12340 km Medellin

So on the 11th of november it was finally time to get active again. After almost a month off the bike it was time to work on the milage once more. Ecuador did not give me an easy start in the saddle for the first day. The heat is relentless here and needless to say it’s non-stop climbing here in the Andes. The first few days were rough but I managed to hang in there and do close to 100km a day. I had a brief stop in Otavalo to check out the biggest market in South-America. The next day I was off again in the direction of Colombia. On day 3 I crossed the border. A cumbersome event with a line of almost 3 hours. Lots of Venezuelans are leaving their country due to the problems there. Many try to cross this border on their way to Ecuador, Chili and Peru. After a few hours I was through and cycled the last 4 km to Ipiales Colombia. I took a day there to sort cash and see the amazing Santuario de las lajas, arguably the pretties church/cathedral in all of South America.

After Ipiales I was off to Cali, known as the worlds capital for Salsa dancing. I took some free lessons and enjoyed the salsa all accross town in the numerous Salsabars around. I did not stay to long though. Cali felt very dodgy. About 10 tourist from my hostel got robbed in the 2 days I was there. The whole feel off the town was pretty unpleasant, so I was happy to leave again and head on to Solento. A small colonial town near the Cocora valley. This valley is known for the incredibly tall palmtrees. I found a really nice hostel on a coffeeplantation, spend a day hiking in the valley and did a coffeetour explaining the whole process from seed to your cup off coffee. We also roasted our own beans and I definitly intend to start doing that myself as well once I return to the Netherlands. After a few days I headed off for Medellin for yet another bit of climbing. As you can see by the title of this blog I made it here. Yesterday I went to Guatape, which is located in an area flooded for a hydroelectric dam. The scenery is beautifull and the town of Guatape is quite pretty as well. I’m planning another day to see more of Medellin and then I’m off yet again for the last bit of Andes mountainrange to the north of Medellin. I’ve been told it’s very difficult by the locals, but the Andes does not scare me anymore 😉.

Just a week more to Cartagena and then the chapter South-America will be closed. I’m hoping to find a boat to Panama from Cartagena. Cycling is unfortunatelly not possible to Panama due to the Darian gap. There are no roads connecting the countries and unless monkeys are willing to stamp my passport over there, entering and leaving the countries there not an option.

Take care all, next post might be coming from Middle-America!