with ice-cream, the fruit unbelievably fresh, most likely because it had been picked right out of the garden.





In the afternoon we climbed higher into the mountains, the sharp-edges and pyramid shapes of the peaks around us quite stunning. If you like hills and countryside, you simply must come to Columbia...





With a final stop just short of the hotel for a glass of the freshest mandarin juice I've ever tasted, the day simply couldn't have got much better. If you've ever ridden a motorcycle, then imagine the best ride you've ever had, then extend it so it lasts a full day, then add in the most beautiful scenery and glorious weather and you still won't have come close to how good today's ride was. If you've never ridden a motorcycle, then I pity you...

But the day wasn't yet done with things that exercise my poor vocabulary when it comes to superlatives... The hotel we're staying at is not a hotel, it's a villa. The sort that Columbian drug dealers would build to entertain their friends. Only this one is owned by Mauricio's cousin and has 12 rooms, just enough for our group. And a swimming pool and outdoor jacquzzi. So we take over the place, parking our bikes on the tiled floor that leads to the reception area.





Having tagged on to Mauricio and Kevin, simply because I like to ride at the same pace they do (quite briskly), I arrived with the lead group. Mauricio went to the end of the road to ensure that the others found the hotel, as it was down a long narrow country lane that was easy to miss. Soon the 2nd group arrived, and Mauricio said he'd asked the local police to look out for the others and help them find us. Which they did, escorting most of the others to the hotel just a couple of hours after we'd arrived. I say “most” because the Bogotá Boys were missing. Last seen earlier in the day at a restaurant, they were nowhere to be seen over 2 hours after we'd arrived. When it went dark, Julia called their mobile phones and eventually got hold of them and they said they were 20 minutes away. After another hour, they were still missing, so further calls were made, and they were given the GPS coordinates for the hotel. We were supposed to be having our first big group meal, but as they were still not here and it was getting late, we ate anyway. We had some nice steak and chicken served on a hot plate, and they also heated up the special treat that had been brought out with the Bogotá Boys' bikes. Earlier in the trip we'd been discussing national dishes, including the English Fish, Chips and Mushy Peas, and Aaron (one of our Americans) said he'd never heard of Mushy :Peas... so, we had 4 tins brought out. They go much better with Fish and Chips than steak and chicken, and I don't think Aaron will be rushing to import them to the US...





The photo was taken before he'd tried them, as he wasn't smiling after...

Finally the Bogotá Boys arrived, to big cheers and lots of piss-taking from the rest of us. They were in surprisingly good humour, considering they'd done 70 miles more than the rest of us, and had been riding round Columbia for several hours in the dark (and we all know how dangerous that is, don't we?). When they were fed and watered, it was time for one last nightcap before turning in. Carlos says the roads today are better... we don't believe they could be...