2/25-27/2012
On Saturday 25th I had a pretty mellow day, I went for a run first thing in the morning. This place is a party city; people were still catching cabs home from the night before while I was out running at 9am. I got some new shoes my fake Head running shoes were done and smelled awful. I got an Email from Nick, another Adventure rider who is also doing an RTW (I met him in Panama City). He had read my blog and knew I was in Medellin, so we setup a time to meet up tomorrow. I, Matt, Ben (Australia) and Scottish guy all went out for the night. We bounced around for a while, before settling on a very bizarre club, Western Cowboy movie/ Hooter + Midgets… hahah yep that was my night. This place is crazy I was the first to go home, everyone was still going on strong when I caught a taxi home around 4AM.
Sunday 26th I met up with Nick in the center of town. We walked around traded different stories and headed into a Museum where they had all of Fernando Botero’s artwork up. We strolled around found a good deal for lunch and then jumped on the Metro for Pablo’s grave. We skipped the taxi or bus and had a long walk there, we wandered around looking for his grave finally finding it. I don’t know what I expected maybe something like Jim Morrison’s grave, something flashy, or at least a Guard. We jumped back on the metro and headed to the Botanical Gardens at the University. I don’t know what it is but it is s nice to hangout with another Adventure rider, it’s a lot different from just your backpacker. Trading stories, screw-up’s, good choices, and funny stories, all of them. He is off tomorrow for Bogota to straighten out his work visa for NZ. I headed home hoping for an early night, but didn’t get it had a great time out with a bunch of people from the hostel.
Monday 27th, Bike should be ready I will grab it and make my way tomorrow morning for a off the beaten path Border Crossing. I took the cable car to the top of hills surrounding Medellin and had a fantastic view of the city. Met a really nice couple from Texas who have been traveling for the past 4 months and one of them is heading home the other will start to teach English. I had a relaxing day ready to ride bikes tomorrow!! Bikes ready but I will go tomorrow to pick it up and just leave from there.
DAY-116
2/28/2012
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER WINNIE!!!
Woke up early, checked out of hostel and grabbed a cab for the moto shop. I got there had a re-adjust my suspension, but other than that she was ready to rip. Before I put the panniers back on I started her up…. Nothing not even an attempt. Alex was very apologetic, no need it happens. He said he was hoping that the batter would be ready to go with a full charge, but it looks like that my battery is done. So he called around town looking for a battery that would fit, I went and got breakfast. I was hoping for the gel not the water batteries. When I got back he had a few prices and one battery there, the one he had there was a $200+ YIKES!! The gel batteries he had that didn’t need a charge were not the right fit, we could jimmy rig them but it wasn’t the best. So I decided on the stock water battery that needed time to charge. So I will just head back to hostel one more night and leave in the morning.
Right before leaving I asked about the area I have been wanting to head for the past few days, he said it should be fine. Although he did point out that is where most of the guys who own Colombia “plantations” lived in that area. He told me to wait and he would ask his boss who has ridden all over Colombia on a BMW F800GS. They looked at me crazy, that I wanted to ride down there.. What? Well they explained first off just not safe, also there was a just a big gun fight between some cartels and the Colombian Army... haha. Okay then what would you suggest I asked the owner and his friend who rode a ’09 klr. I grabbed my map and they helped me route out a sick loop to the Border. All camping and mostly dirt roads, with a few roads that I shouldn’t stop to long on and defiantly not ride after 4-5pm. So now I wake in the morning fingers crossed and head to Salento a small Coffee and mountain town for the night or two if I like, then over a huge pass to the dessert with a ferry crossing, and then finally to a huge park that I will camp at for a few days.
Gonna be EPIC!!!
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