TO THE ANDES AND BACK

Happy new year to all of our million readers! It is now time for a post in English, so that Ray and Christophe can also contribute!

I am just up from the first relaxing nap of the whole trip, on the hammock of Macondo Hostel in San Gil, and I start writing as I wait for Portos and Aramis to come back with the bikes...but let me start from the beginning.

We haven't found a clear map of the Andes, with altitudes and distances in the whole of Colombia: all we new is that we wanted to reach the Sierra Nevada de el Cucuy from San Gil, and that we wanted to do it by bicicle, in spite of the time and the effort that it might take. We have also rented, not without painful negociations, a motorbike Honda 125 with over 40.000km, to help us rotate and carry the luggage. Our directions were more of a word of mouth, often confused, and one blurry foto of a map we took in a bar.

Anyways, we started with the approach:"in any case we can always come back, lets do it step by step".



On the first morning we have started with 33km of paved up and downhill in a tropical environment. You won't believe it but Raymond has had to learn how to drive a motorbike with manual gears and no brakes on such a road! I can't believe he made it so well!

Raymond´s view: " I crashed the bike twice and almost had a heart attack on the motorcycle."


We arrive in the first lost village, Mogotes, from which the real countryside and mountain start. We decide to go on to the next village, San Joaquin, which people say is about 30km away. Well we didn't expect 25 of those km to be strongly uphill on a completely dirt road, as we climb up to 2700 meters, before going down to the actuall village, at 1950meters at dusk. One of the most painful bike climbs ever for us!

San Joaquin is roughly the size of Carbonara al Ticino, and unbelievably there is one hotel which saves our day! It is though the most welcoming village you can imagine, we even get to meet the mayor since we are the first ever tourists in town!!


Big decisions coming up for the next day: should we continue with even less information or rather humbly come back and take a bus to El Cucuy (which still is over 12 hours)?
Following the step by step approach we decide to continue to the next village, since it is only 20 km away on a dirt but flat road. It is a beautiful ride in the fresh vegetation of the 2000 meters, with the famous Andean Condor flying meters away from us.

In Onzaga we pause for a fresh mango while we decide it is now too late to go back and that we have to climb the 32km of dirt road away from the paved road that goes from Bogota' to the Andes. This road is apparently the steepest and no buses or services run on it, which is a bit scary, but the sunny day encourages us to try. Being all the way uphill the upside is that you can always reverse your bike and go to sleep in Onzaga (Another Carbonara al Ticino).
The climb is absolutely stunning, but very very tough: Christophe and I hardly go over 5km an hour in the worst parts. After 3 hours and 20 km we realise we are moving way too slowly to avoid being stuck in the night. We therefore try the all for all: Ray takes a bike which I tie to the motorbike via a rope I had previously purchased in Onzaga, and I pull him uphill for the remaining 5km! Despite being a bit dangerous, this turns out to be a great solution, and Ray steers like a god as we pass through rocks and small torrents. Once he is safely uphill, I go back get Christophe, whith the same technique. At 3pm we are on the Paramo, a plateau at 3350 meters!


We are just euphoric for having made it here, and despite the fact that this land is inhospitable and unhabited, we know the next city is some 40km downhill away, most of which on a paved road: holiday!
We therefore decide to enjoy the Paramo: minimal vegetation, fog, cold (about 5 degrees) and unbelievable view over the mountain top. And this is where we decide to have Raymond sing the highest Ave Maria ever sung! The video is too big and will follow later.



We then ride downhill the last 42km Soata', our final destination, where we arrive when the sun is down already. We deserved our dinner: we literally set the restaurant on fire!


Having left all of our cycling equipment at the hotel, we go by bus to El Cucuy, and then walk up to some wooden house at 3900 meters, where we sleep before the last step: going up to the Pulpito del Diablo, where the Sierra Nevada actually begins!

This is where some of the highest mountains of the andes are, with many peaks well above 5000 meters.


The hike to the Pulpito is amazing, and we really discover what absence of oxygen means: we climb at 2/3 km an hour, but our hear beat is over 170 and every step up is a big deal!


After 4 hours we eventually arrive in sight of the Pulpito and some 500 meters later to the actual snow, which most colombians greet with great enthusiasm as it is the first and only time they can see it in their country! Unfortunately the glaciar is thought to melt down in the next 20 or 30 years.
We are here at 4900 meters, higher than the Mont Blanc!



After another night in Soata', I have driven the motorbike back all the way through the Andes: Paramo, Onzaga, San Joaquin, Mogotes and eventually San Gil. And this Tommy is where you would have loved to be here cos it reminded me of when we rode to Abancay from Cuzco in Peru!
Christophe and Raymond are instead coming back by bus with the bikes and this takes much longer. Below you find their tales! We are now done with sports, next step is the Jungle and the Caribbean Coast so watch out for the next posts!

FEDE in San Gil



From Raymond´s point of view

I had no idea what I was really getting myself into on this trip. When the word Columbia came up in conversation I thought of drug trafficking, beautiful people and being kidnapped. I little time spent on this beautiful country and my view has dramatically changed.

On almost every winding corner of teh hilly mountains you can find a statue with the Virgin Mary and flowers, fake and fresh, left by worshipers. The churches are not full, but these people carry their faith outside the church walls. On many buses there are colorful pictures of the baby Jesus with outstretched arms floating over a waterfall. Needless to say Catholicism is very present here. Columbians do not strike me as "churchy," but they seem to posess a strong inner faith. It´s amazing to me to think of how much this country has been through yet everywhere I have traveled I am met with warm smiles, smiles that reach the eyes. Countless times we have found ourselves wandering into towns in which the restauraunts are already closed. The old abuela will give us a look and start cooking again. Restaurants with their chairs already on the table are reopened for us. Columbians overall are extremely friendly. I believe this is a testament to human resiliance.

The country is absolutely stunning with vast waterfalls, mountains, crystal clear lakes made from glaciars, green valleys with baby cows and sheep. I came with no previous planning and will be leaving with a smile.

The trip as of yet in a nutshell. We went horseback riding with a local guide who whistled every five minutes to make the horses trot. I was not a fan of this, as my horse barely listened to me as it was. We went paragliding over a canyon. This was amazing. You really feel like you're flying. During the paragliding we met Alex and Kim a really cool Dutch couple.

The following day we went white water rafting with Alex and Kim down class 3 rapids. Our guide through me out of the raft multiple times and thought it was hysterical. I must have said No me gusta 20 times during the excursion, but the guide and rapids were both awesome.

NYE was awesome. The Raymond Storms dance group was pretty impressive on the dance floor. I believe we were the only foreigners in the first club which was called Tiger and that dance floor was ours. We drank lots of rum and danced until the early morning, until Fede fell asleep at the club.

Then the trouble started, biking over 100 miles up and down steep, rocky mountains. I had a love hate relationship, usually depending on if we were going up or down the mountain, with this part of the trip. I learned how to ride a motorcycle, which I crashed twice. Once I ran into the side of a dirt mound and then I fell off. The motorcycle had 2 heavy backpacks on it so it was tought to balance. Fede, Christophe and I rotated going on the motorcycle. At one point we had 30 km of distance down a mountain. This was my favourite part of the bike trip because I was flying past cars, the roads were mostly paved and I sang on the top of my lungs at about 30 miles per hour...I know let that image sink it. I did get thrown from the bicycle luckily only minor scratches. It was dark and I could not tell that the pavement suddenly became a dirt road. I wish I could have seen the look on my face ha ha.

We then went to El Cucoy which was a beautifull and freezing national park. I hiked uphill for a day on the hardest trek of my life. There were geckos everywhere. I saw ones that were electric blue, green, yellow and gray. We slept in a cabin with no electricity or heat. I have never been so cold. We had a candle ha ha. I did not shower for 3 days due to the fact that the water was so cold....very uncomfortable.


Currently we are on the Carribean coast. Yesterday we went to the beach. I am slowly getting over my fear of a shark attacking me everytime I am in the water. We had delicious fresh caught fish for dinner and danced at a really cool rooftop club with all sorts of people.

The jungle is next.....