San Agustin

The mountains have not been kind to me yet, another wet and murky ride over to San Agustin, though the first 25 miles were dry and provided a couple of photo ops. Credit to a couple of locals for the photo by the waterfall.

Above 9,000ft the rain came down pretty hard, the road turned slushy with mud. Clutch and throttle control was at a premium, 2nd gear mainly, with little braking and then only the rear. Touch the front brake in this slop and the bike would go down.

San Agustin is famous for a variety of archeological sites, the most famous of which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, located just 2 miles up the road. Wouldn't you know it, today it was closed for no particular reason; it is supposed to be open 7 days a week! Not to worry, onto the next one about 15 miles away, Alto de los Idolos, a burial ground for the chiefs. Enough stone work to keep me happy.

                              

Allow me to introduce you to Arturo, owner of the La Gaitana hotel and my host. He makes the most delicious coffee from beans harvested from a couple of bushes in the backyard, dried and home roasted. Imbibed black without sugar the coffee has a hint of natural sweetness. The new Juan?

Heading south and west tomorrow (Wednesday Feb 6th). Back over the range and hoping the mountain spirits will look more favorably on me.

T2

Saddle Views - The Road to Palmira and the White City.

Before updating my activities of the last 48 hours an engaged reader of this blog enlightened me on the reason behind the difficulty in locating Juan Vadez. Evidently, he popped his clogs on January 9th this year, or at least the person on whom the Colombian coffee icon is based. The input was much appreciated and I am hoping for further illuminating correspondence, in particular related to the missing racing rodents of Bogota. Urban myth perhaps?

For Saturday's journey from Filandia to Palmira through the Valle de Cauca I popped the camera onto the helmet and collected views from the saddle. See the trip as I did, a description of each picture can be found below the video.

1. Typical countryside heading west from Filandia to Quimbaya.
2. Banana trees are commonplace in the mountains, with many roadside stands selling the fruit. The bunches are covered in blue plastic bags while on the tree (which can be seen on one of the trees). The bags protect the fruit from insects, birds and from rubbing against other parts of the tree, which causes black marks apparently. The perfect specimens must be exported, the only ones in the stores here are covered in black marks. They still taste good though.
3. Quimbaya on a busy Saturday morning.
4. Blue sky over the mountains, the first seen in five days.
5. Topes - or speed bumps, are present throughout towns when bisected by busy highways. For two-wheelers they provide a convenient place to overtake trucks and buses that slow to a crawl, a moto can zip by. Watching the locals and learning the ropes for topes; some actions would attract a ticket back home. When in Rome!
6. Rural Valle de Cauca on the Pan-American Highway. Sugar cane is the primary crop.
7. Imagine a cow tethered on the verge of the M1 in the UK, or I64 in Virginia. 
8. Maturing sugar cane.
9. Police/Military check points are common. Vehicles are picked at random; they point - you stop. I passed 4 in the space of 90 miles. Thumbs up and all is good. So far they have been directed at me or I have been ignored along with other motorcyclists. 
10. An area of tiendas along the Pan-American. They are all selling the same thing, not sure why one would be chosen over another. In this particular spot grapes and grape juice was in abundance, so they must be produced nearby, though I never saw any vineyards.
11. The Pan-American like other major highways is a toll road. Motorcyclists don't have to pay and a narrow lane is provided on the right hand side of the toll booths to pass through without waiting. Civilized I think; something for the NJ Turnpike Authority to consider!
12. Road trains hauling sugar cane are common place, most tractive units pull four trailers. This one was a record, five trailers. They are very long and caution is required to get past them, though they seem to move at a decent clip once underway. Numerous points on the highway have 'Tren de Canero' crossings between fields. They are patrolled with guards who halt traffic on the Pan-Am to allow them (and road travelers) to navigate the crossing safely.
13. Passing through a sugar cane plantation on the way to the Museo de la Cana de Azucar.
14. 15. 16. Views from the museum where exhibits dating from the late 16th century to the 20th trace the development of the sugar industry, all set in beautifully manicured gardens.

On Sunday, Feb 3rd the journey south continued through the Valle de Cauca to Popayan. It is called the White City, the pictures provide the explanation.

                             

                              

The main buildings wrap around the main square which itself is very nicely maintained. A walk over a well preserved brick bridge dating from the 1600's, once the primary route into the city, rounded out a pleasant afternoon stroll.

Tomorrow it is back into the mountains, east towards San Agustin.

All the best. 

T2

In Search of Juan Valdez

The town of Filandia is home to Steel Horse, a Finca run by Yvette and Paul, located in the Zona Cafetera of Colombia. Juan Valdez is the national marketing brand for Colombian coffee, not only represented by the raw or roasted beans that are exported, but also a chain of cafes found around the country, much like Tim Horton's in Canada, Starbucks in the US and Costa in the UK.

The demanding manual labor the farmers engage in (here the coffee beans are hand picked from the plants that are perched on the side of the mountain) requires the consumption of about 4,500 calories a day. Breakfast is an important meal to get the day off to the right start. This morning breakfast was served at a restaurant favored by Paul and Yvette; I opted to try the local desayuno completo. Potato and rib soup to start, followed by steak, eggs, rice, beans and a frisbee sized arepa, washed down with hot chocolate. It was huge.

A brief shopping trip followed to pick up fresh veggies and meats for the pantry. No polystyrene shrink wrapped trays here; everything is grown or raised locally, delivered daily to the stores, including milk delivered direct from the farm in steel churns. Processed food need never touch your plate.

Milk delivery.

Filandia is an attractive, clean town that in the last few years has become a weekend tourist destination for city based Colombians and is increasingly on the map for foreign tour companies.

At noon a short ride took me to Salento, the heart of coffee country and the gateway to the Cocura Valley. The valley has a unique type of tree, the wax palm, that grows nowhere else on earth.

Salento provided an ideal spot for a late lunch, notwithstanding the calories banked from the farmers breakfast. An attempt was made to keep consumption modest, though it proved to be a dismal failure. Good intentions wrecked by Oblea Especial, that oozed calories in the form of cream, cheese, caramel sauce, strawberries and jam. It was delicious, big and artery clogging. Lunch was completed by a coffee, it would have been wrong to visit without having one.

 

El Burro had its work cut out making the return journey to Filandia with an engorged porker in the saddle.

Oh, and as for Juan, well he was as scarce as the racing guinea pigs in Bogota. The coffee bushes could be seen on the sides of the hills at some distance, not close enough to make for a decent picture. Tours of the coffee plantations are available, in English, but early in the day. I need to press on south tomorrow so will take a pass.

Onward.

T2

On The Road

Clean diesel has not made it to Colombia. Trucks and buses clogged the streets spewing particle laden exhaust as my two-wheel adventure began, departing  Bogota on Tuesday morning.  Traffic was at a standstill on the main route heading west; I followed the local bikers and took to the shoulder. That would get you the middle finger back home, here it is the norm and probably saved 30 minutes in travel time in addition to my lungs.

The trip over to Manizales saw a variety of weather (fog to cloudy to sunny to rain), temperature (48F to 92F), altitude (starting at 8,600ft down to 1,000ft, peaking at 13,000ft) and scenery. Once out of Bogota the countryside was a joy to pass through. The mountain roads were spectacular and demanded total concentration. The altitude profile of the last 70 miles tells the story, 5,000 ft. changes every 25 miles. The views were good.

Armero is a town that disappeared from the map on November 13th, 1985 as a result of a lahar generated by the ice melting when the volcano, Nevada del Ruiz, erupted. It killed thousands and  was an eerie place.

 

I stayed in Manizales for the night, not a quaint place. A working town it seems, judging by the many low cost fast food restaurants and not much else to select from. Though my slice of pork, griddled with salad and french fries was decent; including a beer  and  tip, less than $7 so no complaints. The hostel was on the main street downtown, which as it turned out does not go to sleep until after midnight, even on a weekday. The video offers some hints of the day and views of Manizales.

                                          

Unfortunately, Nevada del Ruiz was shrouded in cloud when I rode around the base on Wednesday. It was a short (60miles) but challenging ride, the last 25 miles were unpaved; potholes, rocks, mud, four water crossings (my first) and elevation changes, topping out at 13,587ft. That said a minibus makes the journey once a day in each direction!

The weather and terrain did not lend itself to picture taking, though I did stop in the area where the lahar made its way down to Armero. Towards the end of the ride I met 3 Americans, Alex from Colorado with Casey and boyfriend Matt  both from Newtown, CT. A small world indeed.

The night was spent in Murillo, where old methods of transport are much in evidence with the local campesinos.

Thursday was a longer jaunt through more exceptional mountain roads to the small town of Filandia. Steel Horse Finca is owned and operated by two early 30's Brits. They escaped London, spent 16 months on motorcycles traveling around this continent and decided to call Colombia home. They are developing their property to host 'overlander' travelers. A very comfortable spot where I will spend the next two nights. 

All for now.

T2