Ibague, Tolima, Colombia. April 9, 2017.
Although the time on the Colombia visa is ticking, I head north once again toward the Los Nevados National Park, I've got one more trick up my sleeve. Barely half an hour from the city and you are already in the countryside.
looking back at Ibague
luckily, a small trail leads to a nice campsite overlooking the large Magdalena river valley.
I was about to set up camp next to the road when I found this
flat and not bad!
The road gets muddy at times but never too bad and surprisingly easy to ride.
the best mornings start like this
Unlike their friends in the lower elevations, dogs here can relax in the cool weather instead of desperately lying under shade all day. They also have more time to be cool.
sorry, seat's taken
even cats had time to be cool too!
Devoid of big traffic, only jeeps do the hauling here. The road is hardly ideal to be packed to the roof with potatoes and peas and few passengers holding on the back.
It was clear that is was up to me to set a role model for the kids here. I took up the responsibility and showed them how to push their bikes uphill.
Then I almost got ran over by a horse, this horse.
a surprise waterfall suddenly appeared
the town of Santa Isabel, about as far as these trucks can go.
everything is possible in Colombia... even cutting down a tree with a machete.
From El Bosque its only horses and motos for a ways.
el Bosque offers free horse parking at the central park
if cows have gangs and godfathers this has got to be it.
looks like a moto drove through here recently
I set up camp under the overhang of a rural school and leave a caribou photo with a thank you note.
Finally Nevado del Ruiz comes in sight and smokes away as I zig zag around the mountainsides towards Murillo.
the texture of these cliffs is sometimes a little disorienting, try staring at that for few minutes and then riding in a straight line
rocks over mud anyday!
the car of the day
finally the big metropolis of Murillo
En route to the small waterfall here I see a man talking to his dad, sad but also very heartwarming.
visiting the watefall is almost the same as sticking your heat up a cold jet turbine.
By the time I am back, Marco Antonio was just leaving as well so we walk together to town.
The dogs are a little reminder of the Wet Dog Paramo days ahead, of being cold and happy.
$2.50 dinner, note the red bowl of doom, full of cilantro.
After I take my turn in chess.
best bike ever! Custom rack job integrated into the frame and also very stable stand
Unexpected sunshine on the way up and I ride along the mule train for almost two hours. They are heading up to haul potatoes. One trip a day, every day of the week, we even taxi a local for few kilometers up.
my friend off to do the pickup in the fields
I continue up on the surprisingly easy graded road under strict supervision.
sleeping on the job
When the clouds roll in, I can just see a window into lands far sunnier and warmer.
But just as I was getting ready to enter wet-dog phase, the clouds kind of stayed mostly up and it only drizzled for a little.
Every valley has a trail that leads to a waterfall. Half Paramo and half volcano mountainside, the colors, textures and the clouds bring out the beauty all around.
With the plan still up in the air I chat away with a group of Colombianos who suggest camping at the hostel, handy to avoid all the cold and rain.
and while you are thinking, "man must be rough to be riding up the paramo," that's not always the case!
no "thermally heated" concrete pool can beat the smell of sulfur, the flow of the river and the greenery around
Jesse and Corine are moving from Australia to live in france so they figured it was best to bike across South America on the way!
1 am. Its not raining and the moon is shining, why not. The Ruiz pass was the first thing I saw of Colombia and although its still closed I couldnt miss it.
I make it to the top just for the sunrise and the clear vews for quite a ways. At 4700m, the howling wind makes it cold, I stop several times to warm my numb hands.
The top was chilly but I ditched the idea of pushing up to the brother volcan of Ruiz because my breaks would definitely be toast on the way down.
this whole place was rad. the descend amazing and the views as big as the sky.
these glaciers will be gone in few decades and that is not an alternative fact.
While thinking of doing a week long hike here later, I run into a pack of jeeps dropping off tourists and guides. Maybe it wont be like the Sumapaz paramo where I did not see anybody for 3 days.
high above the cows, pastures and potatoes
more full view of Nevado del Ruiz
the road was pretty good all along
At Potosi I chat to the ranger boss, not too happy that I went over the pass. (Must have been one of the tour guides that radio-ed him about me) A hike to the laguna nearby, a whooping $10 and another 10 for the overpriced hostel nearby. Hiking as well in here is ran more as a business. Only tour companies drive the closed road and hiking in the park is not allowed without a guide. Too much hassle to be here, I am sure there will be plenty of good hiking somewhere else.
I bee line down the hill towards Manizales and destroy the remainder of my brakepads and likely the front rotor. Two kids on BMX bikes guide me to the bikeshop for some amazing $3 Colombian shimano knock-off pads.
there is some logging operations in the hills nearby
I still need to go back up and get the rest of my gear. I had planned to ride the pass a second time but it would be pretty disrespectful to the rangers and they are nice people.
Sometimes in the quest to achieve photographical greatness the stars align and autofocus does it's job.
I bused halfway and hitched a ride with a trucker to the Agua Caliente finca, luckily Fernando was going exactly there to pick up some big cows.
While waiting for the fatties to be loaded, I got to look a little more around the finca. The old fat dog Bruno, the feel good duck, the coup of chickens and the little goat who couldnt walk but could jump. The kid was cutting wood and we enjoyed some aguadulce (sugar cane water).
On the way back a girl from the farm was going as well and before we took off she said a little prayer. Then I realized why. Carrying 9 of the fattest cows I have ever seen, the poor truck struggled negotiating big rocks amidst the rain and the fog. But most surprising was that I could have gone faster on a bicycle!
Manizales, surprisingly has the same city flag as my homecountry, Bulgaria. Which led to some confusion, especially as fancy hotels had the city flag and I would walk in and see the receptionist with a suit and ask him what is this and if somebody spoke bulgarian...
Now the colombia visa is expiring but I had a "get out of jail free card", or get out of Colombia free card. Few months ago I got bumped from a flight and instead of being dragged off the plane like United, Viva Colombia gave me a free return flight on one of their routes.
although, if I honestly had to describe the experience, it would be the air plane eqiovalent of a chiva bus...
Perhaps my most found memory of Miami would be spending a total of over 14 hours in the city transit getting around airports... the welcome to miami sign should have a note: "get a car"
Washington on the other side, perfectly bikeable, bike trails and lanes, good metro and an amazing citybike share program
I was a little late to catch the protest, a protest I would have gladly joined and while going down the alphabet with plans when traveling can be an amazing thing, it is not the best when it comes to the environment.
It was also a good time to grab all that winter gear for Patagonia and Rubber duckie for the fjords of chile... but more on that later... I leave you with this litter of ducklings for positive thoughts!
