We rode into Cartagena looking for the hostal that Fritz recommended for the bikes. We got lost and lost and lost, but eventually found it. Andy, Tony, Wallace and Manfred decided to stay somewhere else but Jan and I were happy to stay here at $10/night.
The next day we all went to import the bikes into Columbia, which was the most pleasant of border crossings. An air conditioned building with lot’s of friendly people, no tramadorres, no leaches, we just waited for the paperwork to be completed and even had lunch inside the cafeteria.
Later we went looking for insurance in the centre of the centre of Cartagena and man did we attrack a crowd.
We left Manfred with the bikes who already had insurance, and the poor guy had to answer the same questions over and over again while watching the bikes. ‘Where did you come from? Where are you going? How long have you been riding? How old is that Harley? What is a Ural? How many cc’s? How much does this bike cost? …. ‘ I left the guys at the insurance office to see if Manfred was okay as we all though that after 3 hours I might find the bikes on cinder blocks and Manny in his underwear. All was well but there were even more people than before. Manny said, ‘… all the same questions, and only by men! Arrggg, I just want to get out of here’.
We got everyone to move to the sides so we could take this picture ….
The next day Jules and I went to the Volcano …
And laughed for a half an hour when we saw this …
More like a mud crater, we laughed at the absurdity of it all, until of course we got in the mud …
Apparantly Jules’ massage was a little more thorough than mine … we walked down off the volcano, which I’ll have you know was bubbling sulpher just before we got out, and then walked down to the lake while some ladies poured water over our heads to get rid of the mud. They even rinsed us with perfumed water afterward. All in all it cost $20 for the two of us including tips and such …
The Holiday Hostal even has a little workshop area to work on the bike. We washed off all the salt water, lubricated the electrical connections and I did an oil change/filter. Also I forgot to mention earlier that when we were anchored among the San Blas Islands I found this part of a fish or something, which turned out to be part of a turtle, so I stuck her on the front. Many people have already asked or commented, ‘Tortunga’, ‘Si’. Actually I think Tony discovered it but gave it to me, I can’t quite remember.
We left the next morning for Medellin, leaving Cartagena behind.
The first Moto is towing the second Moto. The guy being towed has his toes around the passenger peg of the other guys’ bike.
Finally a toll where Moto’s don’t pay!
A guy having a conversation with Jan about his Harley at 80 k/hr, with ear plugs and in Spanish.
Columbia for sure has the most motorcycles than all of the individual countries of Central America. I can’t get over how dense the two wheel ride is compared to the other places I’ve been.
It was getting late so we stopped for the night in Planeta Rica, Columbia. Here’s the view from the hotel balcony; $17/night.
In the morning I awoke to the sounds of horses hooves on pavement, motocycletta’s and jovial Buenos Dias’. Jan and I went to sleep early and had a good night’s rest, woke up early and started to pack. While I was downstairs with the bikes, Jan took off his shirt under this ….
So after the hotel woman, Mary Louisa, tended to his wound and we had coffee, we decided that maybe he should get stitches. So while Jan was off getting sewn up I stayed in town to go to the bank, have another bite to eat, call my bank in Canada as my debit card hasn’t been working at all in Columbia (they confirmed that all of Columbia is having a problem with the network system, which explains why only one bank has a line up of 75 people constantly. I am able to use my Visa so all is still well. Anyway back to the hotel to take pictures of the moto presence on the streets ….
This is Maria Louisa and she works at our hotel and helped Jan with the initial injury to his hand. She reminds me tremendously of DebbieTown from Newfoundland; same ears, nose, same natural smile and even the shrug of the shoulders and the curl of the nose, and of course the laugh. Jan finally returned stitched up and with drugs for $40. It’s too late to push on and we will give his throbbing hand time to get ready for tomorrow. He will have a tough ride ahead through the mountains so better to rest a day and then giver after.
This guy repaired the watch I found in Saskatchewan a while back while working on The Englishman’s Boy; new battery, new soder points, new grease etc…. but in the end it kept stopping here and there and he decided to trade one of his watches for mine so he could work on the casio on his own time. No problemo, I have a watch that works and it didn’t cost me a dime. Well actually he charged me $5 for the original one. The one on the left was the one I traded for his on the right. The watch hangs off my tank bag and is exposed to all elements. The new one I’m getting is water resistant.
Alright, time for lunch ….. and we stayed yet another night, three in total. After being in Cartagena, it’s a relief to be in a small town where there isn’t one Gringo, nor is anyone soliciting us for money, drugs etc. . In fact no one really cares even though we have celebrity status so to speak. If anyone asks they are genuine and true to their curiousities, rather than lured by the dollar.
I went for a ride around town, weaving in and out of students, people, dogs and other motos. When I’m riding it feels like I have the most powerful machine in the world compared to the smaller engines. And that being said, riding around town is better suited for the local ride.
This is some sort of lottery that happens at the end of the day, after the tickets have been sold like a 50/50 back in Canada. How the numbers are drawn is pretty sophisticated; the big dude spun the wooden wheels while a man chosen from the street is required to throw a dart at the wheel, and after the three are thrown and stuck, the big dude checks the numbers that he hit and there you have the town lottery.
And after a long goodbye, Jan and I hit the road …..
Before heading high into the mountains, all along this road were natural water falls that the locals tapped into and offered truck/car cleaning. There must have been a hundred of them for a few kilometers. I stopped here for a smoke and to catch some free mist in the air.
And then we rode to about 8000 feet and into the clouds. We could barely see our own lights so the going was slow. At one point in the thickest of fog on the side of the road, I saw a white horse eating grass from the side of a waterfall. I thought for a moment I was dreaming for there was no one there but the horse. I should’ve stopped but it was too dangerous and maybe those things are meant for only the mind anyway.
And then down from the mountain I sped off from Jan, which I often do when I don’t feel like going the speed of his bike, especially up hills. Anyway I had a spirited ride, opening her wide and challenging the road. That was good fun and I hadn’t ridden like that for some time.
As it was getting late I stopped for a smoke and a chat with some local farmers (hardly a chat rather a sign language conversation), until Jan rode by. I caught up with him and then went through the toll gate ahead of Jan. After a couple of minutes I couldn’t see him in my mirror so I stopped and waited …. still no Jan. So I went back and look what I found …. some curious police talking with Jan after the usual papers etc. ..
Rule number 1, no riding at night. To stop the cops from asking more and more questions as I’ve heard many times before I pointed at my wrist and said, It’s getting dark. So they permitted us to leave with only a couple more questions and off we went for Medellin. Many locals have often asked, “Aren’t you afraid of the FARC?” Yes but we don’t ride at night so …. anyway, we had to ride the rest of the way and the traffic was so dense it shouldn’t be a problem, except of course for the pot holes you can’t see, the dogs and the trucks coming at you in your lane. As Andy said, the English guy from our boat journey, “It’s the rule of tonnage, so we’ve taken out lot’s of bicycles”. And that’s what we did until riding into Medellin on a Friday night, along with the heavy pollution and crazy, controlled traffic.
We’re staying at a hostal called “Casa Kiwi”. Owned by an ex-pat from Seattle, a fellow rider and in fact a fellow KLR rider. He did S.A. a few years ago and has set up shop here in Medellin. He’s currently renovating so it’s a wee bit chaotic and he had some work done by a crook and so our ceiling was soaked and falling to pieces. However he did give us a big discount from $70,000 Pesos ($35) to ($20) and the bikes are secure in his garage. Paul is also a really genuine kind person so it is easy to stay there. Not to mention he is in the heart of the trendiest part of Medellin, Zona Rosa. He also provides discounts for all bikers. I recommend the place, that is when the work is complete. He just re-opened a week ago and albeit a wee bit early, the vibe is good. There was a Columbian birthday party held there last night, with loud music, billiards and lot’s of Salsa. It was a late night/morning. You can see a piece of the ceiling fell down in the middle of the night. I slept in an empty unfinished room that had a matress and pillow rather than wake Jan in the middle of the morning.
Hopefully I’ll think to take some pictures of the interior as it is really well done, apart from the roof/deck/ceiling room part in our room.
Here’s another video Jan shot while we were riding in Costa Rica, about 200 miles from Panama ….
CostaRicaRide
That’s Paul on the right talking with Ricardo I think, the architect. The renovations are going so quickly these photos are already dated and old.
Before Jan came in the room and I took the picture below, I was reading the beginning of my current journal. We had a good chat, and then went out to the Parque Poblado to hang with the young folk; hundreds of smiling faces drinking, smoking, talking, dancing and grooving with the bartenders, motos, cigarello/chicket dudes and the friendly policia hanging on their Suzuki 650′s. Since arriving in Columbia I have discovered a whole new meaning to ‘Rum and Coke’, even though I don’t drink pop, many people do.
Excerpt from journal …. “February 18th, 2009 … This morning I thanked my house for the love, safety and good times provided to me and my loved ones for the last eight years. I put down the toilet seats and left Gil with the keys and walked to High Park with Inara. It is a mild winter day with soft snow falling lightly, just like the day I viewed 48 Wright for the first time. And while Inara was running through the woods with such dog joy being off the streets and free to run around, I was thinking of preparing for the motorcycle journey Scott and I have been planning since March of ’08. I feel a great sense of calm today and even confidence, both of which I haven’t felt for so long during the economic crisis, me not working on any movies since July ’08; eight months of living on EI, and a line of credit, not even getting close to a woman, feeling depressed and bitter about almost everything I encounter, especially excited happiness. Though I can say today I feel at peace with the future, and a new emotion I haven’t felt or experienced in ages; control of my destiny. I hope the selling process is smooth and the right people get a new home to live in while I search again for my own”.
December 6th, 2008 … a discussion about the super power’s of animals when facing an accidental death, how this power enables you to see in milliseconds, how you are able to see frame by frame, and in some cases desperate enough to also catch every scent catching every blow in the face. How when moving even, you can get a little of that without coming face to face necessarily with that infamous drug called adrenalin in it’s truest from called survival. And it’s no wonder how this simple moment encapsulates a life time; frame by frame, every millisecond for you to understand the most out of every situation both past and present through the process of desperation rather than the constant mediocrity of consistency and security. Those moments when you can see one blink at a time allows us to live rather than seeing the inevitable death. For some clouds just won’t disappear when they’re the same everyday, and other times they appear in shapes you only thought you could imagine.
PS To anyone that has wanted to leave a comment, well my brother the Visionraiser had to turn that option off as I had a hundred thousand or so spam. Apparantly you can register and then comment, but I understand if you don’t want to do that. You can always email me at …. sawyertwo@gmail.com
PPS The golden egg that was given to me from Stephen has been absolutely stellar. I’ve been drinking tap water since Costa Rica. Actually at a highway food stop I went to fill my bottle from a tap outside and the ladies came over to me to tell me not to drink the water and I said but look at this …. they weren’t sure so they just kinda looked at me and the egg dubiously. Stephen, I don’t understand why this isn’t more popular on a masse scale? Here is the site if I haven’t provided already ….
Day 97 September 21st. 2009 Jan went for a spin on his bike yesterday and it seems his rear brake is not working properly. So today he is hoping to get his bike into a shop that will allow him to work on his bike. So today I will wander the streets as a pedestrian even though I’d really like to get back on the road.
Excerpt from journal …. There is no difference in a difference, just in between. June 4th, 2009
Tonight is a quiet one here in the Casa Kiwi, well actually since Sunday (Domingo). It’s nice to be on my computer listening to the crickets and the flowing water from a nearby creek from the mountain. Jan found a shop to allow him to work on his bike, with a lift and everything. The owner is very supportive and refuses to allow for Jan to pay for a small’ish part that one of his workers bought for them today. Apparantly the owner of this Suzuki shop came from another infamous one called The Angel, I think. Anyway, Jan has to work on his front brake tomorrow so another day in the big city paradise, with the longing for something simpler the next day. “… it’s well worth the wait … it’s well worth the wait …. “, The Hip, Long Time Running.
Excerpt from journal ….
Everything is in it’s place. Places like you and me. Why is that a long story? I love that, and it’s nice. Very simple, Very true. All the time, even you.
Who Are You
Why I’m a circle
In a circle of circles.
…..
I enjoy Mathematics, but I don’t like numbers.
…..
The hardest part of this trip so far is getting started. June 12, 2009
…..
Day 1 Panic, anxiety, fear, and a little excitement. June 15th, 2009
…………………
Toronto to Wawa, trucking my stuff out West, so I stop for gas here in Wawa and ask the lady how long will it take to get to Marathon and she says two hours, but watch out for the moose, three were hit in one night this week, she said as the sun was setting. So she suggests the motel across the street and I check in and park in front of my room, and go to the bar for a beer and some take out and while sitting there I looked around and noticed these nice lights above the table booths, and then just realized I was here 12 years ago driving my car to Nova Scotia to meet Rebecca and Sadie, cause I remembered sitting at that booth writing outThank You cards for Sadie’s birth day or to my friends who helped make my two only films, I don’t remember which but both were happening at the same time. I went back to the room, and if I’m not in the same room well I’m darn close for I remember vividly emptying the car into this room during a winter storm, and just to mention, the drive wasn’t so easy the last time. April 29th, 2009
Medellin is beautiful, but in the end it is just another big city. And it’s beginning to feel like I could be anywhere, just not on the road; waving at perfect strangers, having small conversations at gas stations, catching the scents of difference, revving down and shifting up, listening to the engine roar, smiling at children, barking at dogs, standing on pegs, wondering what one wonders, grooving to the tunes, considering the clouds, stopping for water, and taking pictures of moments to share.
I’ve stopped mentioning the close calls on the bike, for they really aren’t that close anymore, unless of course they happen which would be another story. A few days ago a bike was ahead of me and a highway worker was crossing, and just as I glanced at the guy crossing the highway with a long machete, my second glance was the bike had stopped in the middle of the road. My instincts were to shift my weight and pull on one side of the bars at 100km/hr but that really didn’t make a difference and so I accelerated past this moto with my heart in my throat. Often too when rounding a bend one can expect to see a big truck in your lane passing another big truck. All you can hope is, is there enough room to brake and pull over. Yesterday in the city I saw a bike go down, the rider jumped over the bike and landed in front, still holding his bags of groceries. He cursed the taxi who had cut him off, kicked his bike and then pushed it off to the side while the traffic continued around him.
My bike has been locked in a damp garage for five nights and the other day when I was doing some maitenance it was struggling a bit to idle properly. So I’m off now to ride around the city, so my horse doesn’t cramp or become too restless.
September 23rd, 2009 Medellin Yesterday as I said above, I took my bike out of the garage for a spin and on the way I saw a loaded bike on the sidewalk so I pulled over and introduced myself to Wolfgang ( Wolf ). He is a German man who has been traveling South America on and off but more on for the last 4 years. He is currently heading for Mexico with a break in Germany to catch up with things until the spring and then he is headed for Alaska. We agreed to meet for dinner this same day at 7pm.
So I continued on up the mountain to get a good view of Medellin and to run the humidity out of the bike.
When I pulled over to take these pictures a couple of young guys asked me for a light even before I had gotten of the bike. They lit a huge joint and we started talking a little while I was taking pictures. Then a truck filled with Columbian Military pulled over in front of my bike and they all got out. I moved away from the young guys thinking the Military would think I was with them when I was not.
You can see the two young guys on the left side of the picture below. Then the conversations started with the Military men and about the bike. I pulled out my Spanish/English dictionary and recently purchased mini electronic translator. We talked about the usual things and had some good laughs at the expense of me or some of the other guys. Even without language, simple humour is universal. One of the guys asked why I had two rocks glued to the bike, and the tortuga. I explained how and why each of them ended up on my bike and then he took his machine gun and pulled out of a bullitt from the clip and handed it to me and gestured for me to put it beside the two rocks. ‘But what about the Policia, and the border into Equador!’ I said laughing, and acting out the arrest of me. They laughed and said ‘No problema, regalo Militari Columbian’. So I happily glued it onto the bike right then and there. Meanwhile the two young guys kept asking me for money while I was talking to the Military and I kept saying momento and I pulled out a small wad looking for small bills but I didn’t have any. I wouldn’t normally have pulled out my money but I was surrounded by guys armed for a mini war so I didn’t worry too much. The young guys saw I had only big bills and kept asking over and over for money while I was still talking to the Military. Then one of the guys took a fancy to my dictionary and translator and told me over and over again that these two young guys are going to try and rob you so when we leave, you will leave before us. It was agreed, even though I wasn’t really too worried about these two young guys unless they had weapons of course.
The guy who gave me the bullitt took the picture I’m afraid, but maybe he did this on purpose who knows. I was very touched by his gift and said so, and he just kept smiling. I hope the border crossing into Equador doesn’t get crazy considering the bullitt is from the Columbian army and the current friction between the two governmentsis a little tense. The other soldiers are behind us sitting and smoking, and some were talking on phones etc. .. The guy on the far right in the b.g. is some kind of head dude.
The guys even suggested that we put my bike in the truck and head to Rio Negra for some beers for the night and in the morning then I could ride back, that is after they busted some guys at the airport. I declined, but thought about it casually for a bit. As well when they asked about my family I showed them a picture of my daughter Sadie, and they immediately moaned, Ooooooooo, bonita, bonita. Then they said I should have Sadie come to Columbia but I laughed and said No imposible!, and they laughed.
Later I rode back to the city and stopped at Hooters Columbia for a beer. A few days ago I remembered somebody saying that Hooters in Columbia was fun and not like the American version. So I’ve been stopping in there for a couple and I’ve met a couple of really nice ladies, one of which has been helping me with my Spanish, her name is Deanna. And the other in particular, which is a rarity to find in Central and South America, is a female gringo from Russia named Lana. It’s so unusual to meet a fully integrated foreginer that isn’t a man. At least in my travels so far. Actually that being said there is an Irish woman staying here at the hostal who has worked in Peru for 9 months. So I digress …. then I rode back to the hostal which is only a couple of blocks away and ran into the first film crew I have seen since leaving Canada. I stopped my bike, turned it off and exclaimed in English to the first technician walking by, ‘I work in movies!’. And he replied, ‘What do?’, ‘I acted out my position and he said, ‘Boom!’ Si, si, and I took a picture and got the heck out of there cause the people were trying to make a movie eh.
And of course later on Jan and I met with Wolf to talk over dinner. He shared a great deal of his experience with the roads and suggested many alternatives for Jan and his ’43 Harley in case things should become too difficult. I’m sorry that I didn’t get a picture of Wolf and his bike when I met him earlier in the day unloading at the hostal but I really didn’t even think of it which is unusual. He’s riding a ’96 Suzuki 650 covered in stickers. He really is a lone wolf cause I didn’t really get a good picture of him.
Excerpt from journal …. Wolf is a patient wise soul who genuinely cares. He really does seem like a wolf; alone, hidden but present, thoughtful and basically to my eyes, a wily veteran of South America and beyond. But mostly he really looked into you, without the concentration line furrowing into the distance.
Today Jan has more work to do on his front brake which was worse off than he thought it might be. I guess a lot of the sea salt got into the openings that modern bikes aren’t subject to, so we are spending another day here in Medellin. Everything has it’s reason, for example my adventure yesterday would not have happened if we were not here for another day. I have a few minor things to do with my own bike that I’ve been putting off so I will tend to those today, and maybe go for a wee ride. Later in the evening while sitting out on the deck I heard, ‘Who owns that piece of shit KLR?’. ‘That would be me’. So I go down to the garage to find my twin, and Dan from Colorado.
The next day we go for a ride. From the moment we started riding through Medellin to find the highway out of town to find La Pena, I nicknamed him ‘Speedy Dan’. Incidentally Jan is still working on his bike and after finishing, and re-tweaking he needs time to write an article for a Motorcycle magazine so I’m left with the decision to move on tomorrow being Saturday or wait until Monday and ride together. Last night I found a woman who works here at the hostal, Deanna, who gives private Spanish lessons so I was thinking of staying and learning some Spanish, rather than hope for a re-encounter with Jan down the road. I’ll make my decision today.
Dan and I finally got onto the highway to Bogota which is in the direction of La Penol. It’s crazy really that Dan showed up with the same bike, same color, same top box, same panniers and other such parts from Happy Trail in Boise, Idaho. He’s a good guy and we had a really nice ride this day, as well as the hike up the Grande Piedra; 600 and some steps.
Once we got to the top these ladies wanted Dan to take their picture. I couldn’t resist taking their picture myself.
I guess this man was the first to climb the rock.
Today is Friday the 25th of September, Day 101.
Today is Saturday the 26th of September, Day 102
I had many great conversations with various people last night. The kind you discover when screwing in a light bulb with the switch on, the kind you see when you realize one animal is eating another, and another, or another ….. a kind of parody without limbs.
Run your cursor over Parody and click, then back button, then Bon Iver’s Flume, then back, if you please …
So I stayed in Medellin for the weekend to await Jan’s bike results, and on Sunday the head mechanic, Don Carlos and friends, Deanna, Ricardo and Gustavo, took Jan, Dan and I for a Domingo montar, a Sunday ride. I suppose that was a run on sentence ….anyway it was a beautiful ride, a really pleasant day.
Ricardo who is a motorcycle magazine writer/rider took this picture so I’m afraid he didn’t make it inside the frame. He would ride on ahead of us, park, get his long lens ready and shoot while we rode by. And of course he took numerous photo’s of The Flying Dutchman and his Harley.
Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, Jan’s front brake was smoking hot and burning going up and down the mountain roads. Today, being Monday, Jan had to go back in the shop again so Don Carlos and he could shave off some bits and try to stop the front brake from sticking. He’s just now returned and said the brake is hot, not sticking though and has never felt better, ‘It’s like I have a disk brake!’. So we leave again, tomorrow morning for the south of Columbia, where ever that may be. Until then however, I have one more night of Yahtzee or The LumberJack game. The three of us computer dudes played both dice games into the wee hours of the morning.
Excerpt from journal …. ‘cara y sello’ or ‘sello’, ‘face’ or ‘number’, ‘heads or tails’ …. I can’t believe I am still here in Medellin. This is the longest I have stopped, a total of 10 nights if we leave tomorrow. The other night when we were out a guy was offering us hand made jewelry for sale, and then wanted to know about our travels and such and then said to me, ‘One moment, I will get a gift for you’. And he left behind one of his displays, and us three standing around his goods, protecting it from the street people. After a couple of minutes I said, ‘I think the gift he is thinking of giving us is patience’. So I left Jan and our new friend with the goods to go for a stroll. He later returned with nothing but good wishes and took his jewelry and left. I’m quite sure the gift was patience. This being realized, I decided that I should give Jan the time he needs, and not give him any doubt or bad feelings or guilt about me waiting for him, and rather on the contrary, give him the understanding so he can enjoy the days he has been working on his bike, instead of worrying about me.
Writing in the dark
I don’t see what is written.
Reading in the light
I can already see what was said.
Day 102 All at once, the garage door broke and we fixed with a miraculous nut that appeared twice in the same spot, as an old Renault stopped in front with water gushing out the radiator, I felt the urge to move back a step and look up just as a 3 foot piece of 2X4 was sawed off from 20 feet in the air, missing me and landing on Andreas’ moto and smashing the guages into pieces, all at once this happened.
I don’t understand how the hostal big screen is always on and someone watching. Even watching movies they’ve seen before the other night. Here in Columbia watching TV, go figure.
Excerpt from email ….
Hi Markus,
I must be spelling your website domain name wrong- can’t bring it up. I wanted to see how all was going with you on your travels. Could you send it to me? Also, I find it a bit tricky navigating my way through the website-how does one find stuff, ie. latest news etc.
Sadie made the high school volleyball team and, according to her fellow teammates is one of the top players. She is so modest and lovely. She has a math tutor twice a week at the house and it seems to be helping but I need her to go over what she’s learning and to go over her math everyday, practice it to really bring the concepts in. Other than that, high school is challenging but she likes it alright.
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for sharing what Sadie is up to. I really want to Skype with her, from here in this hostal in Medellin, that I can’t seem to leave. It’s all in the blog …. http://www.flibbertgibbet.com/
Markus
