My new plan is to continue riding south while solo. As Louie mentioned ïn his post, he decided to travel by a different mode and pursue different activities. I am glad he can get out and travel the way he prefers. I am still very much excited to bike and I am excited about traveling by myself. It's worth a try.
Shrimp fisherman setting up their nets at the estuary. They sell 1kg of shrimp for about 2,000 pesos (~$1 USD). I was hesitant to approach and bother them, but they were so inviting and made fun of me for wanting to take a picture of their 1-way nets.
Going solo does allow for a lot more flexibility. I hope to meet other cyclists on the road, which I will continue to document on this page of the blog. This is also why I want to keep the theme of "2 Bikes, 1 Continent" alive.
Stairway to heaven?
I also want to say that it thrills me to introduce bike touring to others. So if your up for it, shoot me a message and maybe we can find an appropriate city and time to connect. *restrictions apply!
It did not take us 7 hours to do this route, but rather 8 days. Great riding and very friendly people along the way.
For the past month or so, Anna and I have been touring the northeastern coast of Colombia (see map above) from Cartegena to Riohacha. There's been some very beautiful riding along there and Anna was able to make her P.O.S. bike like object work well.
Anna posing for the camera as she tours on her POS bike, with a set of triangular basura pannier bags. Also note the Camelback water bladder strapped to the frame with some zip-ties.
Some interesting things have happened:
Repairing five tubes at a shop with a hot iron and riding away, only to have Anna's tire go "bang!" really loud outside an ATM machine with passersby.
Tandem mountain biking and pedaling as hard as we could to avoid being bitten by two vicious dogs.
Being offered to rent out a space by the owner of a bike rentals shop, who gave us a tour of the place and then offered to share some "natural remedies" with us. We both declined.
For the last two weeks, a few days were spent in Bogota while I was getting over a fever, followed by an hour-long bus ride to Sesquile where we volunteered at a house for special needs residents. We used Help X (Help Exchange) to find the Agualinda Foundation, a nice place with a noble purpose. While there, we did the majority of the cooking and dish washing for three residents and around four operators. One resident, Alejandro, found our cooking to be "delicioso" and enjoyed a few games of dominoes in the evening.
It was an absolute pleasure getting to know Alejandro. Every time I asked him how he was doing, he would always answer with a big smile and a "muy bien, gracias".
Lake view setting of Agualinda
Sheep-herding dog keeping an eye on the horse
As for what's next, while I continue to update the blog for friends and family. Thank you all for the reminder to continue posting, as well as for those of you who get updates from the blog via email. If you ever wish to unsubscribe, you can do so pain free! I plan to depart Bogota next week on my bike towards Ecuador and see how solo riding goes. Besides this blog, there are a few ways to keep track of my progress via digital updates:
Each of these links have been added to the right side column of the blog for quick clicks! Also, I removed the gear list from the menu bar, but the the gear list can still be found here.
A crop duster receiving some repairs before being used on fields of banana trees
"POS bike" ... lol! I started using the term "bike-like objects" around my parents and they think you've turned me into a bike snob, haha!
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