Saturday, May 30, 2009

day 131 - km 10054

pasto - tulcan (equador)
94.51km 2162 altimeter
the day started with a 600 meter climb on which some roadcyclists passed me and then a 25 downhill dropping from 3100 meters to 1700 meter (on which i passed some of cyclists! - sometimes the trailer helps) ;-) after that up again to 2900 meters.
some nice mountain views but it is strange back on the panamerican highway. i am not used to the traffic anymore (and i havn't missed it!)NO costs on the bordercrossing from columbia to equador (exept i had to copy my passport for 300 pesos - a couple cents)!? but i have to go to the imigration office in quito to extend my 10 days visa.




Friday, May 29, 2009

day 130 - km 9959

sibundoy - pasto
67,22km 1639 alti meter
one more day with rain, rain, rain...
and some more climbing on steep gravel roads.
twice up to 3255 meters altitude. the height, the rain, the bad steep roads make cycling a little hard. i hope that i will get adjusted to that, as there will be allot more of that coming up the next days.



Thursday, May 28, 2009

day 129 - km 9892

el mirador - sibundoy
49.49km 1140 alti meter
more or less heavy rain all day. so i called it a day after 6h in the rain as i was getting cold and i didn't know what the next 1000m climb will be. probably some more gravel road. one of the roadworkers, who try to keep the road passable, with a interesting ladder.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

day 128 - km 9842

el doarado - el mirador
76.65km 2194 alti meter
it has been raining all night and this is the end of the paved road.
so i guess it's about 90km on unpaved "roads" up the andes!?
1700 meters @ an average of 5% on gravel road some watercrossings....
what a bike-day!? but great scenery! mountain views, waterfalls and alot nice people along the way.



day 127 - km 9765

san agustin - el dorado
118.50km 1801 alti meter
in the morning teo helped me plant a tree and then i was on the road again.
i met antonio along the road, a teacher of the little community el dorado. he made it possible to camp in the school (besides a military checkpoint).

Monday, May 25, 2009

day 126 - day off

san agustin - day off
trying to get on a tour around the san agustin area.
there was no jeep-tour going today, so i got a personal tour on a motorbike
(which was interesting on one side, but a terrible ride on this gravel roads bypassing the trucks loaded with sugar cane!).
seeing: el strecho, obando, alto de los idolos, salto de bordones, altos las piedras, salto del mortino















Sunday, May 24, 2009

day 125 - day off

san agustin - day off
walking around town and enjoying a day off after 3 long riding days.
thanx to dala who made me feel at home at the finca.
gathering some informations to do some sightseeing later on (or tomorrow)
;-) i changed the oil of my bike (hub) swapped the tires from front to the back (and hope they make it to quito) and checked out the archeological site. p.s. that are tobacco and coca plants.






day 124 - km 9647

gigante - san agustin
134.81km 2297 alti meter
a long day on the road. amazing scenery (mountains, rivers, canons, farmland,..) and nice people along the way giving me "thumbs up". thanx to the help from rene (www.elmaco.ch) i found the finca la campensina from igel and paola (www.grenzenlos.ath.cx)



Friday, May 22, 2009

day 123 - km 9512

somewhere along the rio magdalena - gigante
143.30km 1560 alti meter
on the rolling hills towards san augustin.



day 122 - km 9362

ibague - somewhere along the rio magdalena
155km 678 alti meter
a nice ride including a 750m drop the first 50km to el espinal.
impressive how accurate the roadsigns are around here!? ;-)



Wednesday, May 20, 2009

day 121 - km 9207

alvarado - ibague
36.54km 626 alti meter
a nice short ride on which i met my new friend carlos. he invited me to his place to stay with him and his family. (and the temperatur on my odometer shows that a short day is the perfect thing to do today)

day 120 - km 9176

la dorada - alvorado
140,25km 1222 alti meter
a long but very interesting day on road, on which i got a chance to meet great people!
during a rain shower (which i tried to hide out under a shelter) i did my first photo-presentation. ;-) a couple of policemen where either really interested or really bored.
later on a guy in a restaurant gave me sunglasses as a present and on my next stop someone bought me a drink and another man gave some sort of sweet cheese (filled with strawberry) tastet great!

Monday, May 18, 2009

day 119 - day off

la dorada - day off
just walking around town and trying to get some things, as there are not to many big cities on my route. watching the streetlife, guys playing pool....

Sunday, May 17, 2009

day 118 - km 9035

san pedro de la paz - la dorada
120km 300 alti meter
again a nice rain shower in the morning (which i could hide out in the room i stayed in). so some more nice farmland, with palmtrees and mountains in the background.


day 117 - km 8915

peroles / buenos aires - san pedro de la paz
124.10km 682 alti meter
some nice farmland and only little villages.

day 116 - km 8790

san martin - peroles / buenos aires
129.59km 436 alti meter
what a night!? a heavy rainstorm and 2 trucks crashed together just a couple hundert meters away from my camp. people seemed to be used to situations like this around here. they just stood there in safe distance and watched as the trucks burned down with some explosions from the gastanks. in san alberto i changed my routeplan, instead of going into the mountains i stayed in the valley of the rio magdalena. that route bypasses the big cities (which are probably not much fun to ride through) but on the other hand takes me around some nice mountain views (i thought i might get enough of that the next couple mounth in the andes)

Thursday, May 14, 2009

day 115 - km 8667

tamalague - san martin
132.78km 728 alti meter
after 15km of some more sand and gravel road back on paved road.


day 114 - km 8528

talaigua nueve - tamalague
128.53km 115 alti meter
nice colonial town mompox. after that 100km of sand and gravel road.
(i would not recommend that stretch on a road bike with thin tires)
everything can and will be transported on moterbikes and bicycles.
(and yes, the pig is alive)






day 113 - km 8400

el carmen de bolivar - talaigua nueve
127.23km 767 alti meter
some more nice riding and a river crossing by boat.
(almost twisted my foot unloading the bike from that little boat)


day 112 - km 8272

cartagena - el carmen de bolivar
125.95km 1049 alti meter
back on the road again....
interesting that the (first) impression of a place is so much different
just because of arriving by boat instead of riding throuh the suburbs like usualy.
nice scenic ride through some farmland.


Sunday, May 10, 2009

day 111 - day off

cartagena - day off
just walking around town and getting my stuff together.
cartagena is a nice place the stay a couple days, but i am looking forward to getting back on the road soon.




Saturday, May 9, 2009

day 110 - on the sailboat 5 km 8146

somewhere else on the ocean - cartagena (columbia)
finaly arriving in cartagena but had to wait a couple hours on the boat until the imigration office opend. a nice city to walk around but to hot and humid to do that in the middle of the day. (the ground seems to be still moving slightly) ;-)



day 109 - on the sailboat 4

somewhere on the ocean - somewhere else on the ocean
a couple hours of rain, a couple hours of great winds and alot hours of ups and downs.... really looking forward on getting solid ground under my wheels.

day 108 - on the sailboat 3

"humberto´s" san blas island - somewhere on the ocean
after some more amazing islands off to the transfer to cartagena.
(one of the most dangerous "dingi" boats!) ;-)

day 107 - on the sailboat 2

el provenir - "humberto´s" san blas island
amazing little islands, great beaches, nice view over and under water.
crabs, starfish, coconuts, shells, seahorses... ;-)







day 106 - on the sailboat 1

puerto lindo - el provenir
after heavy rain in the morning a surprisingly nice day on the boat (after loading & packing our bags and bikes as good as we could on the boat "tango"),
with nice beaches to swimm and snorkel....


day 105 - day off

puerto lindo - day off
one more day off extrem-hammoking in puerto lindo and a nice motorbike ride with alexander to the supermarket in sabanita.

day 104 - day off

puerto lindo - day off
still in puerto lindo (panama) waiting for the boat to cartargena (columbia)
hopefully 5 nice days on the boat starting tomorrow...
taking a daytrip to isla grande, hiking around the island and up the steel lighthouse.





day 103 - day off

puerto lindo - day off
working on the lawn as just laying in the hammock all day would be to boring.

day 102 - km 8143

maria chiquita - puerto lindo
41,38km 293 alti meter
a short and nice ride to puerto lindo.
.... hammock-time!

Monday, May 4, 2009

day 101 - km 8102

panama city - maria chiquita
91,02km 920 alti meter
checking out the canal docks at mira flores and chasing a group of cyclists (and their supporting vehicle) through the rain. nice ride on a side road through forest before getting on the main highway. hotels / hostels / pensions .... are sometimes hard to find around here, as there are no signs telling you what might be one and of course there are no road signs, house numbers...