From South to North America

By the time you read this I will be on my way out of Colombia and arriving in Miami, not my chosen port of arrival, but as so often as has happened in this trip, nothing has gone to plan. I had left my bike in Cali, after meeting with a shipping agent and arranging which route that bike would take and I would follow. This being LA, after which I would be back on track after missing out central America and Mexico. But Colombia being Colombia and me being the token gringo, things are never that easy. After 3 weeks of traveling around on a bus and sending the agent information on when i wold be back to pay him and get the bike on a a plane, suddenly the cost has jumped 50%.

So to cut a long story short, I have chosen to save a lot of money and fly in to Miami and make a plan on the hoof when I arrive. I just want to get out of here, I need a blast of western culture, which I am sure I will overdose on very quickly, but for now that is what I need.

After 7 months in the Latin section, I am ready to move on, I leave with some very fond memories, of great people and great places. I have mentioned before that I have become travel weary, so the break from the bike has been good and its allowed me to recharge my batteries and refocus on what Im doing. Something I have come to realise, is that travel in this way, moving around all the time, has become very unfulfilling and at time rather empty. You meet some interesting people, but for every interesting one, you meet 20 that are as dull as ditch water. Now that may seem harsh and perhaps, if you can spend more time with people, then you really find out if they are interesting, but by the very nature of travel, your meetings are very transient and this can conspire to deep loneliness. We as humans need intellectual and physical interaction and stimulation with our fellow humans, just meeting people does not satisfy these needs.

I don't leave South America with any regret. Its been a fun and I have seen some outstanding beauty and had some of the best motorcycling there is to be had in the world. What I find lacking here is cultural diversity, its not bland by any means, it just lacks something, something that only time brings, and relatively speaking this is still the new world. Unfortunately we are now in an age of homogenisation, where we, globally, are becoming more and more alike. Westernisation is seeping in everywhere you look, from coffee shops to burgers bars, clothes to pharmacy's, one town looks just like the other and we all do the similar things. South American countries think of themselves as very distinct and they are very nationalistic, but really its like an "Un-united States of South America". Divided by there politicians petty rivalry and desires for self glorification, but then that is politicians the world over. The difference between the countries, give the area that it covers, I find quite small. In isolation, each country is interesting, but after 7 months I am found them blending in to one.

So would I come back? Im not sure really, to Patagonia certainly and I would say that to Argentina and Chile, yes, but the rest of it, probable not. There is of course the Amazon , which I have not ventured down, but thats an entire adventure on its own, perhaps one day.

So, Colombia

As I mentioned in my previous update, I have been travelling around Colombia by bus, and it has been a welcome break to be off the bike and just sit back, read a book and let someone else navigate there way to the various places that I wished to see. After leaving Cali, my first port of call was Medellin, Pablo Escobar's old stomping ground and once a no go area for the police and army, let alone travelers. But today the story is very different, as Colombia basks in a new found confidence in its self as well as the confidence of outside investors. I only spent a couple of days here, its an OK city, but not as exciting as its history and I found the place rather modern and ordinary, no doubt a nice place to live, but not fascinating to the visitor.

The next stop was Cartagena, a town I have always wanted to visit ever since watching Romancing the Stone. It really is the archetypal colonial Spanish town, with beautiful balconies draped in bougainvillea, shady plazas, and a history of pirates and siege's by good old Sir Francis Drake, who was nothing more than a British government licenced pirate at best anyway (I think we could do with some of these now days, or are the pirates the government?). But he did manage to give the Spanish a few bloody noses in his day and pilfered quite a few doubloons in the process. The town literally is a living museum and in its hay day was Spain's most important port in the Americas and its where the majority of goods where shipped from, and exported to Spain, including the lucrative gold and silver that attracted said pirates. The only draw back of the place is the steaming hot climate, that is stifling, making anything more energetic than a gentle stroll an extremely sweaty experience indeed. I arrive on a Saturday night and the whole of the old town was alive to the sounds of salsa, as various bars and restaurants competed for the lucrative trade of both wealth Colombian and tight arsed back packers. The assumption is, that if your are from the west you have money the throw away, how wrong they can be, at least with a frugal bastard like me.

After a few days of drinking rum and rolling around the streets with a patch on my eye and a parrot on my shoulder, I headed down to the fishing village of Taganga, which can only be described as Rubbish-on-Sea, the place was an absolute shit hole; there are two reasons to come here - 1 its the easiest place to get in to Tayrone National Park and 2 you want to hang out with brain dead gap year travelers and drink beer and stuff cocaine up your nose. Another negative is that the place is infested with the worst kind of travellers that inhabit the planet - Israelis. The scerge of South America. Now don't get me wrong, Im not anti Semitic, but I have no time at all for groups of hairy faced oiks from the middle east , who act like they own the world and are as rude and arrogant as you can get. OK, Ill get off my soap box and try to be nice.

So needless to say I did hang around long, and due to the fact that I actually thought I was melting, I decided to head back down country for the town of San Gill. From here I was able to get a small bus up to the beautiful little town of Barricharra, which has been meticulously renovated to its former glory, and every house has to adhere to a strict code of appearance. The result is a town that looks like it is stuck in a time warp and if you had the absence of cars you could truly believe that you where back in the 18th century. It was a pleasure to be at a slight altitude again and though sunny, it felt like a warm spring day rather than someone putting a massive hair dyer on you as soon as you got out of your hammock. Next destination was Villa Leyva, such a genuine looking old hill town, that it was used as the set for a production of Zorro for Colombian TV.

Here I did a bit more horse ridding, still the horse was far more in control than I, but I enjoyed it all the same. I was also able to get in a few sessions of yoga and enjoy the beautiful nature that this area has to offer. Kicking back in a hammock while watching humming birds hover around you, takes a lot of beating.

Bogota - For years a bye word for violence, kidnapping and cocaine, Bogota is now a cleaned up city, boasting shinny new hotels built by Hilton, Intercontinental and various cosy boutique hotels that can rival most cities in the world. There is an air of confidence around the place that is say, "remember us? we are back!". I still don't think its on the list of most international travelers, but it is firmly on the gringo trail in South America and I'm sure with time it will attract more and more visitor. I stayed in the historic quarter of La Canderlaria, which is a nice place by day, but is rather close to some unsavoury neighborhoods, that produce some interesting characters as the sun drops from sight, but sometime, quite perversely, I enjoy that edginess. Perhaps I have been traveling too long!

Its is an amazingly cultural city though, and I have over dosed on museums and art galleries, but have avoided the plazas and churches, I am truly over those. One strange thing that I came across, was a whole city block full of shops selling military and police clothing, not fake but the real McCoy, rather worrying in a country that still does suffer from a high rate of crime and many instances of police impersonation. Now this was not hidden down some back alley, this was a stones throw from the presidential palace! I was tempted to kit myself out as one of the Village People, but you will be please to know that I thought better of it.

After a 10 hour bus ride I was back in Cali, the home of plastic surgery and though many people suggested I get my nose done while Im here, it is still its distinctive shape. After the debacle of the shippers, I managed to do precious little, a bit of writing and a lot of reading, its not much a city beyond the plastic surgeons and a few salsa bars, so I have just been sitting a waiting to catch my flight. Im now at Bogota airport, with one hour to go in South America and whilst I am reflecting on the past few months , I am firmly looking at the future and what awaits in North America. First port of call will be to see my cousins in Florida, who I have not seen for an eternity, then I have to decided on my route that I will take northwards, there is nothing like leaving things to the last minute, but its is rare that in life we have such flexibility to just go where we fancy and I will enjoy this while I can. The main priority is to get in to Alaska before the bears start to hibernate and I have to put nails in my tyres to get some traction.

So lets hope all goes well with US customs, Ill keep you posted.

Colombia

I am now in my last country that I will travel in on my journey in South America - Colombia. I have only been here for 10 days, but so far have found the country and its people to be warm and welcoming . Colombia is famous for many things, some being - cocaine, plastic surgery, coffee and FARC guerillas to name but a few.

I spent around a week in Quito, just getting stuff done on the bike and taking some time out to catch up on DVDs and email and as the guest house had a good kitchen, some home cooking, which made a good change from getting the local fare, which is pretty bland. I crossed the border in to Colombia and felt a great relief that my journey in South America was coming to an end. Not a relief in the sense that I don't like the place, I do, but it has been a tiring 6 months, the road conditions, poor driving standard and constant changes in altitude have all taken there toll. I have also been suffering from an annoying cold for the past two months, which I have finally had diagnosed as bronchitis, nothing terrible, but combined with the travel it has made me low on energy . So i now have a ton of antibiotics to take, which I detest, but need must. Now Ecuador is very like many south American countries, in that it has a rather strange political system and while I was there, the general election was taking place. As there were 85 candidates, to make it easier for the voters, candidates were given numbers, just in-case you vote for the wrong person. No wonder these countries are always in crisis. Still the UK seems pretty screwed and we only have the choice of three!

Riding out of Quito I rode across the equator, so I am now officially back in the northern hemisphere - I almost feel I am in Alaska! Its always strange feeling crossing the eqator, but looking at the map, it feels a long way from Ushuaia, almost the most southerly place on earth and having come by motorcycle all the way. I felt good at this accomplishment, but also a feeling of fatigue when you look at the map and see how far it is to Alaska.

After crossing the border in to Colombia- a remarkable easy task, I rode through the lush hills, that have a very different feel to that of Ecuador. It often amazes me how different a country can feel and look, within just a few miles, the topography was totally different, the hills were far more rugged and rocky, as opposed to the more rolling feeling that you have in Ecuador . Though I was no higher in altitude, the valleys where much deeper and dramatic, the other big change was the people; much more friendly, that's not to say the Ecuadorians were rude in any way, but the people here , in part due to there isolation for so many years, are so inquisitive about what you are doing and what you think of their country, its a really refreshing feeling.

I arrived in the whitewashed colonial town of Popayan where I fund a very comfortable place to bed down and park the bike and took a relaxing walk around the lovely old buildings and being stared at like I was from outer space; clearly they don't get any tourist in this part of the world, but it was a friendly feeling. From here I rode up a really crap and bumpy road to the small town of San Agustin, to see the archaeological park that has stone statues carved by the some of the areas earliest inhabitants, around 3000 years ago. The town is set amongst some lovely countryside and I took the opportunity to do some horse riding, something that I enjoy, but confess to not being very skilled at, but it was nice to be out in the hills and enjoy the nature.

I also visited the small market town of Silvia, to see the local indigenous people came down from the hills to do their weekly trading and bartering. Now this was not the most spectacular market for goods for sale, but it was what they wear that was the most fascinating. I don't want to sound like I am taking the piss, but who ever came up with the concept of wearing a violet blue rug over your shoulders if you are a women and wrap it around you waste and wear it as a skirt if you are a man? Top This off with a very small rimmed bowler hat and a pair of shinny black or blown boots with yellow laces and I though I had turned up to a clown convention.

Im sure there are perfectly good reasons for this kind of get up, but I could see nothing practical in it at all. Don't take this out of context, I would hate to think that in a few years that everyone will have traded in their prime bowler for a baseball cap and their violet rug for a pair of fake Levis, but I think the question is still valid - who the bloody hell came up with the style and why was it adopted by the whole tribe, it was just bizarre, but incredibly enjoyable to people watch as men strutted around the town plaza with chickens under there arms ready for the pot and engaging in animated conversation, which I could only but guest to its content .

My next port of call was Cali, the home of Colombia's plastic surgery industry, where women and men having procedures to enlarge there boobs, reshape noses, have liposuction, their teeth straightened, and believe it or not bottom implants. Bum implants, bloody hell there are some women in the west that definitely don't need that. People just look plastic though, I have never been to a place where so many people have braces on they teeth and bandages on there noses. I found it all rather sad actually. Don't get me wrong a well sculpture pair of breasts are fantastic, but you have to draw a line somewhere and in this town its an obsession and not a healthy one, there are very few gyms, just a clinic on every corner.

I have decided to make some changes to my travel plans, for several reasons. I really want to get to Canada and to Alaska and I am running out of time, so after spending a couple of weeks seeing Colombia, the plan is to fly the bike to LA and skip central America and Mexico. Now I'm sure you are all aware of the current health problems in Mexico, which are being blown out of proportion, but I am concerned that if things escalate that the US could close the border. Now that probable wont happen, but if I fly direct to the states, it will put me back on schedule. Also I am feeling travel weary and feel like getting to a country that has road signs to find your way and street names in towns, and people that hopefully can give you directions rather than being sent 6 different ways and ending back where you stared. In fact I should even be able to use my GPS again, what bliss!

So I have left my bike in storage in Cali and have taken a bus up to Medellin, where I intend to do some partying before heading to the coast to get a tan and lay in a hammock before having to take those bloody pills. The plan is to be in the US for around early June then head to some of there national parks to camp and enjoy the great outdoors once again, I cant bloody wait.