Well, up, up, and up are all these mountains seem to do these days! It's been challenging to say the least, but I've been loving every minute of it. The scenery is breathtaking down here! It's so green and lush. Our daily rides are filled with rivers, streams, waterfalls, crazy colored birds, and of course I can't forget our consistent friend...the stray dog!
Our first day out of Medellian took us 50 miles south west to La Pintara. Joost lost his tent poles somewhere along the way so we decided to scratch the camping idea and stay at one of the two hotels in town. A bit tired from our ride, we leerily left our bikes with a night guard and lugged the essentials up several flights of stairs; only to be greeted by two hornet nests already occupying our room! After the very memorable bee attacks Ryan and I had already gone through in panama, I let Michiel do the dirty work. We slept undisturbed save the three discotechs just across the street and woke early for our next ride.
40 more miles, a few more hills, and we found ourselves tired and hungry in a small town called Irra. Reenergizing with a beer or two we found a great hotel right by the river for 5k pesos per person! I think the tile floors
were more comfortable than the beds but it had a huge pool (totally out of character for a place like this) which had redemtive value.
The accommodations weren't great and they were made even worse by the bugs that kept bitting all night long, but we were tired so sleeping came easy...well, until Joost woke up freaked out by a cat that had jumped on him through the window lol! A little later that night, well maybe I should say early that morning, Michiel woke everyone by frantically searching through all our gear for some aspirin to lower his fever. Poor guy :/ Anyhow, the guys were feeling sick and nobody really felt like moving in the morning so we took the day off.
The place was peaceful, which probably aided us in sleeping in the next morning. We only got up to eat and then right back to bed...what a lazy day! I guess I should probably mention that both Joost and Michiel are still fighting off being sick. These guys are animals!!! Towing huge bob-trailers, sick as dogs, snot running down their face, coughing, sneezing, up these huge mountains, and never complaining once!!! I'm impressed for sure. Siska and I are doing our best to stay away from the germs but my throat is starting to feel scratchy...where's the vitamin C?!
The next morning we got up early anticipating the difficult ride to Periera ahead of us. 50 miles of thigh busting hills totaling over six and a half thousand feet of climbing and horrible weather to boot! It poured hippopotamuses and giraffes which only made the huge river we had been following even bigger!
Crazy things happen with crazy weather down here! Michiel saw a dead guy under a semi truck who was hit during the downpour...as if traffic isn't bad enough down here when the weather is gracious, all hell breaks loose when the weather turns for the worse. I was again reminded of just how fragile life is. Just another reason to make the one we have count for something worth while!
Being that I have half as much gear as the other three, I made it to Periera first. I waited for awhile for the others to catch up, but not knowing if they were going to hide from the weather in a previous town; I decided to try and find a place to stay for the night.
I happened to run into a gentleman and his wife that had spent sometime in the states and after a bit of conversation was graciously invited to dinner that evening! Yes please!!! Yet another generous group of loving people. Drug capital of the world?! No, Columbia is more like the hospitality capital of the world! Rene and Diana, you and your family are awesome!
I met back up with the group in the morning; just in time to catch the bus to the wild life preserve. We spent a little time walking around the jungle before getting soaked by the afternoon drizle and headed back to town for food and sleep. There really wasnt much to speak of there. We saw a bird and heard some monkeys...nothing out of the usual for a typical day on the bike.
Tomorrow should be comparatively flat as we head to Tulua, but now it's time for bed so I'm ending this post here. Please consider donating to givecleanwater.org when you can. You are saving lives!
