Despite the heat, and the noisy generator under our window, armed with ear plugs, we sleep reasonably well, but the following day is an absolute scorcher, there is really nowhere to escape the heat. The shelters are corrugated iron and brick which seem to absorb more heat than offer any kind of respite. There is a pool but as it is a long weekend I think every resident of Neiva has descended upon it, so it is almost impossible to find a space, let alone swim, we opt for continuous showers throughout the day to cool off. On a positive note our washing is dry in less than 15 minutes, the beer is semi cold and they have an amazing parrot that talks in Spanish non stop. Skill is pretty chuffed when he teaches him to wolf whistle.

Tatacoa Desert really is a strange place, it is a tiny 300 square km in size. It is surrounded by lush mountains and verdant plains and to the West there is the huge Magdelena river, it has a micro climate all of its own and is in a big rain shadow.

Late in the day we put on our boots and walk the “Red Desert” for a couple of hours. It is a stunning landscape and despite the hordes of people we seem to have the place largely to ourselves. Just on dark it decides to shower ever so lightly, hmmm so much for the rain shadow. We also check out the observatory but it doesn't seem to be running tours even for the long weekend, oh well back to the hostel for a local dinner of rice, chicken and vegetables wrapped and baked in banana leaves on an open fire. Not bad at all

Red Desert -Tatacoa

Red Desert - Tatacoa

Flowering Cactus - Tatacoa

Red Desert - Tatacoa

We love Colombia and we love the people, but they are SOOOOOOOO bloody noisy. The din starts at 5.00 am as they queue for the showers near our room, radios blaring, people yelling at each other and general merriment. We ignore them till 6.00 am and then decide if you can't beat them, you might as well join them so we get up have our usual travel breakfast, granola and watery powdered milk along with a banana and a cup of tea. After getting ourselves packed up we are on the road by 8.00 am. It is probably not a bad thing as the day is already pretty warm. We backtrack and negotiate Neivas streets taking a few wrong turns and back roads before we are away North on the road to Giradot. We refuel and rehydrate before taking the same mountain road towards Bogata (we discover that this is the same road we rode South). As the day is very warm and I know there are only dodgy trucker hotels North to Bogata and that the long weekend traffic will be crazy, we opt for an early day at Los Pelicanos Cabanas in Tena. The place is going off, it seems like everyone from Bogata is here, there is music blaring at a million decibels, people everywhere in the pool and vast quantities of beer being consumed.

Fortunately we can park the bike inside and our nice little room is near the pool so we have lunch in the restaurant and chill back by the pool. But by 5.00 pm the place is totally and utterly deserted, we are the only residents. FANTASTIC!!

Our little Cabin by the pool. Everyone has left. Hooray

Later we go out for a local chicken dinner and are gobsmacked by the traffic making its way back to Bogata. They are treating the 2 way road as if it were a one way dual carriage road, it is absolutely insane, heaven help anyone coming South from Bogata. So pleased we had an early day.

On Tuesday morning we awake to rain, bugger we really don't want to be riding the mountain road in driving rain but needs must, after breakfast in the restaurant we don the wet weather gear and we are away by 8.30 am.

We pack up in the rain

It is a slow truck laden ride towards Bogata but at least the rain stops. On the outskirts of Bogata Mr Zumo wants to take us straight through the centre again. We decide to follow our nose and turn around to see if we can find the ring road towards Chia in the North, by some miracle we seem to manage it and finally we are on the freeway towards Tunja. While stopped for fuel, we scrap our wet weather gear and then it is another stop at a toll booth to see if we can buy a better map for Colombia, we are then on our way again. Tunja proves to be a bit of a stumbling block and our new map is of absolutely no use. However after asking 5 people for directions with only two concurring, we make it to Villa de Leyva by about 2.00 pm. After bumping our way across the very slippery cobblestoned streets we find the beautiful Renacer Guesthouse set on the hillside above the town and although the rooms are stunning we opt to camp in the grounds. We have to start making use of this tent we have been carrying around for 1000s of kilometres and this proves to be the perfect opportunity. We unpack, set up camp and have a tuna and cracker lunch washed down with a cleansing ale. All is right in the world.

As usual we plan on staying a few nights and end up staying a week. Villa de Leyva is a charming peaceful place and dates back to the early days of Spanish rule, around about 1572. It has one of the largest plazas in the Americas surrounded by white washed buildings and cobblestoned streets that make for a pretty town. During the week it is very quiet but come the weekend it is heaving with day trippers from Bogata.

Plaza Mayor – Villa de Leyva

Bell Tower - Villa de Leyva

We spend our days watching the world cup, wandering into the village to gather supplies, frequenting the French Patisserie and also an artesenal bread shop where we can buy real bread (Colombian Bread is truly awful, so sweet and usually stale). We also go for a few small hikes around the town but most of our time is spent relaxing and enjoying the beautiful gardens of the hostal. There is a passing parade of backpackers, locals and travelling families, it is a great mix and makes for a very social place. We also enjoy the company of Belgian overlanders Didi and Guy and their dog.

Skill at the French Patisserie

Beautiful Girls doing a full dress rehearsal for something - Villa de Leyva

However after a week of relaxing it is time to move on, so on Monday morning after a long slow pack up we get away around 10.30am. It is a lovely ride through the hills and back roads to Chiquinquira where we join the main road North to San Gil, the traffic is not too bad, we manage to refuel the bike and ourselves at Barbosa before we make it to San Gil by about 3.00 pm. Now some days are easy and some days are not, fortunately today was a day where we cruised right into the plaza, found the lovely Sam's VIP Hostal with parking right on the plaza. Unpacked and settled in half an hour later, the only downside was the 6 flights of steps. What a great hostel, lovely rooms, a pool, a bar and surrounded by countless restaurants and a huge supermarket across the bridge. We unfortunately opt for a below average pizza for dinner and then an early night.

San Gil is another attractive colonial town with a lovely climate (not too hot) and also a burgeoning reputation for adventure sports, none of which we take part in. However we do manage a pleasant walk in the towns pretty botanical park.

Park - San Gil

Park - San Gil

Noisy Macau - Park San Gil

We also manage to buy another month worth of insurance here, after having no luck in the last three towns. All the insurance agencies can sell you a years worth but not a month at a time, however we have success on the first go in San Gil.

While the hostel has two amazing kitchens we opt to eat out for the three nights of our stay, and score two amazing gringo dinners, steak and pepper sauce and a humungous burger at Gringo Mikes Burgers. We must confess to being a little over chicken, beans, plantane (fried banana) and rice.

The next day we really don't have a plan, we have some vague notion of heading towards Bucaramanga before cutting back across the mountains towards Medellin. The ride from San Gil to Bucaramanga should be absolutely amazing, it is up over a scenic pass where you ride along the spine of the mountains looking down to the river and valley below, then a long series of switchbacks down to the valley floor, however in reality it is a truck clogged road where you cannot do more than 20 km an hour. It takes us over 5 and a half hours to do 90 kilometres, the poor old bike does not cope well and gets very, very hot. We end up stopping for an hour to let the bike cool down, and make ourselves a picnic lunch. We arrive in the uninspiring city of Bucaramanga, and after eventually finding the hostel which can't offer us parking, we leave. We don't have a plan B and as the day is incredibly HOT we just ride towards the next little village of Giron which from the outskirts looks pretty ordinary.

Fortunately appearances can be deceptive, and on arrival in the square we revise our opinion of the place. We find the lovely Hotel Las Nieves where they let us park the bike inside. When I say inside, we ride into the central courtyard, past the restaurant down the hallway and park beside a very fine chaise lounge right outside our air conditioned room. Perfecto I say!!!! We grab a couple of empanadas and a shandy like beer called Redds before venturing out into the very busy square. Tomorrow is D Day, Colombia verses Brazil in the World Cup, huge screens are being erected in the square and the whole place is Abuzz. Later on, a quick visit to the supermarket secures us a Tapas dinner that we consume in the sanctity of air conditioned room before it is out for a late night ice cream.

The delightful little town of Giron

We score a croissant breakfast before loading up the bike and pushing it past the chaise lounge, a china cabinet and breakfasting patrons. We say goodbye to our lovely hosts and wish them good luck for the big game. Sporting our own Colombian flag on the back of the bike we set off towards Medellin.

Heading out of the Hotel La Nieves

We plan on a short day to the sketchy town of Puerto Berrio. The first part of the days ride proves to be reasonably easy with limited traffic and a good road. We arrive in Puerto Berrio around midday, have an OK menu del dia before deciding we will push on as there seems to be no traffic on the road. Why? Because of the big game at 3.00 pm. We do make reasonable time but once again the mountainous terrain and constant villages are not conducive to clocking up the kilometres and the bike is still running hotter than is normal. Around about 3.00 pm as we are negotiating constant twists and turns, I hear a terrible crunching noise which I relay to Skill. We pull over only to discover that the bolts of the bash plate have come adrift. Hmmm obviously not put back on properly when the work was done in Bogata or maybe one too many whacks on the bloody stupid speed bumps that are everywhere. After a bit of a search through the bolt collection, two new bolts are installed and we are under way.

A little later on we follow a huge, fast flowing river through a scenic valley. This river should be a thing of beauty, instead it is a toxic, smelly grey sludgy mess. It would have to rate up there with one of the most polluted rivers we have seen in all our travels. So sad!!!!

We hit Bello on the outskirts of Medellin just as the game finishes. We stop in a no parking zone and ask a couple, passing by the result. 2 – 1 to Brazil. As we are trying to decide whether we will push on to Guatape, two traffic police approach us. Now do they chide us for being parked in a no parking zone. No, they welcome us to Colombia, lament with us about the game and give us very clear directions to the Autopista so we can get to Guatape. We know we are cutting it fine with limited daylight but decide to push on, we arrive in Guatape an hour and a half later just on dark, there is thunder and lightning all around us and the Lakeview Hostel is a very welcoming sight.

We park up, get off the bike and are met by Greg who says “Are you Alanna” to which I respond “Yes, I know we are a day early, but do you have room for us” “Sure” is the response, “Come on in, relax and have a beer”. The hostel is brand new, our room is gorgeous and the staff are very friendly. Just what you need after a long 10 hour day.

We only just get unpacked and the bike parked undercover when the heavens decide to open up, now this is not just a little bit of rain, this is a North Queensland type of downpour. Armed with raincoats and an umbrella we brave the elements and find the closest restaurant for dinner before returning to the hostel a tad damp. It has been a long tiring day, we collapse into bed content to listen to the rain on the roof.

It is on our first day in Guatape that Skill receives a couple of emails from the boats we have been checking out to take us and the bike to Panama. The news is not good, the Stahlratte, our boat of choice is full nearly 5 weeks out and won't be doing another run until the 22nd August and The Independence no longer takes bikes from Colombia to Panama (they and the other boats can only take bikes in the other direction). Well that pretty much limits our choices so we are in Colombia for another month. That will teach us for not keeping our eye on the ball, however there are much worse places to be stuck. It also means that we really have no time constraints.

We spend the next four days just chilling back admiring the lake, getting to know this quaint little town and the inhabitants of the hostel including the three volunteers, Yuki, Monsaki and Stefan. We eventually ride out to the huge bullet shaped rock which towers above the surrounding landscape and manage to climb the 720 steps to the top, the view is stunning.

La Piedra Del Peñol

La Piedra Del Peñol

Amazing views over the lake. The Lake is man made and is part of a large hydro electric scheme

Lan and Skill

After 4 days we say fond farewells and ride back to Medellin as Skill wants to get the bike checked out, there is the overheating problem and he is also concerned that it is using oil. We decide to stay at Hostal Medellin and on arrival park the bike in the garage next to two Husquvana TR650s ridden by Jim and Caroline from the UK. Although not the most comfortable of rooms (a windowless box in the garage) the hostel staff are incredibly helpful and Skill manages to locate a recommended mechanic. He rides out in the afternoon and books the bike in for the following day before returning to the hostel.

Our not so posh room

We have a long chat with Jim and Caroline (who are more organised than us and are booked on this months' Stahlratte sailing) and realise that we have been to nearly all the same places in Peru and Ecuador and had kept missing each other by days. Funny how that happens sometimes. They are a great couple and we enjoy their company. The following day Jim and Caro are off whale watching for four days so we move into the room they had which is marginally bigger and at least has a fan and a window. Skill also manages to get the bike to mechanics before returning by taxi.

After a couple of days Skill returns to the bike shop (on the metro) to get news on the bike. The mechanics have discovered that the thermostat and seal are the problem so one has been ordered and the bike should be ready by next Tuesday.

The poor old bike parked at the mechanics with about 30 Police Bikes KLR 650s and DR 650s

OK so another week to kill in a big city. It is at this point we take time out to explore the local neighbourhood, it is a fairly clean progressive suburb with lots of restaurants, a large supermarket/mall and the metro is within walking distance as is the huge stadium which offers all manner of sports facilities and free use of the swimming pools.

We also decide to do the Medellin free walking tour, along with another English couple Helen and Steve who are moving to Medellin to live and work, but are currently staying in the hostel. We are big fans of tip based walking tours and this one proves to be exceptionally good. Our guide gives a no nonsense, unglossed and unbiased history of Medellin.

After touring the centre of the city it is hard not to be impressed by what they have achieved. A city, once home of the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar and his narco army and in the mid 90s the most dangerous city in the world. It is one of Colombia's huge success stories.

They have transformed this place from an incredibly dangerous, war torn, no go zone to a beautiful, relatively safe, innovative city with fantastic public transport and infrastucture (their metro system is revered and loved, there is not one bit of graffiti, rubbish or vandalism to be seen)and amazing art filled public spaces in just 20 years. The people of this department (state) really are incredibly friendly and so very, very happy that tourists are coming to see their city. As we heard today, Paraphrased “we are very happy people, we celebrate every little victory life hands us in Colombia, we have had to, as life at times has been very, very bad, sometimes the only way to deal with that is to selectively forget” However like any big city, it would be stupid to pretend that crime is not still an issue. Drug crime, killings and murders do still happen regularly in Medellin, but as we have been told by a few locals, it just does not get reported in the media now.

Out and about in Medellin

Out and about in Medellin

Out and about in Medellin

Out and about in Medellin

Out and about in Medellin - The work "El Pájaro de Paz" (the Bird of Peace) was donated by Fernando Botero in 1994 and is located in San Antonio Park. Ironically the sculpture was destroyed when a terrorist group left a powerful bomb inside it, the explosion killed 23 people and injured some 200 more during a music festival in 1995. Instead of having the badly damaged sculpture removed, Botero demanded that it be left in place claiming (paraphrased) “if we remove it we will forget …..... again” He renamed the original sculpture " El Pájaro Herido" (the Hurt Bird), he then created an identical Bird of Peace to place right beside it. It is a very poignant and powerful reminder of both “peace and violence” and also a memorial to the 23 souls who lost their lives that night.

On Friday night we head out to join Helen and Steve for a few drinks to celebrate their new found apartment just around the corner from the hostel. Red wine, good food, and good company sees us still chatting at 1.00am by which time half the hostel turns up at the window and proceeds to join us for drinks. Debate then rages over which Salsa club we should go to. Discretion being the better part of valour, we make our getaway around 2.00 am while the salsa goers are still debating the merit of each club.

Jim and Caroline arrive back at the hostel the following Sunday full of great stories about their whale watching adventures, it is also World Cup grand final day so we perch ourselves in front of the television, beer in hand and cheer on both teams. Great Game. We then wander out to check out the streets before a great local burger. We also get to watch the antics of a group of young German backpackers who are celebrating the German win in style.

Monday we spend most of the day planning our travels while Caroline and Jim do the same. We make the decision that we will return to Guatape for a week or so as we really like the village, the climate is superb, the hostal is great and the right price, there are lots of hikes to do and we can have some Spanish lessons there. Jim and Caroline are heading North to Cartegena over the next three days, so as we will be doing the same, we together start the great internet hunt for hostel/hotels with parking and GPS coordinates. Skill goes out to check on the progress of the bike, all is going according to plan and we should be able to leave tomorrow. That evening the four of us go out for a fabulous local dinner.

Next day we say “Goodbyes” to Jim and Caroline as they make an early start to Caucasia.

Jim and Caroline leaving Hostal Medellin

On Tuesday after breakfast Skill catches the metro to collect the bike arriving back at the hostel just after noon, we have lunch, pack up and high tail it out of Medellin, we have had enough of big cities for a while. The ride to Guatape is quite nice as we know where we are going and there are no big storms on the way, it is quite relaxing for a change. We move back into the same beautiful room and make ourselves at home, in the afternoon we go for a walk with Nick (one of the hostals owners) and Amber (Nick's adopted street dog), Bernice (a lovely English girl now living Guatape) and Puga (her adopted street dog). We walk a few of the back roads before climbing a large hill that overlooks the town and the infamous “Rock”

Sunset over Guatape and La Piedra Del Peñol

This sets our way of life in Guatape, we so enjoy our time here. Most mornings we go for a swim or a walk into town to hunt and gather. The kitchen at the hostel is great so we do lots of cooking including bread. We even bought yeast and a bread pan in Medellin which we strapped to one of the panniers for it's journey to Guatape. Because of the friendliness of the hostel we often cook and eat together, it is a lovely, social environment.

Most afternoons we go for a walk either around town, or on the little dirt tracks or roads around the town. Sometimes its a walk up into the hills always accompanied by one of the hostels dogs or if not them, some random street dog.

Colourful streets of Guatape

Church - Guatape

Guatape - you can see why we loved it here

Guatape

Guatape is also known as “Pueblo de Zócalos”. Zócalos are highly coloured and decorative friezes that embellish the lower half of most buildings in the centre. The zocalo usually typifies the house/business owners occupation.

Sometimes we just sit out the front of the hostel and watch the world go by. As in most Colombian villages, lives are lived out on the streets, kids playing soccer, or skipping, men mending fishing nets, trucks and horses being washed, soups being cooked, it is an endless array of activity and constant source of pleasure for the beholder. On one afternoon as we are watching the world go by and chatting to Greg and Nick two big bikes arrive out the front. They belong to Pete and Tom, who we do not know but they certainly know many people we do, including Ken and Carol Duval and Cat and Kevin Baker. The biking community while ever increasing is still a small world.

The following day we join Pete and Tom for a ride to San Rafael and San Carlos (recommended by Greg) it is a beautiful ride down through the mountains and valleys. We arrive in San Carlos and eventually find our way down a few dirt tracks to the local waterfalls, just beautiful.

Swimming at the San Carlos Waterfalls

It is then into the town square for the best trout lunch I think I have ever had. San Carlos is another example of Colombian resilience. Ten to fifteen years ago this is not a place you would want to visit. The statistics are horrendous, nearly half the towns population was wiped out in the conflict and the other half of the town's population moved away, mostly to Medellin. The town was a full on war zone. Today it is a lovely modern village full of quite trendy eating places, great boutique clothes shops and countless ice cream shops. Apparently when people returned from Medellin they brought their new found city ways with them. By three o'clock we decide we will return via the same paved road while Tom and Pete take an amazing dirt road that loops back to Guatape.

It's another detour, skyward bound ........ apparently

Sometimes its very easy to forget that Colombia was recently a war zone. This is one of the many bridges in the area blown up by the FARK and still to be replaced.

We are back at the hostel by 5.00 and get ourselves ready to join Bernice in birthday celebrations at her place before eating out at the wonderful Indian restaurant Donde Sam. It is also the town's annual Festival for the Virgin (not sure of her name) so there are huge celebrations in the square, bands, eateries, bars and fireworks. What a great night.

The days seem to go by so quickly and by Monday it is time to farewell firstly Pete and then Tom. Skill has also arranged a few Spanish lessons with the very friendly Yonny.

Pete and his bike

Tom and his bike

We then decide that we will go for a hike to the waterfalls in the mountains with Nick, all the Hostel dogs and Jerman (who is a Colombian visitor to the hostel, his family owns Mama Waldy in Cartegena). To describe it as a hike is perhaps a misrepresentation, perhaps a pub crawl would be more accurate.

Hike or Pub Crawl - Jerman, Nick and Skill

It seemed to take a very long time to get there stopping off at every little shop along the way for a thirst quenching ale. We really did have a great day and did eventually get to enjoy the glorious waterfalls. I very much enjoyed the cold swim but Skill had to be 'helped' into the water by Nick and Jerman!!!!!

Swimming at the falls. The water is freezing.

The following day Skill has another Spanish lesson while I decide to cook up a feast in the kitchen, later in the evening Michelle and Brian turn up at the hostel on their motorcycles. (They are also friends with Ken and Carol and we have been facebooking them for the last few months) As I have been domesticated and have had a big cook up we share dinner and some beers before they return to their dodgy hotel. Unfortunately our hostel was full that evening.

Wednesday sees Skill go kayak paddling on the Lake and Michelle and Brian move into the hostel We get to spend a lot of the day chatting, sharing information and generally enjoying their company. Later in the day we farewell Jerman and his girlfriend, with Jerman's parting shout of “See you in Cartegena” ringing in out ears.

By Thursday we make plans to leave the following day, it is also Stefan's birthday so the hostel shares a great all you can eat BBQ dinner and drinks, a night enjoyed by all. That evening we say very sad fond farewells to everyone as we want an early start in the morning. We really don't want to leave this exceptional little town and our new found friends.

BBQ and Birthday Celebrations

BBQ and Birthday Celebrations

BBQ and Birthday Celebrations, Skill, Michelle and Brian

We get away by 7.30, our earliest ever get away and ride the seven hours to Caucasia with only one stop for a dodgy empanada, cold drinks and a refuel for the bike. The traffic is not too bad and there are limited road works for a change.

One of the countless Colombian peajes (tolls). Fortunately bikes are free but they don't make it easy for a big bike to squeeze through

However it is incredibly hot and by the time we get to Caucasia we opt for the more upmarket Hosteria Horizontes (recommended by Jim and Caroline and Pete), complete with air con, fridge and fan. We consume our usual travelling lunch in the comfort of our room before a cold shower and a kindy nap. It is then out for a quick hunt and gather for beer and a chicken dinner at the local supermarket. We then do not leave the air conditioned comfort of our room until breakfast the following day

Next day we have breakfast at the hotel, fill our water bottles from the refrigerated water cooler and are on the road by 9.00 am. After three hours on the bike I am squirming, obviously the seven hour day yesterday didn't do me any favours so we stop and refuel before trying to find the road to Tolu. Now this should be a simple exercise, it is one of the main roads North, in fact the road to Cartegena, but as we had to go past the main turn off to get to the service station Mr Zumo decides he will take us straight through the centre of town, then down a dodgy range and out onto a dirt road that connects onto the main highway 25 North. It is at this point we can see the main road but have to negotiate a severely rutted dirt track to get there. I get off and walk while Skill gives the bikes' bash plate a work out on his way to the main road. We are both a lather of sweat, in fact I am soaked through and my disposition is “CRANKY”. We should have just turned around and gone back via the main road.

We arrive in Tolu about half an hour later and find the hostel Villa Babilla easily (yes I know it's a miracle). Once again Jim and Caro had recommended this hostel and it is quite delightful. We get unpacked, hang our perspiration soaked clothes out to dry, have a quick shower before heading out to check out the town and have a seafood dinner with a young Aussie couple who are staying at the hostel.

Sunset over the Caribbean

Boats at Sunset

Sunset at Tolu

The heat and humidity are oppressive and storms are building all around, but unfortunately they don't eventuate to help cool things down.

Storms start to build in Tolu

We go to bed with the fan on full blast. At midnight I wake up soaked in perspiration, only to find that the power is out, so no fan. The town is in complete darkness and is eerily quiet, (let me tell you this town is NEVER quiet) there is a huge storm on the way. We go out to watch it's approach from our balcony, it is a full on summer tropical storm complete with lightning, thunder and a torrential downpour which thankfully offers some respite from the heat. We eventually go back to sleep only to be awoken again by another repeat performance at 3.00 am, if anything this storm is even wilder but thankfully the power is restored. What a night, welcome to the Caribbean coast!