(April 22 – written by Dave) Wow, what a day.  We thought that today would be easy but it was anything but.  We woke to grey skies that would be with us pretty much all day.  We were both a little groggy as our fancy hotel lacked one important feature – sound proofing in walls … Continue reading Medellin –Santa Rosa de Osos to Medellin (81k/14,244k,~4,100 feet)

(April 21 – written by Dave) Today was our best day climbing in the Andes so far.  We still climbed nearly 4,000 feet but it was spread out over a longer distance so the gradient was more gradual than the last couple of days.  Cutting the distance way back from normal meant that we didn’t … Continue reading Rolling in the Andes – Yarumal to Santa Rosa de Osos (50k/14,163k,~3,900 feet)

(April 20 – written by Dave) We’ve had a nice quiet day here in Yarumal.  Being stationary gave us a chance to check out a couple topics that we’d been pondering the first week travelling in Colombia. Our hotel is right on the main square and the brekkie room has a nice balcony where we … Continue reading Yarumal hats, fruits, buses, bakeries and a church

(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)