I am now in Equator or Ecuador, can you believe it? This means I only have one country to recount in my mind, easy! I really enjoyed Colombia, what a beautiful country, crazy drivers but so nice! Arrived in Cartagena, our captain declared that Colombia was a motorcycle country, indeed, millions of them everywhere. I don’t know if it’s cultural but it’s striking and dangerous, they’re everywhere filling every available inch of the road, at traffic lights, they squeeze between every vehicle just to gain a yard ahead of you, completely macho attitude, wanting to be first in line. At every green light, they’re zooming by frantically, like a swarm of bees. This totally reminded me of Hanoi, same multitude of two wheels rushing like wild cats as soon as the light turns green, I really had to be careful, they’re passing me left and right, legal or not, suddenly braking and rushing again! Damn, you really can’t take off your eyes from both rearview mirrors for a second in this country, it’s maddening!

Getting America out of customs at the Bogotá airport took a while, acquiring the required insurance couldn’t be done online, so I had to wait for ever in this cramped office for the supervisor to come back from lunch so he could “approve” my request to pay for mandatory insurance? That was frustrating, the whole process to be back in the saddle took 8 hours that I’ll never get back. O well, at least I was happy to ride again. Bogotá is a very modern city, I stayed in the center of it, a high rise hotel surrounded by multicolored skyscrapers, the same all over the world multinational chains present as if we were in the states or in any European capital.

I had no interest in staying any longer than necessary, I met some online adventure travel “friends” for a quick drink and discussions on roads to take etc… And I was on the road again the next morning. Bogotá was cloudy and a little cold, due to the altitude I guess, but the weather improved as I was going south. I indulged in a little skydiving at a drop zone 4 hours away but in the right direction, and that was nice. Their plane only goes up to 10,000 feet though, a little disappointing but now I can brag to have jumped in 4 continents! 3 to go? It was very convenient and comfortable to spend the night at the dropzone’s hotel and I pressed on south to the city of Armenia. I was following other riders suggestion for my southern route, but had no inclination in doing the touristy things, so I didn’t go to the gold museum or whatever had been suggested, I was blindly going towards Rio, like forever my goal. My next stopover was Popayán, again, a nice historical colonial city I didn’t explore, excepted the few blocs I walked from my hotel to this nice restaurant where I happily splurged 9 dollars on a pepper steak dinner that included a glass of delicious Chilean red wine! Amazing how far my American dollars took me in Colombia, $10.00 a night for a 3 stars hotel, why would anyone ever be camping?

During my nightly conversations with the lovely wife, I remember raving about the infrastructure of Colombia, the roads are so smooth and well maintained I said, almost no pothole was encountered since Bogota I said… Well that changed suddenly right at the exit of Popayán. Well granted, a few miles out of the city, there was some croad construction going on, that’s when I first saw this road sign that became the sight you don’t want to see often… An orange rectangle depicting at the bottom a 2 lane highway suddenly stopping and on the upper half of the sign what looks like a multitude of dots representing gravel? Or rocks? That is exactly what the road becomes, nothing but dirt, no more pavement, no asphalt, just dirt, rocks, pebbles and where the hell did the road went? I had been warned by the map app on my phone, I’ve been using the phone as my GPS having downloaded offline maps to guide me in every country. It said 6 and a half hours to cover the 271 kilometers, or 41 kilometers per hour when I normally go at least twice that speed… The unfinished road, trail, forest path or whatever we can call it was grueling. It went through the rainforest, actually crossing the national park of Purace, and whaddya know? That’s where it started to rain! The off-road section of this highway 45 lasted for about 50 or 60 kilometers and it took me about 3 hours to complete. This narrow lane of dirt made me jump up and down the whole way. This being the only way to go south, of course all vehicles are taking the same punishments, motorcycles, scooters, trucks, busses, cars, everyone slowly going in both directions… Standing up the whole way on my pegs, like I had been taught in the two off-road training camps I took to prepare for The Trip, I had to carefully plan my next move, which line ahead to take, opting for the least dangerous part of the trail, staying away from the edges, you don’t want to slide off the side and fall into the trees or ravines or ditches… Millions of puddles to gravitate around, sometimes you just can’t avoid the big rocks protruding or the deep holes ahead. My whole universe turned green from the thick and dense vegetation all around, green and of a muck muddy color on the ground, the potholes in front of my wheel are filled with brown water, you can’t see the depth of the holes, it becomes a guessing game, how deep is this one, well we’ll see…

The rain became a deluge, I can’t see thru my visor, the multitude of drops become a haze, I have to keep the visor up and the rain drops pierce my flesh and my eyes. The terrain turns to mud, it is so slippery, I frightened myself a few times almost falling to the side, but America performs beautifully, I’m so glad to have changed the tires recently having opted for more knobby ones, I need all the traction I can get in this sludge forest… And of course you have to contend with the damn macho truck drivers barreling down the mountains in front of you, with almost no space to avoid them, they don’t care high up in their warm cabs, protected from the elements in their steel cages, it’s a miracle I didn’t get flatten in that jungle. I got soaked and had to change gloves twice, but eventually I made it through, and as suddenly as it vanished, for no particular rhyme or reason the pavement magically reappeared. I’m singing with joy the famous tune of I’m singing in the rain! So relieved it’s over. The scenery becomes like Switzerland again, the rain stops, the sun shines, the road ahead is drying up and smoke hovers about it. Cows smile and pastures abound, all is well with the world again. The dreaded orange signs show up again a few times, but, and again why did they stop building the road at this particular juncture ? It’s only for a few hundred meters here and there, they were just teasing me.

After this riding episode, I feel invincible, America and I, we’re a good pair, ready for anything. I recollect with amusement the conversation I had with my initial riding acolyte, Steve, after the off-road riding camp we endured in the Nevada desert. I had told him that I doubted we’d be riding in such harsh conditions on The Trip’s roads, we’d be so prepared after a couple of days of desert hills hopping… Boy , was I wrong! If anything though, I’m really thankful that I did these training camps, the confidence it gave me was invaluable, I can ride anywhere in the world, even if there is no road! I’m also so impressed with my steel horse, America can take a beating, she just showed me how strong, nimble and enduring she can be.

Looking at that blue dot on this world map, that’s me right there, I figure I’m at least half way to Rio now. Going down south for a few more weeks before arrival, I’m on my way to successfully complete this crazy challenge. I will make it, this is now an endurance course, not a leisurely ride, thousands of miles still need to be laid to rest. I’m up for it and I’m still happy to mount America every morning, solitude became my friend and gives me time to introspect, why am I doing this? I’m searching my limits, pushing my strength to unknown reaches, wanting to accomplish what I swore I’d do… I guess I’m a crazy geezer but like John said, I’m not the only one… Imagine that.