July 8, 2018 – July 12, 2018
We were heading up a hill, when suddenly Derek took his foot off of the gas and the truck responded, instantly slowing to a crawl. I looked at Derek, I looked to the road immediately ahead, and then back at Derek. There was no animal, no debris, no tope in the road. “What’s up?”, I asked. “I have no steering”, Derek said.
July 2, 2018 – July 8, 2018
Tierradentro, meaning “inner land”, is known for its underground tombs built by a civilization that was at its height from about 600 – 900 AD. Little is known about the people who built the tombs and many of the sites were subject to looting before the area became protected. This part of Colombia was rarely visited by tourists for many years due to guerrilla activity and poor roads, however it is now considered quite safe to visit.
June 29, 2018 – July 2,2018
We got on the road about 8 or 9 am for the long slow drive along the back country roads from Salento to Ibague. We knew what the first 20 kilometres of so were going to be like, as we had ridden down it on a bike the day before with Doug and Lindsey, but we were excited to see what else the day would bring.
June 29, 2018 – June 30, 2018
The next day the four of us were up early for a bike tour…some, if not all, with a bit of brain fog from the celebrations of the previous night. We jumped in the box of a pickup truck and were driven out of town for about an hour, the fresh, crisp mountain air helping to clear away the cobwebs.
June 25, 2018 – June 28, 2018
The drive to Salento (about 267 km) was going to take us 6.75 hours, according to Google Maps. We started the long drive, single lane most of the way, and were sharing the road with many trucks. On top of that, there was a lot of road construction to repair damage done by land slides (it has been a very wet year for most of Colombia). We could see that we were not going to make Salento before dark (we do everything we can to avoid driving at night on this trip, one of our few self imposed rules). iOverlander showed a free spot in a rest area above the town of Perreira and it turned out to be great; clean washrooms, fairly quiet after it got dark and an amazing view.
June 22, 2018 – June 25, 2018
We drove, yet again, through the city of Medellin to a great hostel set high up in the mountains around Medellin, called Hostel al Bosque. They had a great indoor space for campers and backpackers to use, hot showers, laundry, and a TV room.
June 20, 2018 – June 22, 2018
Since we had survived the drive through Bogota, why not drive through the second largest city in Colombia, Medellin! We made our way through the city, then through a 4 kilometre tunnel, and wound our way slowly to the north west of the city to a small colonial town called Sante Fe de Antioquia. There we camped for a couple of nights at Los Cabanas de Pino, where there was a very nice swimming pool!
June 18, 2018 – June 20, 2018
Lago Guatape is a reservoir to the west of Medellin and is a weekend getaway for Colombians. The little town of Guatape is charming, almost every building sporting zocalos (painted decorative panels). In addition, there is the Piedre del Penol, a huge monolith that you can climb to see the views of the surrounding islands and water.
June 16, 2018 – Jun 18, 2018
We had decided a few weeks ago that we were not going to visit the capital city of Bogota. It is huge and cities are difficult with the truck, and if we were to find a hostel to stay in for a few nights we would need to find a safe place to stash the vehicle. As it turns out, we ended up driving through the city twice, through our failed attempt to visit San Jose de Guaviare.
June 15, 2018 – June 16, 2018
A Colombian we had met earlier in the trip had recommended that we try to go to San Jose de Guaviare, on the llanos (plains) south and east of the capital city of Bogota. He said that there was a lot of wildlife and that it was a beautiful and little visited place set between the mountains and the amazon jungle in Colombia. We did a bit of research and decided that it sounded very interesting and we were very excited.