Sizzling like eggs in a frying pan

As we were riding along the Caribbean coast, strong winds were pushing us aside, so hard it was challenging to drive straight. Surprisingly, the wind was not really cooling us down: we were simply sweating profusely in our heavy jackets. We haven't been that hot since Mexico! The landscape around us really mirrored our physical state: dry mountains, brownish hills, little to no trees, fields covered with small bushes. During this first day riding on the Colombian highway system, we also found out how motorcycle friendly the country is. All the major roads have tolls but guess what: they are free for motorcycles! You have a special narrow line on the right hand side of each toll both for us to take. A first: we are loving the toll booths as each time we go through it, it feels like you're getting a gift from the government. Thanks:)

Last beach time before heading inland

Tired and sweaty, we arrived right before the sunset in the little fishing town of Taganga, close to Santa Marta. A few kilometers before town, we hit a roadblock and had to wait for a while: they were shooting an American movie in the area. Finally, we arrived in Taganga and Gus and us found a hotel where we could park our bikes. We took advantage of the proximity of the ocean to enjoy a delicious dinner of fish and shrimps: very simply prepared but oh! so good. We needed a good dinner and refreshing drinks after having battled hours of heat on the road.
The next day, we asked for more heat but this time by choice and went to the nearby Playa Grande to swim and relax in the sun, reading our books. The beach was a twenty minute walk from the center of the village through dry hills, from where we could enjoy breathtaking views of the bay where the village is nested. We saw also something we had not seen for a while: big cactus, loving the dry and hot environment. As we reached the beach, it was super crowded by tons of Colombians on vacation and almost no foreigners: we enjoyed just sitting there and watching them have fun. Everyone seemed happy, smiling and playing in the water. As we took a swim too, a little boy jumped on Chad's back and wanted him to throw him in the water. Higher, higher... He was laughing hard, loving his new gringo friend, hugging him and jumping back on him. He would not let Chad go...

The most wonderful and tasty fruits

Once thing that Mayte, our Columbian friend, had recommended was to enjoy the fruits here. There are so many of them, most unknown in our countries and in season most of the year since the temperature does not change much during the year. She had sent us a huge list of which ones to look for and told us the three ways to enjoy them: as a regular fresh juice, that they squeeze in front of you, as a fresh juice with milk, sort of a refreshing milkshake or simply eat them as is. We have been following her advice to the letter so far and with a fresh fruit juice stand every few feet, it was not hard. This juices are simply remarkable, fresh from the pure fruit juice and chilly cold with ice, having exotic names such as Lulo, Curuba, Guanabana, Uchuvas, Maracuya. We have made it a rule to have one each day and have been stopping at fruit stands on the road, where even Mangos taste better and sweater than anything we tried before. We are in fruit heaven here and each one is a new discovery for our taste buds. And on top of that, it is healthy. Not much more you can ask for, especially in January.

Back in the heat of the road, we left Gus behind who wanted to spend a few more days here to meet up with a friend. Hopefully our paths will cross again. It was a brutal riding day, 250 miles in the crazy heat, through uninteresting dry and flat landscape. We had to stop at least every hour to drink a lot of water and were so happy when this riding day was over. We were getting closer to the mountains and the temperature should be a little cooler tomorrow. As we passed Bucaramanga the following day, finally higher in altitude, the ride became unexpectedly awesome. First, the road was becoming really curvy and it took us a while to get back into our curves groove, leaning harder and going a little faster as the miles passed by. We had not been riding in the mountains since Costa Rica but we were good now and really loved it. Within two hours of riding, we went through opposite landscape and climates. First, warm and green hills with jungle like vegetation, which was so nice after all the dryness we had seen. Then, we went through deep gorges and a storm came up so was had to put on our rain gear as it started to rain steadily. The mountains were dark blue and we were above big ridges, with cows eating grass on the side of the road. Later, the sun came back and we stopped to remove the rain gear and enjoy the most spectacular part of the ride: the Chicamocha Canyon. It was like riding on the edge of the Grand Canyon, incredible vistas after vistas, where you could see miles away. And the road was so fun too: good road quality and lots of curves, fisrt going all the way down into the canyon on one side and then all the way back up. We were both having a happy riding moment, remembering why this trip was so much better on our motorcycles than in any other means of transportation. Riding a bike is so cool! We really did not want to stop riding that day as conditions were perfect: it had cooled down a lot and the scenery was the best. We love riding in Colombia, what a good decision it was to add it to our itinerary.


Smiling and in the best of mood, we arrived in the town of San Gil for the night. It is set on a high plateau and we enjoyed the cooler night there. We walked to the main square where people were gathered, enjoying their Saturday night. We were talking and how bad the first long riding day was and how good the second one was, sharing what our favorite parts of the road were. From what we've heard, the rest of the ride in the country should be fun too.