I made it to the coast! Bogota to Taganga, 643 miles total. Yesterday was my 9th day on the road and I must say I had no idea how tough the last 2 days would be to get here. On day 8 I rode 112 miles and yesterday 68. It wasn't quite as flat as the previous 3, and the heat was unbearable. I will not elaborate on the ride as I did on my previous big push, but to say the least I am a bit weak and sore today. In my last post I mentioned how inaccurate the signs are. Well to end my stetch to the Carribean with maximum irritation, when I approached the mile that should have been my last based on the last sign close to 60 miles back, I ended up having 11 more to go.
As mentioned to some before I thought it would be a good idea to park it for a bit so that my legs don't fall off, I can enjoy Colombia the way most do with some tourist activities and so I can spend some time working on Spanish. After asking a lot of fellow travellers for their input I decided to stay at Casa Holanda in Taganga, a small fishing town right next to Santa Marta. There are two Dutch people who run this joint as well as a Spanish school that gives I believe 25% of the proceeds to send Colombian children to school (they sent 88 to school last year) so I figured this is money well spent. There is also a ton of diving outfits here and Tayrona National Park is pretty close so there's heaps to do while I 'recover'.
Since most all I have been doing is riding since my past post I'll mention a bit more on the road and specifically the poor driving, now that I have survived it and won't scare my family describing the conditions. To say the least, for any cyclers reading this in the future, it is true that Colombia is very good for cycling due to the proximity of places to stay, mass amount of food and water available, smooth pavement, challenging hills and a plethora of local cycling fanatics. However this is somewhat offset by the fact that Colombian drivers, in my opinion, are some of the most careless in the world. In my 9 days on the road I passed 5 bad accidents that had just occurred, including 2 flipped semi's and a head on with a semi, and obviously none of these were due to storms or ice. While riding I regularly witnessed semi's passing semi's and tour buses alike around blind bends on two lane roads. Everytime I saw this I thought, "haven't they considered that if something is coming in the other direction there is no where for any of the vehicles to go without colliding"? Apparently not. That's why it's really important to stay on the shoulder of the road especially when approaching bends. I've seen really crazy driving cultures especially in Guinea and China but here is the first place I've seen the extremely risky behaviour committed by
most everyone across the board and at speeds well over double the speed limit most all the time. The government has some huge campaign out with bill boards that read "no mas estrallas en la via", which means no more stars in the roadway. I don't know how long Colombia has done this but there are big yellow stars painted on the road where people have died. In all honesty it was quite depressing especially on a slow bike as I passed these things, sometimes more than 10 in a day. On a more entertaining note, 2 days ago I was cruising along to see a pick up truck, surprisingly a brand new Chevy, flying towards me at about 80 mph (typical so far). Suddenly I heard a bang and sparks spraying from behind the vehicle as it fishtailed back and forth. One of the rear wheels had fell off and was rolling along side it. Now I wasn't as worried about the truck as I could see the driver for the most part has it under control. But anyone who has seen a wheel pop off before knows that for one they pick up speed and two they bounce and change directions like a punt return that slipped through a receivers arms. So I literally laid my bike down and got in what probably looked like a wrestling stance ready to dart the opposite way of where ever that wheel was flying towards. Luckily it came no where near me, because I'm pretty sure a truck wheel moving at 80 mph wouldn't simply bounce off a person. So anyways that's Colombia's number one downfall for anyone considering riding here. But maybe that's in all of South America and the fact that cycling is bigger here helps. I must say most truckers try to give you space and most people give a beep or a "you can do it" cheer instead of being angry you're using the road as we see often in the states.
After reaching Taganga and settling in at this bed and breakfast joint I went down to the beach to celebrate the end of my big ride with some beers and met a nice dude, a young professional from Bogota, here on a diving vacation. He was waiting for his wife to arrive tomorrow so in true Colombian fashion we hung out at a table and chatted it up over I think four fresh juices for at least 3 hours. He was a world traveler, lived in London for a bit, and had recently quit his job in Bogota and was reading a book on entreprenuership. I of course could talk to a dude like that for ages so we discussed ideas for his next endeavor and also details about this country. If only I was fluent in Spanish I would be tempted to take up some of these ideas of my own, as Colombia is in the process of a massive tourism boom since their reputation has seen such positive increases and there is so much to see here (mountains, coffee, Carribean beaches, river sports, hiking, archeological sites, etc.). It's funny this guy, Juan Carlos, was pretty knowledgeable of what I do and when I told him who I work for he said that it's "a great company but everyone is afraid to work for them in Bogota because they make you work too much". I laughed pretty hard at that one, I guess some things don't change no matter where you go! I did however then tell him that they do have some flexibilities, I mean, look at me! Well today is my first Spanish class and I'm going to arrange for hitting the reef later in the week so take care everyone.
