Colombia, and the Journey Home

After visiting the mountains, we hopped on our bikes and pedaled for Boyaca.

what you need on any climb is cheese melted in hot sugar water

crossing la linea, one of colombia's most famous mountain passes

ironic that they call the semi-trucks "mulas" here, when they are still using real mules

what?  a bike path?

sleeping at the fire station in girardot

two days of continuous uphill and we were in cundinamarca

misty sewage waterfalls and all, the outskirts of bogota are pretty toxic

speaking of toxic, gas stations dinners are always delicious

i didn't know the raj had a second home in colombia

on the highway, magda adopted us for a few days

i spotted this grandma spinning yarn.  her grandson runs an internet cafe, she told us

Magda was considering joining us for a leg...

flat tire

i love handmade hardware

the massive cobbled plaza of Villa de Leyva

Celebratory banana split.  This time, WITHOUT cheese

Land Rovers lurk behind every door.

the brim i added to my helmet saved my face.  but the climbing was still HOT

Noooooooooooo!

crossing the Rio Magdalena

back in San Antonio de Prado finally

Jan and Karina show off their old Rohloff sprockets

oh yeah, that is my hernia.  you're welcome.

even hernia surgery couldn't slow down my cheeto comsumption

a quick visit to Apartado

Perro, never without a good dose of rubbing alcohol in his system

My good friend Beltran, in his shop in Apartado

He always seems to have an appetite for spare parts

My Suzi, looking pretty, and no longer mine

A send-off gathering with the local Semillero

Careful: Affectionate Dogs

This game is called rana.  You through brass discs and try to land them in the frogs' mouths.  I can see it catching on bigtime in the US

Manuela, just about the cutest ever.

The Semillero Juvenil de San Antonio de Prado shows off their skills

A final goodbye to Manuel, Manuela, and Marta of the casa del ciclista in Medellin.  Great friends and hosts that I will miss dearly.

Yohnni and Justy were true warriors and came with me on the pre-dawn airport expedition

homeward bound

After winding down the cycling tour of Colombia, I decided it was a good time to get my hernia patched up, and a good time to head back to the US to recover, to visit family and friends, and to put some money en el banco.  So I sold the motorcycle, packed up Tatanka, and boarded a plane to Indianapolis.  After 2 years on the highways of Latin America, I came to love it.  There are so many places I never got to see, but it was a good run.  I had wanted to ride around the world in one go, but lost my way, most likely in my crossing of Darien.  I'm going to take a break from posting to the blog for a while, at least until I have some interesting roadworthy content.  I hope to be back on the move later this year.

Thanks for following along and for supporting me with your comments and encouragement.  I hope you are inspired to take a step outside, to check out what lies on down the road.