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Day24–N8.15521, Thursday, Jan 19. 2011

Start & Stop: Hotel Cacique Automista Medellin Bogota to N8.15521 and back to Caucasia, Colombia

Mileage: 279 miles

Lodging: Hotel Malecom & Restaurante, Carretera Troncal La Ye, Caucasia, Antioquia

Dean: After checking our “Current Location, SPOT Sat Tracks”, many of you might be wondering why we rode on 25 a little past Buenavista but short of Planeta Rica.

The Lat shows we had passed the Yaviza end-of-the-road Lat of N8.15521.

In Panama we rode the PanAm Hwy all the way to the dead-end town of Yaviza (N8.15521 W77.69142) then returned northwest Panama.  The area between Yaviza Panama and Colombia is the notorious Darien Gap.  No roads through this swamp, jungle, marshlands, swamplands, with all kinds of man eating creatures, quick sand, insects the size of your hand, yellow, green and purple fever, etc.  We then shipped our bikes from Tocument Intl Airport to Bogota Intl Airport which is quite a ways south of where our ride stopped in Yaviza.  So we rode northwest up to the Lat coordinates of N8.15521 and passed it by 10 or so miles to insure we have all the mileage to complete a Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina ride.

Lisa: In fact, everyone we’ve met in Colombia has been nice. We’ve not had any contact at all with the billions of police and soldiers stationed seemingly everywhere along the road. They wave, do thumbs up, but that’s it.  It’s kind of strange after the central America experience, for sure. I’m not sure that National Security is accomplished by giving a machine gun to a 14 year old, but it seems to be working here.

The exchange rate is something like 1800 pesos to the dollar, so it’s a bit disconcerting when you’re quoted a price of ocho mille for dinner. Eight MILLION??  Oh yeah, that’s eight thousand pesos. Yeah, so less than 5 bucks, I knew that.

Gas: several of you have asked about that and, although Tanji has run out of gas twice (not kidding), it’s plentiful, easy to get, has so far cost between $3.35 and $5.00 per gallon.

Dean: Lisa make it sound bad but I was milking the fuel down to the last drop for the Girag shipment.  I still had a small reserve in the aux tank.  Enough to make it to a gas station across the street.

Lisa: Several countries so far have been in US gallons but most in liters. Many stations are unpaved but there is always an attendant. They will pump the gas for you and take your payment. Again, it varies, sometimes you can pay with a credit card, sometimes only cash.  Many stations are very modern, very new and not unlike something you’d find down the street from your house. We have so far gotten good gas and never had any problems.

We are in coffee country! These are hanging coffee beans.

Lisa got little sticker to give to the kids. The kids were not sure of the lady with motorcycle helmet.

These are workers carrying bags of coffee beans.

10 comments to Day24–N8.15521, Thursday, Jan 19. 2011

  • Bob Kunihiro

    Dean, you should be glad Lisa’s with you or you’d be walking a long way to find some gas.
    Glad you guys are safe and havin’ fun!

  • Chuck Hickey

    Lady in the motorcycle helmet?…
    I was going with humanoid with big SEGrin with large black bulbous growth coming out of their head handing out paper that sticks my fingers together…..
    Can someone translate spongebob squarepants into Portuguese?

  • John Parker

    Great to hear y6ou made the jump with little problem. It doesn’t always work that well. Pretty cool that you could backtrack all of the way past your Panamanian Latitutde from the south side.

  • Roger

    After trying to second guess your SPOT locations, it’s good to hear from you and get caught up with the adventure. We appreciate the reports when you can, but the ride is the reason. Keep having a great time. Karen says “hi”.

  • Jerry W

    “Hey Mrs. Olsen, what kind of coffee is this?”
    “I only serve Colombian mountain grown. It’s the richest kind.”

  • Don Lindfors

    Here’s hoping that South America will continue to be like what you have experienced so far in Columbia – the opposite of Central America and the ungrateful Panamanians. Love reading these whenever you guys get a chance to post.

  • Tirzah

    @ Jerry W – Ha ha! LOVE IT!
    Lisa and Dean, glad you’re outta America Central. Lisa, you ARE special class. Can’t
    wait to read more. Safe travels. xo

  • eff Gallagher

    Fantastic pictures. It seems like your entire trip has been a bit hurried until now. Enjoy and keep sending the pics.

  • Bob Kunihiro

    When you’re in Peru, try and find a Peruvian-Japanese restaurant. Incredible food!

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