Day 136
I set off from Medellin at around seven o’clock in the morning, it was overcast and it looked as if it was about to rain but I had high hopes of staying dry once I had gotten out of the city and I was heading in the direcection of the Caribbean coast. I had a brief entanglement with the morning rush hour traffic but as I was heading out of the city rather than in to it I managed to avoid the worst of the traffic chaos. I eventually found the correct road, the Autopista al Mar 1, and I headed up in to the mountains to the North of the city and within a half an hour I was clear of Medellin.
As the road ascended it got a little cooler but the rain stayed away and then suddenly I was over the summit and on the descent heading generlly North West for the town of Turbo which I had planned to stop in for the evening. The town of Turbo was where, in the pre Covid era, people use to find small boats that would take them and their vehicle around the Darrien Gap by way of a two day sea voyage from there to the port of Colon in Panama.
However like many other things in this world the lack of trade caused by the enforced lockdowns and all of the other associated bullshit put the boats out of business leaving travellers with vehicles who wish to travel between Panama and Colombia with only two options, air freight and container ship.
Now this is where I must have another little rant because funnily enough airlines and container ships are all owned by giant corporations and not small independent businesses. It is strange is it not how the Covid bullshit never affected the financial interests of big corporations whilst simultaneously ensuring the removal of any competition for their businesses? Rant over.
I then descended steeply on the other side of the mountain on twisty roads for about twenty miles and then I continued to descend, less steeply but on equally twisty roads, along a gorge that went on for a further thirty miles or so. At this time my odometer registered 7000 miles. Then it was more climbing up the side of another mountain but as I got near to the summit I spotted a petrol station beside a roadside restaurant in a small village so I pulled in to refuel and once done, I took the opportunity to have some breakfast and a coffee. The place where I ate at had an outdoor balcony at the rear which gave a great view of the valley that I had just ridden up.
Once on the move again the sun came out and it got warmer as I rode over the next summit and then down the other side. Near to the town of Santa Fe de Antioquia I crossed a bridge over a wide river and as I stopped to take a photo and I could feel the bridge bouncing up and down as a large truck passed my stationary bike.
Around lunchtime I reached the town of Turbo and it was a total shit hole, so much so I did not even take the time to stop for a photo. I quickly got out of the town and pushed on further up the coast. I stopped at a small place called Punta de Piedra where I managed to get the bike down close to the sea shore in between some shacks. I took a couple of photos and then quickly left the town as although it was a slightly less shittier place than Turbo, it was not by much.
Then I set about looking for somewhere to stay for the night but as the phone signal along the coastline was not great I had to revert to just stopping in towns and having a look around. The first place that I tried was the town of Necocli and although I found a hotel on the beach it was closed. To be honest the whole town was full of shacks and it had mainly dirt roads so I was kind of glad that the hotel was closed.
Then in the town of San Juan De Uraba I found a cheap hotel for 50,000 pesos, about 11 USD for the night. Unfortunately the hotel did not have a secure parking place for the bike but the staff told me that the bike would be okay parked overnight in the street in front of the hotel as the nightshift staff would watch it for me.
Once unpacked I walked down to the beach which was about a mile away from the town and I found a small bar and restaurant perched on the edge of a small bluff overlooking the beach. I sat and had a local beer and a cigar as I looked out over the water and watched the sun set over the very South of Panama which was to my left. Very tranquil it was too.
Once I had watched the sun go down I headed back in to town for something to eat. There was not much choice so I opted for a burger and two coffees for 18,000 Pesos which is about 4 USD. The town was like many others that I had passed through, filled with lots of people running around on mostly snmall bikes in various states of disrepair, the lights on which seemed to be optional, even in the dark.
Day 137
The next day it was sunny and warm and as I prepared to leave I decided to take a photo of the hotel that I had stayed in the previous evening. As I took the photo a guy on a bike rode past and as you can see the guy was engrossed in reading something on his moblile phone whilst riding. This is a common occurrence in this part of the world and nothing about how people ride or drive here surprises me now.
Further up the coast in the town of Arboletes I saw a building that was in the final stages of construction which was obviously going to be some kind of themed tourist resort hotel, it looked like a small Disneyland castle and I thoght that it looked very out of place in this part of the world
A little further on from the Disney castle the road ran along the edge of the sea for a bit and because it was so scenic I had to stop and take a couple of photos.
An hours or so later I reached the main town of Monteria which was very busy, full of traffic jams, and roadworks. Whilst I was stuck in one of the traffic jams I took a photo of the queue of bikes that had filtered between the vehicles, there were so many bikes in the queue that we were all backed up for a considerable distance from the red traffic light.
It took me a while to get out of the town but once on the road North to Cartagena the traffic disappeared and the road became much quieter and more enjoyable. By the time that I was about an hour or so away from Cartagena I saw some heavy black clouds over the road ahead of me in the distance so I pulled off the road and sat in a small roadside restaurant for a coffee and a cigar. However, the owner was grilling some meat over a fire so I couldn’t resist and I had to have some. I had two coffees, a bottle of water, and a plate of grilled beef for 24,000 pesos which was about just over 5 USD.
By the time I had finished my after lunch cigar and coffees the thunderstorm had passed but before setting off on the bike again I decided to use the facilities. The toilet was very clean however it had a very unusual method for flushing away whatver was deposited in it. I just had to take a photo of what I saw.
Yes that is correct, I had to use the old builders hard hat that was floating in a large bucket of clean water as a scoop and then pour the water in to the toilet to flush it. Very basic but I have to give the owner credit for a bit of low cost ingenuity.
As I entered the outskirts of Cartagena I encountered another toll station and as there were not many bikes around at that time I was able to stop and photograph the lane that allows bikes to pass the toll barriers for free. Happiness is toll free biking!
I had some difficulty finding suitable accomodation in Cartagena online that had parking for my bike. I found a couple of places but they all appeared to be hostels and they were at the lower end of the price range. As there were no pictures of the exteriors I suspected that they were located in not very nice areas but as it was getting late I decided that I would just take whatever was available. I got to the place that I had booked and eventually after about an hour the owner showed up only to tell me that the place was full but if I were to follow him then he had another place available nearby.
The first place that I had opted for was indeed in a not very nice neighbourhood so I was glad to escape from there. I followed the owner to the other place and arrived just as it was getting dark. This neighbourhood was only a slightly better place than where I had just been hanging around in but at least the bike and I would behind a locked gates and doors for the night. The place was very basic although clean enough (no insects or bad smells) but what can you expect in a big city for about 7 USD a night? I dedicded to stay behind bars for the rest of the evening and to leave exploring Caragena until daylight the following day.