(April 19 – written by Nancy) It rained overnight in Valdivia, not so hard that it woke us, but hard enough that the roads in the square were wet when we got up at 5:30.  When we got up, the sky was heavy but it was not raining.  After a marathon weight lifting session – … Continue reading Climbing the Andes – Valdivia to Yarumal (40k/14,113k/5,000 feet climbing)

(April 18 – written by Dave) First a quick note about dinner last night.  We decided to try one of the restaurants on the main square, right next to our hotel.  We were about half way through dinner and Nancy spotted two touring cyclists in front of the restaurant.  We both hopped up and made … Continue reading Rain day through the Andes – Taraza to Valdivia (64k/14,073k)

(April 17 – written by Nancy) We had a relatively short and easy day today, to get us to a town close to where our first climbing into the Andes begins.  We were still on the road by 6:30 to try to take advantage of some of the cooler morning air though, which means we … Continue reading Short day through the river lowlands – Caucasia to Taraza (66k/14,009k)

(April 16 – written by Dave) South, finally!  Today we passed below 8 degrees latitude.  Nearly 3 weeks ago back on March 28; we flirted with 8 degrees south.  That was back on our first day in Panama.  The last 5 days in Panama we rode north – I know that’s hard to believe – … Continue reading South – Planet Rica to Caucasia (69k/13,943k)

(April 15 – written by Dave) Sleep in the hotel last night was easy.  There was no one outside our room solving the world’s problems and in fact very little noise at all.  We both got a little hot sleeping in our sleeping bag, rather than the using hotel provided sheets.  It was not perfect … Continue reading Nice Sunday ride – Cereté to Planeta Rica (72k/13,873k)

(April 14 – written by Nancy) Well, we lucked out last night as the competing Calypso music on the waterfront knocked off relatively early (around 11pm, we think).  But, instead of a nice quiet night of sleep, we instead were treated to other guests of our hotel sitting out on the balcony of the hotel … Continue reading No sleep day – Tolú to Cereté (93k/13,881k)

(April 13 – written by Dave) Happy Friday the 13th – always good to have finished a ride on Friday the 13th – safely! No brekkie at the truck stop this morning, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.  We thought that they opened at 5 and headed over at 5:40.  Nope, they open at … Continue reading Calypso Colombia – Cruz Del Vizo to Tolu (97k/13,708k)

(April 12 – written by Dave) We’ve been off the bikes since the 1st of April and expected today to be hard on stiff old legs.  And it may have been had we not been riding in crazy city traffic for the first 14k.  We were both so focused on cars to left, bikes to … Continue reading Back in the saddle – Cartagena to Cruz Del Vizo (55k/13,611k)

(April 11 – written by Dave) Nearly every country or region that we visit has some sort of local food specialty.  There were the fish tacos in Baja, the cinnamon rolls in the Alcan Highway roadhouses, the oyster omelettes from Bay Center Washington – the list goes on. Well here in Cartagena (and perhaps in … Continue reading The humble Pan Blandito Colombiano

(April 10 – written by Dave) We’ve settled into Cartagena and are liking what we see. First a bit of history.  Cartagena was founded by the Spanish in 1533.  In its heyday it was arguably the most important port in the Americas for Spain.  It was used to funnel mineral wealth from the inland of … Continue reading Cartagena in brief