Journey To The Centre Of The Earth

Days 103-105

We decided to spend an extra day in Cartegena on account of it being so lovely! This allowed us to bump into Thom et Flo again – a French couple travelling (honeymooning, in fact) on the Adventure (slightly bigger) version of Ric's bike. We first met them while cruising the San Blas Islands on our way from Panama, when they saw the bikes on our boat and swam over for a better look and a chat. We'd already hooked up with them once in Cartegena but the chance meeting at the city fort allowed us to further discuss our plans with them. They suggested we might ride together for a bit, but weren't leaving Cartegena for another day so we decided to go on ahead, reckoning we'd bump into them further down the road.

So on we went to Medellin, the second biggest city in Columbia after the capital Bogata. The ride there took in some fantastic mountain scenery and we managed to find a cheap trucker stop with beautiful views to break for the night as it became clear we weren't going to make it in one day before dark. Medellin itself grew on us. It was a bad start as within 10 minutes of entering the crazy traffic-strewn city Emily's bike was hit... she felt the back of the bike jerk sideways throwing her off balance, and briefly thought she might find herself skidding flat onto the road in front of the oncoming trucks, 4WDs and endless mopeds, but luckily managed to get a good solid foot down on the ground and just hold the bike up. “Someone just hit me!” she called down the radio (indignantly) so Ric shook his fist and shouted at the car behind a bit, who we discovered on further inspection of the damage to the bike and panniers probably had nothing to do with the incident. Actually the damage was minimal – the main casualty was the Costa Rica butterfly sticker (a favourite!) which got scratched up a bit as (we think) one of the many mopeds glanced off it. So a bit of a drama over not much but a shock nonetheless, and our first collision of the trip.

Even upright on the bikes we still had no idea where we were going, and ended up looking for the BMW shop (our first destination that day, to sort out new tyres) in an obviously residential neighbourhood due to a lack of directions and Medellin's crazy street numbering system. Thankfully the Colombian people our a very helpful bunch, though. We asked a guy parking up his motorbike if he knew where the garage might be, and he took Ric round the corner to a small scooter workshop. Ric tried to protest “Ah no, we need the BMW garage” but the owner of the garage was more than happy to help – he shut up shop and led us on the fastest scooter we've ever seen, high speed pursuit style, to the other end of town where the BMW shop was! Our hero then totally refused to accept even a little beer money for his trouble and left with just a beaming smile. After that Medellin riding adventure we were a little relieved to leave our bikes at the shop overnight and get a taxi to our hostel.

The centre of Medellin also turned out to be quite nice, once we found the main hub where a pedestrian area hosts a number of quirky Botero scultpures and we had a wander round an art gallery with a number of his works and various other pieces donated from his private collection. On the way back to the hostel we discovered a bar doing 3 for 1 cocktails so the day turned out pretty well in the end!

Days 106-107

The guys at the BMW shop were incredibly helpful and as well as new tyres, we came away with some great tips on the next few days riding and some must-see places in Ecuador and Peru (they also run biking tours round South America, so really knew their stuff). From Medellin we decided to head to Solento, in the coffee growing region of Colombia, for the next two nights. Here we learnt about coffee growing of course, and went on a hike in the cloud forests of the Cocora Valley to see Columbia's national tree, the wax palm. Unfortunately the cloud forest lived up to its name again, and just as we reached the top of our hike where we were promised spectacular views of the valley we were engulfed in thick cloud and couldn't see a thing!

Days 108-111

From Solento we were heading pretty much South to Ecuador, stopping in the pretty (and conveniently located for our root) colonial town of Popoyan. We rounded the corner of our chosen hostel and who should we see outside – but Thom et Flo! This was quite a surprise as we thought they wouldn't catch us up until Quito – it was also a surprise for them, as they were at that moment telling some bikers they'd just met (Daniel and Jackie) about us! So for the last few days we've been a happy gang... three BMWs and Daniel and Jackie on their Harley (the fact that they are English and rather lovely makes up for their choice of bike).We quickly found the right pace for everyone and have enjoyed the change to group riding – more stopping, more banter and more action photos!

Our last night in Colombia was at the very impressive Santuario De Las Lajas, where there is a cathedral spanning a dramatic gorge, built on the site of a vision of the Virgin Mary in the cliffs. From here we crossed into Ecuador which was a rather tedious process thanks to a very unhelpful and slightly crazy customs officer, and made it to Otavalo before dark, fitting in a visit to the elaborate but peaceful cemetery in Tulcan on the way. Otavalo has the most fantastic crafts market, with loads of local goods and friendly, non-hassley indigenous vendors in their traditional attire.

The scenery in the last few days has been so impressive in both Colombia and Ecuador, but what has been most different since crossing the border is the indigenous people – they are tiny. We mean tiny. But riding through small settlements around Otavalo (on the way to and from the fantastic local bird rescue park where we saw condors up close!), we found everyone to be as welcoming and friendly as anywhere we've been.

Day 112

Today, we passed a very exciting landmark on our way to Quito: the “middle of the world”! Finally the water will go down the plughole clockwise (or is it anticlockwise – the other way to how it did anyway). Oh, and here we apparently weigh less than back home due to the centripetal force of the earth's rotation, so pass the scales please (and the nachos!).