In Antioquia, Colombia, we took a 7-day hike on back trails through farm valleys, thick jungle, and high elevation paramo. Here is that journey through photos of some of the little creatures we met along the way, including the under-documented basura bug, a scary encounter on our tent, and a very very friendly mariposa. If you like bugs, take a scroll through the slideshow below!
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Days 3 & 4: Crossing the Rio Cauca, Down One Side & Up the OtherWe had made good progress yesterday across these mountainous farm pastures and didn't have far to go to reach the farm where we planned to have our next camp, so we let ourselves sleep in. We had agreed the night before that we would take it easy and enjoy this spectacular camp. Besides, it was raining all during the early morning. After the rain let up, we sat in the chairs and had a lazy breakfast and coffee, and let the tent dry out a bit before packing up. We don't often get to enjoy a relaxed morning at camp! Click images for captions and larger view. We probably got rolling, oh sometime between 10 and noon. More downhill on cattle trails! Sometimes we lost the trail all together, but Lewis is clever with a topo map and we made our way easily enough.
Part 2 of the adventure is here! Be sure to catch up on part 1 here, if you missed it. Day 2: Armenia to the Middle of a Field SomewhereToday's plan was to go to town for breakfast, and then ride a dirt road along a ridge, that would eventually turn into a trail through some farmlands and end at a beautiful finca near the river. We had been told we could camp there and as far as we knew, they were expecting us tonight. It was only a few miles ride, so we were certain we would have no trouble, even though it would be mostly trail. I was excited to put my bike to the test! Well it's been a while since my last post, and I have skipped all of Central America, but the show must go on! Now that Lewis and I are fairly settled for a while in the lovely city of Medellín, Colombia, I have the time and space for blogging, and with our last 12-day journey through Western Antioquia so fresh in mind, I am most excited to share that! Perhaps I will get around to some CA highlights soon... ;) Day 1: San Antonio De Prado to Armenia (Almost)We spent a few weeks at the Casa del Ciclista of Medellín, which is actually located south of the city near the town of San Antonio de Prado. If you are not familiar, Casas de las Ciclistas are safe havens for touring cyclists to rest, tune their bikes, and mine the hosts for information about route planning in the area. It is free to stay at the Casas, as long as you arrived by bicycle, but some donation of work or money or both is appreciated. There are several Casas in South America and this one was our first. Manuel and Marta, who run a bike shop in town called Ciclo Campeon, had a second house built on their property for cyclists which has since been added to and improved upon by their many guests. They have hosted over 800 cyclists since opening their doors just a few years ago. The primary reason for spending so much time at the Casa was that I wanted to change my bicycle. Lewis and I decided we wanted to spend more time on the back roads, which are often rough and sometimes steep. Some of our best experiences have been on dirt roads in the middle of nowhere. The Famous Mockingbird, my Montague Navigator, had done an amazing job getting me from the USA to Panama, but with 700c wheels, fairly narrow tires, and a frame designed for city riding, I knew I would be more comfortable and capable if I changed to a bike built for the mountain. After much searching, stressing, and second-guessing, and with the help of Manuel, we found Tela, a 90's Giant Boulder 520 with a classic steel frame and 36 spoke 26" wheels that could fit a nice fat tire for maneuvering the dirt. With a little extra work and some swapping of parts, we were ready to go! Little did I know that Lewis and Manuel had planned a route that would really put Tela to the test. So we loaded up Tela and Colonel Forbin for a 10 day adventure through eastern Antioquía. We left The Famous Mockingbird and a few other things with Manuel and Marta for safe keeping so we could be a little lighter, but not too light, as I wanted to test Tela officially "loaded". We got a late start as usual, leaving the Casa around mid-morning.
We are currently in Guatemala, and I am eager to share more picture stories! But first, a more wordy recap of our eventful time on the Oaxaca coast. Journal Entry 4 - Zipolite, San Agustanillo, & MazunteIt was noon before we left Pachutla. We had errands to run and we didn't have far to go so we allowed ourselves to sleep in. We would suffer for this luxury; the coastal heat and humidity was brutal, and the hills were not over yet. A fellow cycle tourist and friend of ours was staying one more night in Zipolite, so that was our destination for the day, a mere 9 or so miles. As I said, it was brutal, so I won't go into the description of the ride. Each of the small Oaxacan beaches is separated by sea cliffs and therefore a hill or two (which may go unnoticed in a vehicle, but not so on foot or pedal). We first arrived to the coast at Puerto Angel, a little port town that I was too over-heated to appreciate. I mostly remember the pretty view from the dern hill right in the middle of town. I wanted to just get to our destination and cool off. Next up, Zipolite. Zipolite was the largest of the beaches that we visited. It is long and mostly straight, with a strong surf that breaks farther out than the others. I imagine it could be good for surfing, and we did see a few partaking in the sport. But the waves are large and rough, and to swim beyond the breaks you have to go rather far out where the current is strong and dangerous. There is a system of green, yellow, and red flags to indicate the safety of the water... the flags are all red in Zipolite. Perhaps due to the dangerous surf and therefore lack of family visitors with children, it has become more of an adult beach, aka nude beach. Men, couples, and the occasional solo woman stroll the length of the beach and lie basking in the sun, without a tan line to speak of. The majority are of retirement age and very at home in their bodies. It is comforting to know that as youth diminishes, so can one's cares about such matters. This known nude haven may be the only one of it's size in Mexico, but I didn't notice a single Mexican enjoying that freedom. There were however many Mexican tourists visiting who seemed un-phased by the several shades of gringo on display.
On the east end of the beach, you can follow a stairway over a little hill and discover a tiny cove with a tiny beach surrounded by cliffs. This is the real nude hangout. The swimming area, though small, is more gentle and fun (if you stay clear of the rocks). The surf comes swooshing in around the western cliff and pushes you with it if you are game to take a ride, beaches you for a moment and just as quickly pulls you back out again. It is a game of tug-of-war and you are the rope. The first time we swam there, a few small sea birds came in presumably to feed on insects flying over the water. These gulls would fly against the wind just over the water and therefore would hover motionless, sometimes just inches from my face. A very surreal experience. Journal Entry 3 The Epic Downhill Our next destination was the Oaxacan coast... mainly the 5-mile string of beaches along the towns of Puerto Ángel, Zipolite, San Agustinillo, and Mazunte. Mazunte is about 75 miles from San Jose, but it's all downhill, right? We should be there by the afternoon! Actually, we knew from other cyclists that some climbing was required to get out of San Jose. We took a look at the elevation profile of the route online, and saw that there would actually be 3 significant climbs this day, but those long downhills after each one were exciting to see. Still, I was skeptical we would make it all the way to Mazunte in one shot. We got started around 9am and were climbing right away, a relentless hill that lasted for 6 miles. As we snaked our way, we occasionally got glimpses of San Jose through the mountain tops, still close as the crow flies. Then a nice downhill roll into the town of San Miguel Suchixtepec, much larger than San Jose, and picturesque with it's great white church perched right on top of a ridge overlooking both sides of the pueblo. Here we had our breakfast. The day went on, with two more big climbs that nearly wore me out. But the descents were amazing... twisty, turny, and on-going through beautiful forests and sweeping views. Some of the turns were so tight and steep, there was fear I would certainly wipe out if I didn't brake hard. But I tried to brake as little as possible, learning to tilt my hips slightly and set the bike at an angle that would take a tight corner. Rarely do we have the opportunity to fully absorb the downhill ride, it is usually over too fast. But these were long and they were glorious. We got so good at it that we even caught up to a pick-up truck that had overtaken us earlier in the day, handling the curves better than it could. We took the first opportunity to pass it by so as not to waste any of the fun stuck behind the exhaust, riding our brakes. Passing this truck was a badass moment. But still, those climbs. We climbed more that day than we did to get up to San Jose. So the day dragged on. Soon it was clear we were in the tropics, with lush jungle and the heat that goes with it. The last big descent finally winded down with a grand view of the Pacific, but we still had 20 miles to go. Here began the rolling hills and humidity, the mopeds and fruit stands with bananas for drapes and hammocks for siestas. Here the fatigue really started. We finally rolled in to Pochutla around 5pm, still 13 miles short of Mazunte but good enough for the night. Pochutla is a hub in the region, the main center of commerce for the satellite beach communities. A real working Mexican town, inland and comparatively large, with little tourism. I waited in the central square while Lewis went to find a hotel. There was a large stage set up at one end, where a class of teenagers were practicing a Mexican Hat Dance routine, some in costume but most with invisible sombreros and skirt hems in hand, an entertaining end to a hard day. Lewis found a cheap hotel with a ground-floor room (so important for the bikes!) and we were in for the night. **Due to some unfortunate events, this post and my next several will be done from my tablet using an app, so they may not be as well crafted as I would like them to be. Also, photos will be subpar for a while. I hope to be back up to speed in a few months!** Great Bike Adventure, Leg 3, Journal Entry 2February 7-11, 2016 We rolled out of Miahuatlán at 8am, one hour later than we wanted but still ok. We knew we had to ride 21 miles to get to San José del Pacífico, our next destination, and we expected it to be mostly climbing. We were heading to the top of the mountains between Oaxaca City and the coast. Telling the story, with PhotosBlogging is hard, ya'll. Especially from the road. Lewis and I want to keep everyone updated but it is difficult to write the story when we are always moving. So Lewis's blog Rudiments of Gruel is usually several months behind, and mine… well it's all over the place! I started Instagramming, and this is fun for me and helps me be a little more timely in my updates. But sometimes I have so many pictures and a story to go with it! Now that we are on Leg 3 of our great bike adventure (Leg 1 = Las Vegas to Guanajuato, Leg 2 = Guanajuato to Oaxaca, each leg has significant time off in between), I want to make an effort to document things more quickly. Posting photos with captions might be the fastest way for me to do this. So here is journal entry one! Great Bike Adventure Leg 3, Journal Entry 1I now know my bike even more intimately. I had a loose headset (the part that holds the handlebars/front fork to the bike). It had a tiny bit of give in it that I could feel and did not like. This can apparently make steering unstable and cause accidents (that must be why I wiped out the other day! Not the fact that I was fidgeting with my mirror at high speeds on a dirt/sand track). So I'll fix it, I thought, and while I am at it I might as well clean and re-grease the ball bearings.
Naturally, like me, my bike is a little bit different. It has a unique stem design, Montague's patented Octagon Adjustable Stem ("...a system of self-defense that I developed over two seasons of fighting in the Octagon!" Anyone?). Anyway, this design allows you to raise and lower the handlebars easily, supposedly even while riding the bike, without compromising the alignment of the bars with the wheel. Alright then. Cool and innovative, but I have only used it a couple of times, never while riding, and it is certainly no longer easy now that rust and dirt has set in. But I digress. This innovative design made tightening the headset a little more difficult to figure out, but a bit of despair, followed by online research of Montague bikes and bike maintenance in general, a little more despair and a few Youtube videos later, and I figured it out. I didn't have the necessary tool to get the fork out (a mallet), nor the tools needed to tighten the headset once I cleaned and greased everything and put it back together (Montague recommends a headset press, compression tool, or a large furniture clamp). No fear though! A large rock and small carpet did both jobs just as well. Montague, you are not the only one who is innovative. So my bike and I are just a little bit closer together, and a lot more ready to hit the road. Five more days! After a couple of weeks in Oaxaca, I was anxious to get on the bike again. We had heard about a native festival in the nearby village of Teotitlán called La Danza de la Pluma, The Dance of the Feathers. Apparently this event was "not to be missed." As the date approached (December 12), it became evermore appealing to me to go there by bike. Actually, I decided I wanted to do that only the night before. [It's true, our lifestyle these days is pretty free to be spontaneous and much of it doesn't require any fore-planning. We just have an idea to do something and then decide if we will do it or not, and worry about the details when the time comes. Of course, this relaxed habit has bitten us in the asses in other areas where more planning would have been beneficial. But I digress...] Soon Lewis was on board too, and figured out a route to get us there that didn't involve the highway. He too plotted this the night before, and as usual did an excellent job. The way was rural, beautiful, and mostly traffic-free.
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Read more about our travels over at Rudiments of Gruel.
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