02nd August 2007

Colombia: Bottom to Top on 2 Wheels

by: Steve Tober (our Year 3 teacher)

The 3 of us set off from Maria´s hometown of Pasto in southern Colombia on July 15th.  For my brother in law, Carlos, it was his 1st time cycle touring and with a new bike and 2 saddlebags, his goal was to reach Cali, 400km north, which he did.  

Paul Dumont, a 63 year old Belgian cyclist, who I met through a friend in Dubai, had the goal of making it to Medellin, some 870km from Pasto.  He did that and more, making it all the way to Cartagena with a little help from Steve´s style of riding; up at 5am, ride every day and rest on the down hills :)

14 days and 1500kms later on Aug 28th, we arrived in Cartagena.  Paul stayed a few days and flew back to Belgium to do a tour of Poland and into Russia.  I took a rest day, exploring the historic centre and then carried on through Barranquilla and Santa Marta in 2 days.

Some notes:

-Congrats to Carlos on his 1st tour.  I hope he is inspired to do more after his butt heals :)

-Paul, a retired engineer, has done 346,000kms through 51 countries,  which I can´t even begin to fathom!  He has also cycled through every town in Belgium (5800) and 57 cities of over 1 million people....so Colombia was just a drop in the bucket for him.  An excellent travel companion who fuels himself every morning with a few cups of coffee and handfuls of sugar; likes to stay in the best hotel in town and who will ride until dark if necessary.

-An incredible range of climatic zones; from the spring like Vancouver type weather at 3000m to the dripping humidity of Cartagena and along the Caribbean coast.

-The amazing lush green vegetation from start to end with passion fruit, tangerines, papaya and many other strange and wonderful fruit in season.

-Excellent hi ways, with a lot of new pavement, wide shoulders and courteous truck drivers.
-No security issues; plenty of military and hi-way police checkpoints, and we were never asked to show ID.

Met a number of cyclists en route:

-2 Brits cycling from TDF to Cartagena.   wwwsouthamericacycle.co.uk

-A Frenchman cycling around the world having done 28,000 of his intended 48,000kms.   www.unautretour.com    ....in French and English.

-A deaf, mute Ecuadorian kid on a 1 speed, with a note asking for monetary assistance on route.

-A Colombian with a mid size dog on the back, cycling from Medellin to Pasto and back.

-A Brit on a Tandem!  Cycling from Alaska to TDF, picking up riders to help him along the way.  wwwtakeaseat.org