I don’t think the experience yesterday on that road really started hitting until last night and I realized that there was no way I could ride like that for 11 more days.  Doing SOME riding like that is totally doable, but maintaining that level of focus and intensity all day every day is just not reality.  And since I’d had ONE day of riding in Colombia, and that was my experience, I have to ask:  Are all the roads in Colombia like this?  If they are, I really need to rethink our plan here.  this may not be doable.

My Colo Coffee morning.  Yum.  And some jugo de frutas of unknown frutas…

I started looking at alternate routes and tried doing some research on the roads while at Colo Coffee (great by the way), but I wasn’t finding much this morning.  I have a meeting scheduled with Mauricio Escobar (no relation as far as I can tell) from Elephant Moto (an adventure guide service here in Bogota), and I’m hoping he can shed some light.  Gio and I decided to wait to hear what he has to say before making any drastic decisions.  If he tells us that the riding I experienced is typical and what we should expect the next week and a half, I’m tempted to call this off.  I’m cool with taking risks, but that ride can’t be done daily (although I’m SURE people do it every day of their lives – amazing).

But after 2 minutes with Mauricio, things changed.  Our meeting started like this after a friendly greeting:

Eric: Holy shit Mauricio, yesterday was a hard day.  I’ve never experienced riding like that.

Mauricio: Yea, you came in the wrong way Eric. That road is the main trucking route from the huge port in Bueneventura and you climb a mountain. It’s a disaster. It’s horrible. That’s why I told you to go through Honda.

Ohhhhh!!!!  First off, that is the single best news I could have hoped for!  And, secondly, oops…  weeeellll, in fairness, he DID tell me to not go that way, but he didn’t tell me WHY.  I really need the why.  I thought he was suggesting that route so that I would see Honda, not that he was directing me to avoid one of the most dangerous roads in S. America!  I might have employed useful information like that usefully. Apparently, the road I took even has a name: Alto de la Linea.  Those words now scare me.  And it’s listed on DangerousRoads.org.  So I did that.  I will not do it again.

And just like that we’re back on track baby!  Mauricio and I worked on a couple routes together, and now we may or may not see Cartageba, but the days planned are manageable and doable.  We even have some dirt planned along the way, and I now know some roads to skip due to traffic.  Also, I found some great towns to hit – one of many boasting to be “THE most beautiful town of Colombia,”and another being the “adventure sport capital” of Colombia.  So that’s cool.

I spent the rest of the day walking around, sitting in the park, drinking coffee and just enjoying Colombia.  It got “warm” (like 75) for about an hour when the sun peaked out, but otherwise was just perfectly pleasantly cool.

I have to tell you about the super dangerous thing I did today:  I was walking and texting my dad when I hit my head on a tree branch.  Hard.  It was more like a tree trunk.  Thick and angry.  Kinda surprised I’m not bleeding.  Super hard to look cool doing that.  Don’t believe anyone when they tell you Bogota is a safe city – they have tree branches at head height.  I should wear a helmet at all times.

Dinner tonight was with Sonia’s brother, Juanito (not sure if he’s down with me calling him that, but that’s how he’s in my phone now that Sonia texted me his contact info – I mean no offense) at a place of which I forgot the name, but it was great!  Very cool spot – some great design and thoughtful materials.  And I kept asking Juan what all these people are doing out on Monday night!  The place was packed – he said Bogota is always like that. Amazing.  He also said that yea, don’t ever ride that road, it’s terrible.  Ok, I get it.

I could not help but take a photo in the bathroom. Such a fun effect. I entered an alternate universe through some space gap…

Juan also gave me a little background on Colombia – he was born in Bogota then moved to Armenia as a kid.  So we hear all about the mad rush of refuges storming into Colombia from Venezuela, and that had me a bit concerned, but he explained something you don’t read in the news – during the 90’s maybe a million (maybe more, not sure on the number) Colombians fled to Venezuela, so many of the Venezuelans coming to Colombia are also Colombians or second generation.  So yes, there is an influx, but it’s more nuanced than we read about.  Shocker.

It was also interesting to get a quick take on our politics.  The one question he asked was, it’s very hard for us to reconcile the what is happening now in your country and the way it was founded – wasn’t it born from immigrants, and aren’t all US citizens really immigrants a few generations removed?  Si mi amigo, si.  (I’ll try really hard to hold back my views on the situation – this isn’t the place.  Just a messenger here, but it’s hard to see an almost universal reaction to our situation at home and watch our country’s influence and place in the world dwindle due to…  our current situation…)

Great day.  Didn’t see a ton, but got some much needed planning done and some even more needed rest.

I didn’t really focus too much on the photo taking – just sort of wandered.  Oh, maybe I’ll take a moment to touch on my travel habits. I do NOT use a guide book, and I do not look to check off all the touristic spots – I feel like that’s the best way to get done with a trip and see the same shit everyone else saw. I can find all that on google photos.  No, I prefer to just walk.  It’s true that I absolutely miss some must-sees – like the Gold Museum or or the Wax House.  But I prefer to just see how people move through the city.  I downloaded an app to be able to rent scooters tomorrow to see more of  the city.  Plus, on moto trips, there is massive planning and hotel booking and route planning, etc, etc, etc, so it’s a bit different than a “sight-seeing vacation” in a city.  If you were wondering why I didn’t have photos from big lines awaiting to see the greatest touristic spot, that’s why.  Like, I’ve never been to the Domes in Milwaukee – I’d guess that that’s a big “tourist” spot, but does that give you a taste for our fine city?  I think not.  I’d rather wonder Brady St. or the Third Ward and find my own spots.

Gio arrives tomorrow night, and I’m looking forward to having a partner in crime…

A few shots from this amazing city today:

Just thought it was cool.

Bogota has great parks. Super relaxing.

Am I in Europe?