Subject: Hi from Ralf and Katrin
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 00:17:49 +0100 (CET)
Dear motorcycle-friends!
I am sitting here in Ricardo Roccos house
in Quito and to all of you that haven't been here,
or haven't met Ricardo yet: it is a must!
Take your motorcycle down to Ecuador,
stay in a home far away from home,
meet bikers from all over world
and listen to some stories outstanding
motorcyclists tell you.
But don't miss Colombia on your way!
It's a beautiful country that's been missunderstood.
Ralf and I travelled thru this country
being known for armed guerillas, violence
and cocain.
We took our time, 6 weeks in the whole,
riding from the hot caribbean cost down to
the border of Ecuador high up in the mountains.
We did not have have any problems at all!
No kiddnapping, no bribes, no nada!
One of the main roads going south takes you
from Cartagena, a beautiful colonial town,
passing by Sincelejo, famous for bullfights,
to Medellin.
We arrived in the late afternoon, almost dawn.
We hit heavy traffic with tousands of little motos
(100cc, 125cc) all over the place.
Surrounded by the Central Cordillera this 2,2 mill.
big city set deep in the Aburra Valley.
Can you image the pollution in the air?
We did not like it there at the first sight and we
just wanted to spend the nite in a hotel,
to head off early in the morning.
In the end we stayed for 3 weeks!
We met wonderful friendly and hospitable
people who a very proud to be visited by foreigners.
We spent a lot of nites with two other german
motorcyclists, Olli and Ralf, drinking a lot of beer,
eating a lot of food and having a lot of fun!!!
They also introduced us to some outstanding
mechanics at the moto-shop: Moto-Angel.
Hector and Carlos who also own the place
love motorcycles with all their hearts and
that's how they work.
We became friends and Ralf spent a lot of time
with them working on his "old lady" which needed
some major attention after over 30.000 km and
a little crash on a pass. He slipped after a left
curve and fell. Nothing happend to him -Thank God-
but the GS got a little damaged.
Yeah, the roads in Colombia are perfectly paved
but dirty from diesel and oil leaking of the enormous
amount of trucks, which carry all the goods from
one side of the country to the other. Pay attention!
Medellin host a bunch of motorcyclists and one
group gathers around Moto-Angel.
They took us on all three weekends for daytrips
to the hilly area around the city. Fun twisty roads
winds up into refreshing clear mountain air, passing
by cute little villages. All trips ended up at restaurants
with tasty local specialties, trouts for example.
Delicious!!!
Have a look at the picture...
We were sad to say good-bye to our new friends,
when we finally left Medellin but we had to move on.
South America is calling.
The paved road, Carretera 25, took us further south
towards Cali. We stopt and rest at the gorgeous
natural hot springs in Santa Rosa.
What a relief to relax in 38-40 degree celcius hot water
after a day riding thru the mountains.
Popayan and Pasto had been two more stops
on our way to Ecuador. Popayan another beautiful old
colonial city and near Pasto we camped close the lake
Laguna de la Cocha surrounded by mountains.
Back to nature again!
Nothing bad happened to us, but we also listed to the
advice locals or authorties gave us.
Either visited unsave areas nor travelled by nite.
We enjoyed Colombia very much and
it is really worth it a visit!!!!
Moto-hugs from yours Katrin and Ralf