Closing out Ecuador

Ecuador is heads above the other countries we have visited so far. Orderly, friendly and cleanliness seems to be the order of the day. There have been very few animals being used as pack animals. There are far fewer small motorcycles. Could it be because the price of gasoline is $1.48 a gallon for regular and $2.00 a gallon for premium grade. Best of all, diesel is $1.03 a gallon. This presents its own problems since most of the vehicles are diesel powered and air pollution is awful. Every night our faces and the insides of our ears are coated with black soot.

The landscapes of Ecuador are breathtaking. We spent much of our riding above 10,000 feet and topped 11,890 feet for our highest point so far.

Ecuador is by far the least expensive place we have visited. Most meals have been around three to four dollars each. Our first night we paid $12.00 for a room with two beds and the last night we paid $8.00 each for single rooms. We did have to pay tolls, but at $0.20 a bike it hardly seemed worth the effort. We did enjoy riding the excellent roads from north to south of the country with only rough pavement the last 100 miles.
From Cuenca, south we observed most of the inhabitants wearing what we considered native dress. This would be heavy woolen clothing – brightly colored for the women - and fedoras for everyone.
We stopped for a break where we met James from Decatur Georgia who is three months into a twenty-four month Peace Corps tour helping a remote Ecuadoran village to maintain the quality of their water system. He seemed lonely and wanted someone to spend time with someone he could relate to.

Today we crossed into Peru – another one and a half hours spent at the border, but not difficult.
Initial observations of Peru.
We have taken a large step back in time.

Trash is everywhere.

Things are going to be more expensive here. Gasoline is $40 to $5.00 a gallon. Tonight’s meal was $20.00 but different for a change – no rice!
We rode the deserts of Northern Peru, and existence there is bleak at best. Most homes are made of mud bricks or brush and limbs sometimes coated with mud. Seems the only paint is provided by political parties or candidates.

The last fifty miles of riding was through a desert wind that we estimated at between 30 and 35 mph.
We are spending the night in Chiclayo which is a large vibrant city. It is so much in contrast to the country just north of here that it is hard to fathom they are in the same country.
Three-wheeled taxis are everywhere and we are sure they will be the death of us in this country.

For the followers of this blog, please allow me a personal moment and comment. I have just been informed that Phil Coffman, a good friend of our family from our church has terminal cancer. Phil, this news has saddened my day and you are in my prayers. Thank you so much for being such a good friend to my grandson and to me. My God’s speed go with you my friend. Gary

Observations on Colombia

After “patiently waiting” (there’s a whole world to explore in that little phrase) to get to Colombia, the arrival was wanting. The “greased” entry was antagonized by a tramitor that was not especially energetic. Anyway, here are a few of my thoughts on Colombia:
The National Police and Army are very visual. We passed through many roadblocks along our way but in justice to the authorities, we were only required to provide documentation once.
Coffee plantations in the areas we transited were very small. In fact, I was disappointed that I didn’t see Juan Valdez, but I did see his donkey’s cousins. Lots of donkeys and horses were used for local transportation as well as motorcycles.
Which brings me to my next point. Small motorcycles along the highways were like swarms of mosquitoes. They were everywhere and usually under 200 cc’s. I did see five people on a motorcycle – two adults and three children (no helmets of course). Thirty miles from the nearest town, a small motorcycle could be found racing along at top speed to keep up with traffic. I was told that the reason so many small motorcycles are used is the cost of fuel (about the stateside cost) and the tax on cars is so exorbitant that it reduces the buying population.
There is a big valley in Colombia that stretches from Medellin in the north to Popayan in the south. It’s a very fertile area that supports a lot of different crops including: Carrots, green peas, onions, cabbage and in the lower areas, sugar cane.
The roads in the area that we rode through were not always in good repair. The roads in the big valley were the best – good surfaces and good signage. The roads in the mountains were challenging. Twisting and turning, narrow lanes, pot holes and heavy truck traffic made it difficult to pass through the mountainous areas – thirty miles an hour was a good average.
And finally, the women of Colombia wear the tightest pants that I’ve ever see. One and all. Spandex is in and apparently, they all love it. The women of Colombia win the prize for the tightest pants – they cannot lose the prize, they may only be tied.

Mountain Highs

November 9, 2010
Edit note: Have posted a couple of photos to the previous blog entry.
Yesterday we finished our ride through Colombia. Colombia is a wonderful country that is recovering from a tough 30 year civil war. There is still periodic fighting and kidnapping, but the Colombian government certainly has the upper hand. There are army and police check points throughout the country. We were only stopped once and asked for our papers and insurance. Generally, the soldiers waved us through with a thumbs-up sign.
Our ride out was through the high mountains of southern Colombia. We topped 9500 feet approaching Pasto. Pasto is probably the most modern city we saw in Colombia. On the way south of Pasto we topped 10,400 feet.
Before leaving Colombia we visited the Sanctuary of Lajas in Ipiales. The Sanctuary is a cathedral built astride a deep river gorge and is supposedly located where some peasant saw the image of the Virgin Mary on the hillside. I made the walk down the 265+ steps and sloped sidewalks with good time. I thought I would need a miracle of my own on the way back up. I was rushing back up the steps so Roger could visit and to try and get out of a threatening thunderstorm when I became winded. I realized I was at 9000+ altitude with thin air. I slowed my pace, but still had a headache when I returned to our parking place.

Ipiales is on the border with Ecuador where we spent two hours processing out of Colombia and into Ecuador. There was nothing complicated about the procedures as opposed to our experiences in Central America – just time consuming.
We stopped in Tulcan Ecuador for the night. We were surprised that the room with hot water cost us $12.00 and a pork chop meal with soup and freshly squeezed juice cost us $3.00 each.
What has really surprised us is how clean and orderly the roadsides and villages are. The transnational road – the Pan American Highway – is by far the best road we have been on. At times it is a little slow as we climbed through the curves at altitudes that have varied from 6,000 feet to 11,400 feet.
We did stop and take a photo of workers harvesting a potato crop on the slopes of a hill. We were at about 10,000 feet when we took the photo and they were well above us.

Later we stopped for a morning breakfast snap and a nice Ecuadoran family wanted their pictures taken with us. Within a few miles of this stopped we crossed the equator into the Southern Hemisphere. We were a little disappointed that there was not a roadside marker denoting this fact – you’ll just have to take our word on this one.


The only complication we had today was transitioning through the capital city of Quito. The highway went through the middle of this city of 2.1 million people. Amidst the congestion and diesel belching busses we missed a couple of turns.
South of Quito we crossed a pass at 11,400 feet and off to our east was the Cotopaxi Volcano at 5897 meters – 19347 feet. The peek was clouded but snow was on the sides of the volcano.
We are spending the night in Abato Ecuador which is a large city in itself.

Odds and Ends - Colombia

November 7, 2010
Yesterday we had a day of riding that would rival anything in the Alps. After leaving our hotel in Yarmula – priced $11.00 for both and the first hot water shower in twelve days – we continued in the mountains and climbed to 9200+ feet. The roads were in good shape with lots of S-turns and switch backs. The speed was slow and we averaged about 25 mph for the entire day. We were competing with the trucks and buses for the mountain curves. There is little to no rail network in Colombia so all cargo transport is by truck. In the mountain passes they literally get down to crawl speed. We take any opportunity we have to pass them, but the easiest pass is at the toll booths. All of the national roads have tolls, but motorcycles are exempt. The toll plazas have a special narrow lane for the motorcycles to pass through – whoopee!

This region had lots of dairy farms and interestingly many of the dairymen we using cattle as pack animals to haul the milk cans to market. We have seen lots of pack animals.
We came out of the mountains north of Medellin and we surprised by a new six-lane highway that ran the 40 or so miles into Medellin. Medellin is a city of over 3 million inhabitants and we just wanted to get through. The road south of Medellin was much worse, but it did lead through the coffee plantation region. The Colombians are proud of their coffee. I am sure we saw Juan Valdez with his burro a dozen times. Most of the service stations in this region have fresh brewed coffee setting alongside the gas pumps and the coffee is free. In restaurants coffee is about twenty-five cents a cup.
At Pereira in the center of the coffee region we picked up a four-lane highway that ran to Cartago where we spent the night. At $60.00 for the night not as cheap as the night before, but this time we had hot water with pressure and air conditioning – so life was good.
In this region of the world – we are at about 02 degrees North latitude- the temperature is basically the same all year with the variations based on ones altitude and whether or not it is the rainy season.
Today we left Cartago on the same four-lane highway hoping it would take us to Cali. In fact the highway was extremely good and mostly four-lanes which by-passed most of the towns including the large city of Cali.
The region around Cali is dominated by sugar cane plantations.
By noon we had ridden close to 200 miles and thinking we may make it to Pasto near the Ecuadorian border. Not to be! Shortly after leaving Popayan and 120 miles from Pasto, we were back in the mountains and this time the riding was severe with landslides, super sharp curves and one cattle herd that nearly took both of us out in the middle of a blind hairpin curve. In the next three hours of riding we only covered about 50 miles, so we called it quits and we are still three hours from Pasto.

I want to share a little about what we have noticed about the population of Colombia. The region around Cartagena is much like the rest of the Caribbean region. The population is mixed bag of Spaniards, indigenous Indians and blacks with blacks being the dominate numbers. The farther south we rode the more the population shifted the Indians and Indian/Spanish mix. This held true until we were in the sugar cane region. This region is populated almost entirely by blacks. We are sure their ancestors were imported into this region as slaves to work the sugar plantations.
-One of my more interesting observations of the day was seeing a young lad tailgating a semi-truck down the mountain at about 30 miles an hour. The boy was only about three feet from the truck and he was texting on his cell phone.

Cartagena (finally), and beyond

We arrived in Cartagena, Colombia, in the morning of 2 November (Tuesday) as scheduled. It was raining and the water in the bay was rough so the captain decided to wait until Wednesday to unload the bikes. Three p.m. was the appointed time and after spending the night in the old city of Cartagena, we arrived at the dock to receive the bikes. The captain was nowhere to be found and after we finally figured out how to call the boat, he scurried to the dock to tell us that the storm the day before had caused all the computers at the aduana to crash and we would not be able to register the bikes until Thursday morning – so back to the hotel for another night.


Bright and early on Thursday morning the bikes were unloaded, taking about an hour and a half.






Then it was off to register the bikes, but not so fast, there was a backlog from the computer problem the day before. We finally finished registering the bikes at 2:30 and then proceeded to the insurance office to buy motorcycle insurance for Colombia. We finally finished at 5 p.m. Just in time to enjoy the go home traffic as we tried to ride out of the city.
But the fun was just beginning. We were riding with four others who had escaped the stahlratte. We only had an hour of daylight and a three hour ride to the destination town so the last two hours were on a road filled with potholes, in the dark and some rain just to make riding really interesting. We rode a total of 70 miles in the three hours and were really glad to call it a day.
This morning, Gary and I split from the group and headed toward Medellin. We slowly climbed from the coastal plains into the mountains, through fog, rain and heavy truck traffic on a two lane road. We rode for 250 miles and didn’t waste any time for an eight and a half hour ride. The mountainous areas in Colombia are lush with vegetation – lots of cattle farms. We topped out about 8,000 feet elevation today and expect to remain in the six to eight thousand feet of elevation range until we descend to the coastal plains in Ecuador.

Odds & Ends

November 3, 2010

We are hanging around the hostel awaiting the time to go and unload our bikes from die Stahlratte. Supposed to be this afternoon but then again we are on latino time and it may not happen. So I wanted to take this time to post some photos that we wanted to share.

Gary

Die Stahlratte

November 2, 2010
Posting this Cartagena Colombia. Arrived this morning in a rain storm. Rained all day. Today is a holiday so we could not unload the bikes – probably could not have unloaded in the storm anyway. We are spending the night in a flea-bite hotel but at least it has a internet connection that might offset the 90 degree heat and humidity with n o a/c. Will post the photos to this blog a little later as we watch the election results.
Gary

Life on board Die Stahlratte.
24 October 2010
From the beginning we were not sure how we would transition around the Darien Gap. The Darien Gap is the southern part of the Panamian Isthmus. There are no roads through the Darien Gap. Our choices were to fly the bikes from Panama to Bogota Colombia, or take a boat from Panama to Cartagena Colombia.
On Sunday morning after having breakfast with our friend Eric we had to politely decline the keys to his house while he drove to Chepo for the day – what a great guy. After leaving Eric we found a McDonald’s with Wi-Fi. We stayed there about two hours to send emails, Skyped the families, and find phone numbers for the airline and the boats.
We felt guilty about using the McDonald’s internet connection for so long so decided it was proper to buy lunch there. We then rode to the international airport at Tocumen to check on the scheduled cargo flights. We were told there was a plane leaving the next day, but that it was already scheduled to be full of cargo. The next flight would be Wednesday, 27 October, and again with no guarantee of getting on that flight. We were also told that once the bikes were crated it would be four days before we could pick them up in Bogota. The cost for shipping each bike was $901.00. Additionally the cost of our personal airline tickets would be about $400.00 each. So now we were looking at possibly eight days or more in the hotel awaiting our rides. We decided to check into the airport hotel ($115.50 a night – ouch) so we could get an internet connection to check our boat option.
We already knew the Stahlratte was scheduled to depart Carti Panama on 26 October, but it was for an eight day cruise to Colombia versus their normal four day cruise. We really didn’t want to spend eight days on a boat, but now we realized waiting on air flights was going to bust our budget. At the hotel we contacted “Fritz the Cat” sailboat to find out that it was already in Colombia and would not be back in Panama for a sailing until 4 November. We also sent an email to the Stahlratte requesting a booking on the 26th.
That evening we sat around the room and game planned our options if we did not hear back from the boat. Just before going to bed we received an email from Ludwig the captain of the Stahlratte telling us where and what time to rendezvous with him for loading of the bikes onto his sailboat. I contacted Ludwig by phone to confirm we would be there. Transport solved.
On the 25th, we left Tocumen for the ride to Carti in Kuna Yala. Kuni Yala means Kuni Land and is home to the Kuni Indians. The region is semi-autonomous within Panama and is the location of the San Blas Islands. There 365 of the small islands scattered along the coast of Panama and most are inhabited by the Kuni. Some islands may only have one or two bamboo huts on the island while others may have 20-30 bamboo huts including shops. The Kuni men are fishermen and the women make elaborate stitched clothing.
To get to Carti airport which is really a wide spot in the jungle consisting of two buildings and a dilapidated concrete runway we had to ride a twenty mile road that was freshly paved and seemed to wind over every hill and dale going towards the coast. We had to pay $9.00 each for ourselves and the bikes for the privilege of entering Kuni Yala. Once at the airport we had to pay another $2.00 tax each to use the loading dock.


We saw the Stahlratte setting at anchor about 200 yards off shore. There were two motorcycles ahead of us and while we waiting three more motorcycles arrived.

Shortly, the Stahlratte dispatched its tender to pick up us and our gear which we had unloaded from the bikes. We were carried to the Stahlratte where loaded our gear on board and were assigned our sleeping berths – stacked bunks in the belly of the Stahlratte. The cost for the cruise including motorcycles was $950.00 each. Although we didn’t want to stay on a boat eight days the cost was sure more to our liking than flying the motorcycles and hanging around some expensive airport hotels.
Mini dsc1836

Die Stahlratte is German for the Steel Rat. The ship was built in 1903 and commissioned as the Holland and was used as a fishing vessel. In 1984, she was saved from salvage by a German non-profit foundation and is manned by three volunteers and conducts cruises between Panama, Colombia and Cuba. The Stalhrattee is one hundred feet long with two masts and under full sail - six total sails - can cruise at 10+ knots in a good wind. She also has a 1954 Vollund Diesel 300 horsepower four cylinder engine weighing fifteen meter tons that drives her in calm winds. She is the largest sailboat plying the tourist trade in the Caribbean.

Captain Ludwig told us that he would anchor next to the dock and hoist our bikes on board using the yardarm and a combination of winches and pulleys. The system worked amazing well and the seven bikes were loaded in less than an hour. We then motored back to the original anchorage where we would spend the night and wait the next day for customs clearance and the loading of non-motorcycling passengers. We actually gained an extra night on the Stahlratte for free.

The original anchorage was just off of one if the Kuni islands which was entirely filled with bamboo huts. There was constant comings and goings by the Kunis in their small boats and dugout canoes. The water craft are mostly powered by small Yamaha outboards while others are paddled. The Kuni live on the water and it is amazing to watch them balance the narrow canoes. They were constantly boarding the boat to sell fish and handicraft, but I think mostly to get beer as the Kuni have a very similar drinking problem which affects most native-Americans.
Late on the first afternoon, we spotted a canoe approaching which had a motorcycle lying on its side with a robust gentleman with bushy beard holding his riding gear. The tag told us a Frenchman was boarding to add to our polyglot of languages already on board. His motorcycle was hoisted on board using the same method as used in loading our bikes.

The next day we took on seven more passengers for a total of fifteen passengers and three crewmembers.
We are a truly mixture of languages and nationalities. The crew is headed by Captain Ludwig Hoffman who is the most laid back German I have ever met. His first mate is Roland from Austria. Roland does most of the work on the boat as he is constantly busy. He really is a human dynamo. The second mate is Tania from Venice Italy, but has just lived 11 years in Berlin. She assists in meal preparation and with general upkeep of ship.
In addition to Roger and myself there is one other American (USA) – John a 23 year-old aerospace engineer who has dropped out of the workforce to take time and decide what he wants to do the rest of his life.
Emrah and Seniz are a Turkish couple who live in British Columbia and work as DJ’s. They are riding the same type of motorcycle I am riding and they are also going to Argentina.
Luis is a Mexican Lawyer who is traveling with his friend Ricardo who is a Mexican business man. They are being accompanied by Harold who is Colombian who holds dual citizenship in the USA. All three are riding motorcycles.
The Frenchman is Jean who started his trip in Vancouver, B.C. after shipping his motorcycle from France.
Fedricio is a Chilean doctor who is accompanied by his girlfriend Verena and they are on holiday.
Then there are Stewart and Johannes being respectfully from Australia and Switzerland. Stewart runs a Hostel Mamallena in Panama. His Hostel is the one we inquired about availability of booking passage on a boat. Turns out he had also booked passage on the Stahlratte – small world. Johannes is an elementary school teacher who is taking a couple of years off to explore the world.
Stephan and Patrick are a father and son combination from Austria.
Fortunately, for us most of this mini-UN delegation speaks a bit of English, but often conversations are being carried on in German, French, Spanish and English. To add to this Babel, Emrah is playing Turkish selections from is repertoire of music. To say the least it is very interesting.
Life on board the Stahlratte. (Roger speaking)
Let’s get straight to it. The bunks are either twins or bunk beds with a cloth drape for privacy. Forget the privacy and give me fresh air you say – wrong on two counts. The air is stale and hot with no ventilation to speak of excepting a small oscillating fan that moves the heavy air. Sleeping on deck is an option but the ever present rain showers make it difficult to have uninterrupted sleep. So, the sleeping arrangements are less than perfect -- small, cramped and hot.
The facilities consist of one toilet. But there is always the male option – too bad for the three females. There is one shower in the boat, but there is a hose with a shower head outside that most of us use – especially after swimming.

Entertainment consists of reading, swimming (anytime except when under power or sail), card games, music, sleeping, an occasional visit to an island to mix it up with the local Kuna or blogging (well, we can’t actually blog since we don’t have an internet connection but we can keep up with the blog in a word processing program and cut and paste later).

Now the dining is downright good. Three meals a day, all you can eat. And we have two human eating machines on board who can each consume more than five average people – the Austrian first mate and the Turk. It’s as entertaining to watch them eat as the food is good. And good it is. The first night we had leg of lamb as the entre, the second night was baked chicken with jerk seasoning, the third night was crab and lobster (fresh catch from the local waters) and last night was a vegetarian casserole with potatoes, cauliflower, tomatoes and a touch of ham. Most of the time we have a potato side dish (what did you expect from a German skipper/chef?) with fresh vegetables and bread. The only thing we pay for is beer and soft drinks -- $1.00 each. The dining is good.