10. COLOMBIA: DESERT, SECRET CIVILIZATION AND THE COFFEE REGIONS
Ipiales - Tuquerres - Pedregal - Pasto - Laguna de la Cocha - Sibundoy - Mocoa - San Juan de Villalobos - San Augustin - Timana - Garzon - Fortalecillas - Villaviejo (Desierto de Tatacoa) - La Victoria - Espinal - Calarca - Salento - Filandia - Pereira - Chinchina - Villamaria (Manizales) - Los Nevado Park (4200m) - Murillo El Libano - Mariquita - La Dorada-Norcasia - Laguna San Diego - Berlin - Sonson - La Union - Guatapé - Narices - Puerto Nare - Puerto Boyaca
After arriving in Colombia we decided to visit the wonderful laguna verde in Tuquerres and afterwards we are going over the laguna de la cocha over the the "Trampolin de la muerte" into the north.In Tuquerres at the market a lots of people admire our bicycles and with a lot of fruits as presents we checked in at a local nice hostel. The laguna is green and in the form of the half moon over 4000 meters. Its a beautiful scenery over the hole landscape with fresh winds.
The road along to the laguna de la cocha is nice and worth a visit. The little touristy town at the laguna de la cocha is a little bit like the wooden houses in Switzerland therefore it was a big surprise to us. We enjoyed staying at the bomberos who have been super friendly and always welcoming. The road after goes over a pass and is full with the beautiful flower trees very mystic scenery.
This special unique plants grow 1 cm a year and are protected from the Colombian Government. After riding a long time down to Mocoa we have been surprised about the tragedy of the catastrophe and how fast the normal life was back. We could see a lot of houses destroyed and a lot of houses are fighting with water problems.
We only stayed one night because it was i bit a noisy town, the road to San Agustin was one of my favorites, full of forests small farms, nice people and loads of ups and downs to drive. San Agustin killed us with his last steep 5 km's after 80 km of riding in the heat but at the end we made it. The figures are pretty unique none of them looks the same as the other! We enjoyed the relaxing small town and its cool climate before we drive down to the desert Tatacoa!
Actually we are in Villavieja in the Desiertio de Tatacoa with more than 35 degrees! The desert is much smaller then we expected and the fact that its also a lot of green didn't let us feel we are in a desert like in Bolivia or Chile. But it was nice and the stars at night have been beautiful!
Trampolin de la muerte (Pasto-Mocoa / Colombia)
The famous route between Pasto and Mocoa called "Trampolin de la muerte" is known as the "real" deathroad and was one of our highlights. 80km not paved with lot of small curves, difficult road conditions with rivers to cross, beautiful views with rainbows and steep values.At the last 25 km we have been surprised with heavy rain which made the tiny rivers into big dangerous unknown deep circumstances. Once we have been stuck between two rivers and landslides. We already thought about building up the tent after waiting in heavily rains for 2 hours. Fortunately the rivers scrolled back and we crossed until we came to the last one. There have been waiting a lot of people and watching a car which was stucked in the middle of the river. What we have seen in the evening in the news:
Mocoa is still suffering from the catastrophe they had 1th of April. Still are people missing and lots of stones in the street. More infos are here:
10/06/2017- Eje Cafetero - Nevado de Ruiz - Mariquita
We are in the coffee region from Colombia. Coffee, Panela, Cacao, colorful houses, nice people, hight mountains and nice palms. Thats what we find here in the heart of Colombia.....
MARIQUITA - PUERTO BOYACA - BOGOTA
Von Mariquita gehts Nordwärts Richtung Guatape bevor es für ein paar Wochen nach Hause geht.
25/06/2017- Boat accident in Guatapé
Just in the day of the accident we arrived Guatapé. A big chaos was in the town during this sad afternoon.
Here are more information about:
BOGOTA - MARIQUITA - LIBANON
We are back in Colombia!!! Finally!
Back from rainy Switzerland/ Austria family visit we are happy to put our feet back on Colombian earth. Unfortunately my helmet and bike had been damaged from the flight which made us running around for a while to get all the papers and fix all the issues. Thankfully we stayed with Yillman who helped us and enjoyed very much his and his family company with nice chats and Swiss Fondue. The following days we drove from Bogota to Mariquita visiting our lovely family. The traffic is massive but we are lucky and have to thank you the pope who gave us empty streets out from the 8 million people metro pole.
First by bicycle from Bogota to Mariquita in 2 days -> 180km
We met friends in Mariquita and Libano and had the possibility change our bike to a horse to see different places around the nevado de ruiz.
